Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-01-19
About Animals.

Cats and other beasts of prey reflect
fifty times as much light from their
eyes as human beings.
Quail are now said to be extinct in
Ireland where they were formerly to be
found in great numbers.
The red deer of New Zealand are
estimated to number between 1000 and
5000 individuals, the offspring of two
stays and six kinds that were turned
out in 1868.
Over S,OOo,OO9 Holsters were caught in
Maine waters during the past year.
The total catch sold for S1,226,561. A
lobster hatchery will be tablished at
Boothbay Harbor this year.
Fish kept in filtered water, it is said,
will die. That is because the food, has
been taken out of it. The food, how
ever, is what makes unfiltered water
dangerous as beverage to human be-
ings.
1t has often been stated that sixty
miles an hour was the utmost rate at
which a swallow could fly. Recent eX-
periments between Compeigne and
Antwerp proved that swallow in a
hurry can cover 12Sh miles in an hour.
The French sardine crop for the year
is failure. One of the causes as
signed is at variance with the expert
ence of the ordinary fisherman, it is
that the fish are too large. The sar-
dine comes principally from the Allan
tic coast of Franee-not from Sardinia.
Every animal is said to have it's own
kind of flea sometimes several differ
ent kinds. Many thousand specimens
Of these fleas have been gathered in the
unique museum of Charles Rothschild,
kept by DIR. Jordan at Tring Park, the
giant of this strange collection being
mole flea a fifth of an inch long.
The vomiting of fishes from vol
canoes is no new experience, and it
seems more startling than mysterious.
NJ. j. Girardin explains that in the in
terval between two eruptions-of
century Or more-the craters become
filed with fish-stocked lakes, and the
next eruption blows out the water and
its contents.
What tremendous power an eagle ex-
erts when carrying away a lamb that
weighs, say, sixty pounds or over! If
you take the weight of the bird to-
gether, seventy-six pounds, then it APP
pears to me that an eagle can develop
more than twohorse power, and must
put strain of over 100 pounds on the
muscles of the wings, which leads one
to think that birds are stronger than
Herr Pohl, president of the German
Society for the Protection of Cats, has
Just published the results of his inves-
LEGATION in regard to the age which it is
possible for these animals to attain
Cats, he says, are like human beings in
one respect. The more peaceful and
better regulated their life is the longer
they are likely to live. AS proof he
points out that a favorite cat in the
royal castle of Nymphenburg has lived
to be ~ years old, and consequently
may fairly claim to be considered the
dean of cats in Germany.
A dog ambulance is likely to be es-
tablished shortly in connection with
the British military service. The dogs
of the war ambulance are intended,
when trained, to find the casualties on
a widely scattered battlefield, and so
shorten delays in search work The
trials recently made of dogs trained by |
Major Richardson showed how certain |
breeds can be trained ito find ,ethe
when hidden I'M rocks; wood, |
Or grass, even z Where the scent WAS |
crossed by water. and to- guide bthe !
bearers a'by continuous sfibarking. /
South Africa there, was 6ftgsh difficnity /
in, recovering wounded' u owing to- the |
wide extent of front, and when might 4
fell before the work could be accom-
plished, as in the case of big actions,
some wounded We're not recovered be-
fore dawn. The best dogs for the pur-
pose are ST. Bernards, cross-bred set
ters and collies, especially those OF |
tracking stock.
James Robinson. a member of a travel