The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-04-22

4t 8 E rH H Z n F4 A H
 wondered how many there were in that gaily-dressed crowd, passing in perfect safety within two feet of those huge creatures. who realized the latent strength behind the bats. I felt that here were mighty monsters made of muscle, and, though more compactly built, weighing as much as horse. Let those big jaws close just once on the shoulders of a man, and he would never use his arm again; let one of those ponderous paws be swung upon the head of an OK, and it would quiver and die like a rat which has been struck with a club. Fortunately they are good-natured giants, and their keeper walks fearlessly among them. a dwarf by comparison. What would happen, wonder. if those bears sud- denly acquired the intelligence of a man?-if none of them could become
 skilled in jiu-jitsu, for instance, sure iy he would be able to throw an ele- phant over his head.
 Strolling on. I passed the dens where smaller bears of many species were amusing themselves in various ways. Some were wrestling together,
 some were rolling on their backs and playing with their own toes. like over grown infants, and others were splash ing and bathing in the tanks provided
 for their arinusement -7s t.9cqs
 Next I visited the Reptile House, where a curious crowd was gazing through plate glass at serpents from every quarter of the globe. There were gorgeously- Regal Pythons,
 which could crush out a mans life as the man might crush grass-hopper;
 harmless black and garter snakes. and hooded cobras. whose bite means cer-
 tain death. There were. alligators, too, and Gila monsters: but none of these
 impressed me as did one giant rattle-
 snake who had large glass-fronted
 cage to himself. His body was as thick
 as big mans arm. and it was coiled like a great steel spring, ready for action at an instant's notice. Above
 the coil arose the tail, with many rat. ties. which vibrated so fast that they
 appeared as mist, and an ominouf sound could be heard above the hum of the crowd. But it was the head which
 attracted me most of all. It was horri- ble but fascinating. It rested on the outer coil of the body, and was still and
 silent as though carved in bronze. But the look of pitiless, uncompromising
 hatred was almost past belief. That, l look expresses it. English seemed to
 say to the gazing crowd, Curse you all, if this glass were only out of the way, how I would make you scatter.
 Of the many attractions in the Bird
 House, none seemed more wonderful
 than the snake birds or darters, which live on fish, and which pursue and
 capture their living prey beneath the water. That their methods may be
 readily observed. the tank in which l they are fed is glass-sided. While l
 was there. the keeper threw into the tank a number of small live fish, and
 one of the watchful birds at once
 walked to the waters edge, Peerine l beneath the surface he sighted the sfisli and, lowering his head, slipped quietly | in. With his long thin neck extended and using his feet as propellers fs glided through the water as readily as l the fish on which he lived. But, though his neck was extended in front, there
 was still kink in it, caused by a curious arrangement of the, ,yertesrae. 5. One of these laps over another in such