Chatterbox Stories of Natural History

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Stories of Natural History, by Anonymous

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Title: Chatterbox Stories of Natural History
Author: Anonymous
Release Date: August 26, 2007 [EBook #22408]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATTERBOX STORIES ***

Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was made using scans of public domain works in the International Children's Digital Library.)

[Illustration]
CHATTERBOX
STORIES OF
NATURAL HISTORY
NEW YORK R. WORTHINGTON 770 BROADWAY.
COPYRIGHT,
1880,
By R. WORTHINGTON.
New York: J. J. Little & Co., Printers, 10 to 20 Astor Place.
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+------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: There was no Table of Contents in the original book,| |and one has been provided for this version. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
THE KING OF THE CASTLE. ZEBRA AND YOUNG. MRS. BRUIN AND FAMILY. LITTLE OWLS. AUROCHS. THE KANGAROO. THE PEACOCK. SWANS. THE SEA LION. A--THE ASS. BADGERS. THE BIRD'S NEST. THE CHAMOIS. JACKO WITH PUSSY'S BONE. MEMBERS OF THE POACHING FRATERNITY. A COW WORKING A PUMP. CARRIER PIGEONS. THE SIASIN, OR ANTELOPE OF INDIA. THE COMMON SNIPE. D--THE DOE. MRS. BUNNY AND FAMILY. THE LYNX. THE SWAN AND THE DRAKE. THE BEAVER. LIONESS AND CUBS. A PET JACK. THE SWALLOW'S NEST. THE BRAVE DOG OF ST. BERNARD. G--THE GIRAFFE. MOTHER-DEER AND BABY. WHOOPING CRANE. THE ELK. TOYS FOR ANIMALS. THE SUCKING-PIG. BELL-RINGERS. THE GUINEA-PIG. J--THE JAY. WAITING. THE ARGUS. THE YOUNG MONKEY. THE CLEVER FOX. TESTING HIS STRENGTH. A WISE DOG. M--THE MANDRILL. SPRING. SUMMER. TIMOTHY. THE BRAVE COCKATOO. HARE TAKING THE WATER. AUTUMN. WINTER. OUR WILD BIRDS. P--THE PELICAN. BLACKBIRDS AND YOUNG. A USEFUL PILOT. JACK. S--THE SWALLOW. A SINGULAR HABIT OF THE WOODCOCK. THE SKY-LARK THE STORY OF A SEAL. THE KING OF THE MOUNTAINS. THE BEE. V--THE VULTURE. MOTHER AND PUPS. THE FRIENDLY TERNS. Y--THE YAK. SHEEP AND LAMBS. THE CAPTIVE SQUIRREL. A STROLL IN THE COUNTRY. THE OTTER. THE MASTIFF. THE CUNNING WOOD-PIGEONS. SEA REPTILES. SWISS MOUNTAIN SCENERY. PARTRIDGE AND YOUNG. THE KINGFISHERS' HOME. RATS CARRYING EGGS UP STAIRS. A HERON ATTACKED BY A HAWK. A HORSE GUARDIAN. BATTLE BETWEEN A FOX AND A SWAN. TOUSY.
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[Illustration: CARLO.]

THE KING OF THE CASTLE.
As the lion is called the king of beasts, so the eagle is called the king of birds; but except that it is bigger, stronger, and swifter than other birds, there does not seem much reason for the name. It is a mistake to attribute noble or mean qualities to animals or birds, or to think they can do good or bad actions, when they can only do what God has created them to do, and as their instinct teaches.
The most powerful of the eagles is the Golden Eagle, so called because of the rich yellowish-brown bordering to its feathers. It makes its nest in the clefts of the rocky sides of the mountains, and seldom on a tree, unless where one has sprung up in between the clefts, and the tangled roots make a sort of platform. This the eagles cover with sticks, and here they make their house, living in it always, and not only when they lay eggs or have young ones.
If there are eaglets in the nest, the food is at once carried home to them, and the skinning and eating done at home. Eagles are very attentive to their young, and feed them with great care until they are able to take care of themselves.
[Illustration]

ZEBRA AND YOUNG.
Mrs. Zebra, standing with her baby by her side, asks proudly of the lookers-on, "Did you ever see such a likeness?" and certainly mother and child are very much alike, striped all over their bodies, from head to foot, and from nose to tail, with the same regular marks of black. Strong and wild by nature, the zebra family are left very much to themselves, which is a source of great happiness to the mother and child in the picture before us. "No! no! my baby is not going to become as tame as the donkey, or to draw carts and carriages like the horse; it is to have its freedom, and go just where it likes all over these large plains;"--so says Mrs. Zebra, and she means it too, for if anybody took the trouble to go all the way to the hot country of Africa, where Mrs. Zebra is at home, and tried to carry off her baby, they would find their journey a vain one, and that she would kick severely, and perhaps break the legs of the person bold enough to take away her darling.
[Illustration]

MRS. BRUIN AND FAMILY.
This is the