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 sliv-
ers Of wood driven into the ponds bottom.
In reality. these variously colored masses
were cranes, and hamingoes, each slum-
bering on it's right leg and with its head
tucked back underneath its left wing. On
their toothpick supports they At God az
motionless az If they were Of carved stone.
The alligators, clinging 70 the unsub-
merged ends Of dead trees, and the Cali
fornia sea lions, poised on the crest Of q
big rock, with their heads and necks over
hanging the edge. were worthy rivals Of
the famingoes 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 squatted 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 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 al 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. ret them to pacing their cages and
often caused them to 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-
cordng to old hunters the fox is a sound
sleeper and is often stumbled against in
an opelsspace in the woods
The fishes. however. did sleep with their
eyes open. Fish have TO. for they haven I
any eyelids.
Each fish balanced itself on the tip Of a
submerged rock and permitted itself to
be rocked in slurnber by the gentle sway
ing of the water. Sound never awakens
a fish
Dan Beard, the animal artist. recently
aptly illustrated this when he held re-
volver over the top OF his aquarium and
move.
Blu, when he waved his arm every fin
beat the water. fish's sense Of hearing
is very defective and so it makes it's eyes
do double duty twenty-four hours every
day.
During the night there was one Il ht
in the loo boundaries. Two axis deer
clashed and the sound of their antler, 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 quieted down
the guard described the fighting bucks
as tn. 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 pet mother
bat and her two children After time
the mother sickened. but she still cuddled
hor offspring under her wings each night
Al last her time To die came.
Realizing il she tenderly carried her
children To the bottom of the cage and
dragging herself up on its side. died Mr.
Beard firmly believes that the mother
bat did this So that her dead body would
no, chill and perhaps crush her children.
Mr. Beard also had an interesting expert
ence with red squirrel squirrels sleep
rolled up like balls or clinRing to the sides
Of cages He uninten, ionally left the
squirrel out over night and in the morning
it was nearly dead from the chill.
Mr. Beard ~ once resorted to heroic
measures. which. in this instance. were a
teaspoonful Of whskey 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, it was suffering from
a sav"re case Of ID. Is.
After a half hour of such antics tho squirrel
simmered down and, To the astonishment
NJ its owner. ever after was as tame a. the
common gray squirrel Red squirrels are
naturally vicious, and this one had been
part icularly unrnanageable, But II be-
came so fond of Mr.. Beard that when he
gave il It's freedom at tho end 81 summer
il recntered the cage several times and
otherwise showed It's reluctancn 10 leaving
before II started for it, old home in tho Pike
county woods.
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