Chatterbox Stories of Natural History | Page 6

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I never hear you talking: Are you really dumb, my friend?"
Said the Swan, by way of answer: "I have wondered, when you make

Such a shocking, senseless clatter, Whether you are deaf, Sir Drake!"
Better, like the Swan, remain in Silence grave and dignified, Than keep,
drake-like, ever prating, While your listeners deride.
W. R. E.
[Illustration]

THE BEAVER.
This industrious animal is generally found in Canada and the northern
portions of the United States, where it makes its home on the banks of
the rivers and lakes. Here they assemble in hundreds to assist each
other in the construction of their dams, and in the building of their
houses, which are put together with a considerable amount of
engineering skill. The materials used in building the dams are wood,
stones, and mud, which they collect themselves for that purpose, and
after finishing the dam, or winter storehouse, they collect their stores
for the winter's use, and then make a connection with their houses in
the banks. Their skins are valuable in making fine hats, and their flesh
is much relished by the hunters. The beaver is an interesting animal in
many respects, and the expression "busy as a beaver" is borne out by its
habits.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE TURTLE-DOVE.]
[Illustration: THE CUCKOO.]
[Illustration: THE PEACOCK.]
[Illustration: THE TAME, OR MUTE SWAN.]
[Illustration: THE LIONESS AND CUBS.]

[Illustration: THE LEOPARD.]
[Illustration: THE SYRIAN BEAR.]
[Illustration: THE JACKAL.]

LIONESS AND CUBS.
The lioness is much smaller than the lion, and her form is more slender
and graceful. She is devoid of the mane of her lord and master, and has
four or five cubs at a birth, which are all born blind. The young lions
are at first obscurely striped and spotted. They mew like cats, and are as
playful as kittens. As they get older, the uniform color is gradually
assumed. The mane appears in the males at the end of ten or twelve
months, and at the age of eighteen months it is very considerably
developed, and they begin to roar. Both in nature and in a state of
captivity the lioness is very savage as soon as she becomes a mother,
and the lion himself is then most to be dreaded, as he will then brave
almost any risk for the sake of his lioness and family.
[Illustration]

A PET JACK.
The first fish I ever saw in an aquarium, twenty years ago, was a
"Jack," as he is called when young, or a "Pike," when he grows older;
and ever since then I have contrived to have a pet one, and this, drawn
from life by Mr. Harrison Weir, is an accurate portrait of the one I now
possess in the Crystal Palace Aquarium. There he is, just as he steals
round the corner of a bit of rock. He is glaring at a minnow, at which he
is taking most accurate aim; he hardly seems to move, but yet he does
by a very trifling motion of the edge of his back fin--sometimes resting
a little on the tips of his two foremost fins, as they touch the ground,
carefully calculating his distance; and then, at the very moment when
the minnow has got into a position which leaves a space of clear water

in front, so that Mr. Jack shall not hurt his nose against any hard
substance when he gets carried on by the violence of his rush, he darts
at the minnow with the speed of Shakspeare's Puck:--
"I go, I go! look, how I go! Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow."
[Illustration]

THE SWALLOW'S NEST.
Often in former years the twitter of the birds glittering in the morning
sun was the first sound that met my ear during the wakeful hours which
frequently accompany illness after the worst crisis has passed, and you
are recovering by degrees. The gutters ran beneath my bedroom
windows, and I could see the steel-blue backs of the swallows as they
sat on the rims of the gutter, twisting their little heads, opening their
yellow-lined beaks, singing to their hearts' content. Whole families
would perch there together, or the young would rest in rows of four or
five, according to the nest-broods of each. How delightful to see them
fed by their agile parents! how tantalizing to have them almost within
reach of my hands, yet not to be able to catch them or give them a kiss,
as they would cower in my hollow hands if I only could have got them
in there!
[Illustration]

THE BRAVE DOG OF ST. BERNARD.
Where the St. Bernard Pass climbs up Amid the Alpine snows, The
far-famed Hospice crowns the heights With shelter and repose.
Its inmates, with their faithful dogs, Are truly friends in
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