The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-09
red, white and brownish- white balls Of some
soft material stuck on the ends Of thin sliy-

red, white and brownish-whi balls Of some
soft material stuck on the ends Of thin sliv
ers Of wood driven into the ponds bottom.
In reality. these variously colored masses
were cranes, and hamingoes, each slum-
bering on its right leg and with its head
tucked back underneath its left wing. On
their toothpick supports they At God az
motioness as if they we're OF carved stone.
The aligators, clinging TO the unsub-
merged ends Of dead trees. and the Cali
fornia sea lions, poised on the crest Of
big rock, with their heads and necks over
hanging the edge. we're worthy rivals Of
the faningoes and cranes In not showing
signs Of life as they slept.
But while the alligators and sea lions
deserted their native element when night
came, the Coypu rats did not. Big As the
largest cats, these rodents from South
America sauatted on all tours in shallow
water to devour their dinner Of carrots
and after that TO sleep. with their children
in size equal TO the ordinary rat. squatting
and cuddled in rows between fathers and
mothers Every Coypu had a foot or two
Of hairless tail sticking straight out behind
il.
As the guards aid they would. the wolves
howled almost every hour during the night.
and the noise they made sounded like
nothing so much as a medley Of college
yells AT big football game.
When they we're not disturbing the slum-
bers Of the other beasts the wolves slept
lightly, lying on their sides In dog fashion.
The slightest noise brought them to their
feet. set them 20 pacing their cages and
often caused them 10 yelp at the moon.
On the other hand the foxes. in neigh
boring dens. seemed TO slumber heavily.
despite the noise and their reputation in the
fables for sleeping with one eye open. Ac-
cording to old hunters the fox is sound
sleeper and is often stumbled against in
an opeisspace in the woods.
The fishes. however, did sleep with their
eyes open. Fish have to, for they haven't
any eyelids.
Each fish balanced itself on the tip OF a
submerged rock and permitted itself to
be rocked in slumber by the gentle sway
ing Of the water Sound never awakens
a fish
Dan Beard. the animal artist, rec emily
aptly illustrated this when he held a re-
volver over the top Of his aquarium and
fired it a half dozen times. The fish did not
move.
But when he waved his arm every fin
beat the water. A fish's sense Of hearing
is very defective, and so il makes its eyes
do double duty twenty-four hours every
day.
During the night there was one fight
in the Zoo boundaries. Two axis deer
cashed and the sound Of their antlers lock-
ing with each other started the wolves
bowling, and the pheasants very light Sleep
ers. beat wildly against the sides of their
cages When the rumpus quie'ed down
the guard described the fighting bucks
as the night hawks and the FOUNDERS of
tho Zoo.
Seems like they're fighting at all hours
Of the night" he said, -and they're about
the only animals that do"
Mr. Beard once possessed a pet mother
bat and her two children. After a time
the mother sickened. but she till cuddled
her offspring under her wings each night.
At last her time to die came,
Realizing il. she tenderly carried her
children to the bottom of the cage and
dragging herself up on it's side. died. Mr.
Beard firmly believes that the mother
bat did this 80 that her dead body would
not chill and perhaps crush her children
MIR. Beard also had an interesting expert
ence with "a red squirrel squirrels sleep
rolled up like balls or clinging to the sides
Of cages He unint tionally left the
squirrel out over night and in the morning
it was nearly dead from the chill
Mr. Beard AZ once resortcd to heroic
measures which. in this instance. were a
teaspoonful Of whiskey and milk poured
down the red squirrels throat, In less
than Ave minutes the animal was dancing
like mad around the room and biting and
clawing and splitting at everybody and
everything In short il was suffering from
q severe case Of ID. rs.
After a half hour of such ant les tho squirrel
simmered down and, to the astonishment
~ its owner, ever after was as tame as the
common gray squirrel Red squirrels are
naturally vicious. and this one had been
particularly unnarageable But II he
came SO fond Of Mr., Beard that when he
gave il It's freedom at tho end 81 summer
il reentered the cage several times and
otherwise showed its reluctance 10 leaving
before it started for it, old home in tho Pike