Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-12-26
BIRDS WITH BILLS OF STEEL.
New Guinea eockatoos Crack Hardest
 Nuts with Ease.

New Guinea cockatoos Crack Hardest
 Nuts with Ease.
 A few New Guinea eockatoos, a rare species in this latitude, have been brought to Chicago recently and have created much interest by their odd ap- pearance and actions. They are as large as pheasants and jet black in color. The bird is remarkable for it's immensely strong bill and the clever manner in which it is used. The bill is as hard as steel and the upper part has deep notch in it. The favorite food of this eockatoo is the kernel of the canary nut, but there is wonderful ingenuity required to get at it, for the nut is something like brazil nut, but it is ten times as hard. In fact, it to crack it. It is quite smooth and somewhat triangular in shape. The coekatoo might throw the nut down, but it would not break. or it might hold it in it's claws like the parrots usually do with their food, and at tempt to crush it, but the smoothness of the nut would cause it to fly out of the beak. Nature appears to have given the possessor of the wonderful bill some intelligence to direct it's powers, for the eoekatoo takes one of the nuts edgewise in it's bill and by carving motion of it's sharp lower beak makes a small notch on it. This No hspl 4ol ,1JJ 0e with it's claws, and, biting off a piece of leaf, retains it in the deep notch of the upper part of the bill. Then the nut is seized between the upper and lower parts of the bill and is prevented from slipping by the peculiar texture of the leaf A sharp nip or two breaks off tiny piece of the shell of the nut. The bird then seizes the nut in it's claws and pokes the long, sharp point of it's bill into the hole and picks out the kernel bit by bit The coekatoo has very long tongue, which collects each morsel as it is broken off by the bill. This is a wonderful process. for it is quite clear that without the leaf nothing could be done, and it proves how certain structures in birds are made to destroy certain parts of plants. Chicago Chronicle.
 Lunaey Increasing In England.
 Lunaey shows an alarming growth in England. Statistics just published give 105, 0S6 as the total of certified lunatics, an increase of 3,114 over the preceding Nl,s 4l crease recorded by over 1000. The rate of recovery also shows a backward movement, from 3S.81 per cent to 36.87. Agricultural laborers provide the larg est proportion of lunaties, attributable to a low standard of life and the use of strong, cheap Indian teas. Clerks furnish the next greatest proportion of lunaties. Here also hard. wearing un- derpsid work and insufficient food is the leading cause. It is contended that the increase In lunacy is more appar- ent than real. and is due chiefly to the law regulating the notification of lu- natics, but experts agree that the stress Of modern life is the prime factor in promoting lunacy.
 Cooperative Creameries In Ireland.
 h spite of the decided feeling against cooperative creameries in some quarters, they are on the increase in Ireland. During the year 1898 returns were received by the registrar general from 387 factories. or 63 more than in 1897, and the hands employed had in- creased by 631. Of the factories. 109 were owned by individual proprietors, 113 were the property of joint stock companies, and 165 belonged to the CO., operative farmers. Nearly three fourths Of the total number of faeto- ries in the country are in the province of Munster. The quantity of creamery butter produced in Ireland In 1898 was 1S.040 tons, as against 14.7oo tons in the previous year.