The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1908-10-27
ALL ABOUT THE FLY
OF INTEREST PARTICULARLY TO
THE BALDHEADs.
Its Intelligence Truly an Interesting
and Exasperatins study-Relieves
That Mankind Was Created
for Its Amusement,

The common domestic fly" said a
man who is no scholar but has man.
aged to pick up many interesting facts,
Is altogether too common and too
domestic. She is one Of the most in
teresting animals"
You don't mean animals" listen.
er broke in, "a fly is not an animal. "
Then she must be a vegetable or a
mineral" said the first speaker. call
her whichever you please, but she is
one OF the most interesting creatures
extant.
An Industrious female fly lays
about 100000 eggs. There are no
incident fies and few males. The fly
Goes not set after laying; II she did
she would be retired from her wonted
ACTIVITY during longer or shorter
periods Of incubation. Her eggs hatch
without motherly attention, and it is
seldom that one fails to hatch.
The intelligence of fies is an inter
esting and exasperating study. One of
the ordinary ways Of trying to kill
hies is to fold a newspaper in the
shape OF heavy fat pad and whack
at them with it when they are sitting
still.
Now, the fly Is familiar with the
scientific fact that if she sits perfectly
still the descending paper will make
an air cushion in front of it that 90
times out of 100 will prevent her from
being crushed. The conclusion mo
mentarily stuns her and she falls to
the floor apparently dead, but in a
Few minutes she has recovered and is
again on the job.
That's why when you strike at a
ny hard enough to splatter the butter
all over the walls she is able to reap
pear so quickly on the rim of the
sugar bowl.
When out not for food but merely
for the fun of tantalizing you the 1v
knows when she has had enough. Then
she sits down on a dark spot in the
carpet and watches you prance around
the room looking for her on the walls.
"A very good way to catch flies is to
distribute fly paper and platters of
poison on the tables and window stills.
No matter how thick the flies are
where this is done, their number will
be quickly reduced. You can easily
prove this by counting the flies Won
have caught. 1t is a great comfort
when there few million flies in the
air and more coming to count up Your
catch and know that a dozen or so will
never poster you any more.
This method of getting rid of flies
Is often employed in restaurants. It
was the method used in the railroad
restaurant where a passenger hur-
ried in for refreshment, glanced along
the display of pies and said:
Give me a piece of this buckle
berry
That amt huckleberry,' said the
waiter girl, waving her hand over the
pie; it's custard.'
When we were children we were
taught to believe that a fy's foot was
wonderful part Of creation-that
when it was placed fat upon the cell
ing the weight of the fly pulled it
away in the center and made a tiny
vacuum and that the pressure of the
around it, in accordance
with law of nature, held the fly from
falling. Several human flies broke
their necks trying to do the same trick
with artificial flies feet before it was
that.if flies kept their feet
clean they couldn't walk on ceilings.
Flies believe that mankind was
created for their amusement, and it
has always been a question with me
which gave a fly the more solid en-
oyment-to buzz around your nose
md make you get up a few hour,
earlier in the morning than you want
o, or to poster you in the daytime
Until you rage around the room with a
'aper slapper in your hand while she
you from behind a door
hinge"