The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-09-20
DO ANIMALS REASON

poet received the dog as a present
from a friend, and the animal at once
became greatly attached to his new
master. 1t would tolerate no inter-
ference from any person except him
or his mother, and would never al
low strangers to be too familiar.
If a neighbor came in, he was not
allowed to shake hands with her, for
the dog at once showed his teeth.
Not even her husband was allowed to
approach her too closely, and even if
Robert was more friendly with her
than the dog thought proper the ami
NAL would snarl.
One day, to subject him to a severe
test, Robert Browning put his arm
around his mothers neck as they sat
at table. The dog Immediately went
round behind them, put his forefeet
on the back of the chair, and pushed
Roberts arm away.
This same bulldog had particular
aversion to Mrs. Browning's favorite
cat. The feline annoyed him very
much, but he always refrained from
attacking her. One day when the
family was out, he chased the unfor-
tunate cat under cupboard, and kept
her there besieged all day, until Mrs.
Browning returned, and gave him
severe lecture. He never molested
the cat again.
In the bird world, there is no more
keen-eyed specimen than the blue
heron. And other birds seem to
know this fact, for he is used by them
as sentinel while they are feeding,
and he acts for any smaller birds who
may be near his feeding ground.
Ducks and geese make good use of
him, and it is matter for wonder
that sportsmen-particularly duck
and geese hunters-don' employ de-
coy herons in order to attract these
wild fowl. The long legs and keen
eyes of the heron are particularly
adapted for scouting; and while the
smaller birds grub away in the tall
weeds, the heron stands motionless,
with his head above their tops, invis-
ible, save to the little ones for whom
he is keeping watch.
The frightened, half-stifed cries
of parrot hanging helplessly in its
cage near lift, save the lives of
many people in Manchester ware
house. Volumes of smoke came pour
ing through the ventilators of the
building, when suddenly the cries of
"Fire, fire! Poor Polly Poor
Jack Jack is afraid |" were heard,
together with piercing shrieks. In
short while fire engines and escapes
were on the scene. Human cries
were heard from the top window.
Ladders were pushed up higher, and
Mr.. and Mrs. Radcliffe and John Mar
tin taken down. Ratcliffe suddenly
remembered the parrot, and, togeth-
er with fireman, both groped their
way to where he last was seen. The
cage was found, but the bird was
dead.
DR.. M. L. Holbrook seems perfect
ly convinced that the ordinary female
spider has a large amount of brains
and reason. To cite an instance, he
says that last summer he had par
ticular opportunity of watching a
large spider that had web on the
top of decaying peach tree, with so
few leaves that the strands of the
web were in view. When the doctor
first saw the spider with his glass,
she seemed to be climbing from the
top of the tree on nothing to tele-
phone wire some fifteen feet away,
and somewhat higher than the web.
When she reached the wire, she went
round it, and then went back.
In studying the situation, DIR. Hol-
brook found that the web was so To-
Gated that it required cable to hold
it up, and the spider had in some
way got one over the wire so far
away. This she did by throwing out
a slender silken thread, which, on ac-
count of its glutinous properties, at
eoSASN AeoSAA W TIC WIFE. Lively
morning, so long as DR.. Holbrook
watched, the spider travelled once
over the cable, in order to mend or
strengthen it.
In his book, "The Life of the Bee,"
M. Maurace Maeterlinck, gives some
extraordinary instances of the inge-
nuity of this little creature. 'In
order" he says, ito satisfy myself
that hexagonal architecture was truly
within the spirit of the bee, cut off
and removed one day a disc of the
size of a FIVE shilling piece from the
center of comb, at a spot where
there were both brood-cells aud cells
full of honey. l cut into the cir
cumference of this disc, and inserted
piece of tin, shaped exactly to its
dimensions, and possessed of resis-
tance sufficient to prevent the bees
from bending it. I then replaced
the slice of comb, duly furnished
with its slab of tin, on the spot
whence / had removed it, so that one
side of the comb presented no abnor-
NAL features, while the other display
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