Year: 1876

LtttssifJ 9d7 M Eifs ilyt.W aafsflf's,sr fnaa 4
arrangement of the basins, such that, the


rats could not get upon the edges Of


them, put an end to all further depre-
dations Of this kind. o os1.s l'do3 2FN7
|, a family in d country house IN Hert-


fordshire had a fancy for rearing ducks,
but could not we'll do SO On ioccount Of


rats which systematically got hold of


and carried away the young ducklings,


even from close to their mother. With


a view to circumvent the rats, the ma
/ ternal duck and her young were housed


for the night, undera coop, which ad-


mitted OF no opening for fnrtiye intrud-


ers. The rats were not to be, so easily
| cheated OF their prey. On discovering


that the mother duck and her family


were closely shrouded from intrusion
they devised plan of engineering


which was eminently successful. In


the course of q single night they exca-


waited a tunnel, going below the outer
edge of the coop to its interior; and


thus very neatly, without producing


any alarm, stole every, duckling from


under the guardianship of the mother.
! Two rats belonging to the same col


ony performed feat quite as aingeni-


GUS. A trap which was baited for their
capture was habitually plundered with.
out securing single rat. They had


evidently invented some plan for safely


stealing away the bait, and what the


plan was coulddonly be learned by set


ting o watch on the. trap, The trap


was Of the kind which is sometimes em-i
ployed for catching mice. 1t was
box with a sliding door, which was sus-


tanned by mechanism connected with


the bait. On the bait being nibbled
at, the door descends and makes the
mouse prisoner. The two rats saw


through the device, and re sorted to the
following very simple but effectual


method to take away the, bait, which
was, piece of toasted cheese, and yet
escape imprisonment. One of them
placed itself under the door, SO that it


might fall on its back while the other
! crept in and successfully carried off
the morsel Of cheese. The first rat


then drew itself from under the door,,
and joined its companion. ''lF s1i I'D
I Amongst the poultry at a country


house in Renfrewshire was q turkey hen
that preferred, as turkeys often do. to
make her nest among bushes on the


side of a burn, some three; hundred


yards from the. house, rather than in,
the outhonse' appropriated to thepoul-


try. A magpie CHANGED to be perched


one day on q neiehboring tree, saw the


turkey visit hernest, and pounced down


on the newly-laid egg as soon as the
turkey had leftit, proceeding without
loss. of time to make hole in the shell,


and extract a portion of its contents.
From that day forth, the magpie was
never absent from the vicinity Of the
nest about the hour Of the forenoon,
when the turkey was accustomed tore
pair to it, but, seated on one or other
of the trees, kept watch for the oppor-
tunity Of so delicious repast; so that
it was found necessary to follow the


turkey pretty closely in orderito obtain
her egg unbroken by the magpie's bill.
Few anecodes have been told of the'I
intelligence of fishes, and they do mot
generally get credit for much Of it, nor
do they probably possess much, Yet
that they do possess some measure .of
| it appears from the well1known@ fact
that carppin ponds have learned toI
come at O. certain signal to be fed and


something of the same kind Las, been
observed of come kind of sea-fish in
marine fish-pond 1t t'would be worth |
while for any one who has an aquarium |
to direct his attention to this subject
and to keep q record ofhis observations,


Ours were made on trout in burn.


Its place of abode was under,a stone in


small pool, Immediately below al
wooden bridge, over which the path
led, from the house in which we resided, !
to the garden. I was pleasing amuse- |
ment for boys to feed the trout with !
worms, which We're readily to be pro-
cured in the garden, and the trout
was fed accordingly, and soon learned


to come out from below the stone, and
seize the worm thrown out into the
pool, whatever number of spectators


might be close at hand on the bridge,
and although some of them might be a
little noisy. But it was thought pro-
tper to try trick upon the poor fish,
and present, him with Avery small,
long radish instead of an angle worm. |
Out came the trout at once-the rad
ish, in shape and color, being much
like a worm--and caught il ere it
reached the bottom, but quickly spat it
out again, and retreated to the shelter
of the stone. Once or twice afterwards
the trick was successfully repeated;
but the trout soon learned to distins,
guish radish from q worm, and ceased
to come out for the one, although
prompt enough in coming for the
other. b -l1a.-..all- 1ol


x That Dundee, Mich, man who
died five minutes after his marriage
must have been q sensitive soul. Poor