Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 June 1879 — CURIOSITIES OF NATURE. [ARTICLE]

CURIOSITIES OF NATURE.

A Bird Story.—A gentleman of Burkeville, Ky., has a pea-fowl 60 years old. A Business Hen.— k Laurens county, Ga, hen has accomplished the feat of laying 200 eggs in 200 consecutive days, and is still at it. A Georgia Fish Story. The Hawkinsville (Ga.) Dispatch says: Mr. Z. Cass, of Irwin county, caught recently a catfish, a squirrel and an alligator all upon the same hook at the same time. The fish probably caught the squirrel while swimming across the lake, and afterward caught and swallowed an alligator about a foot in length, and then found and swallowed the bait upon a set hook. When a catfish starts out on a foraging expedition he will take in anything from a wheelbarrow to a saddle blanket. A Hen Cares for a Litter of Pups. —The Anthony (Kansas) Journal- relates the following: We hear of a very warm-hearted, motherly hen down on Bluff creek. She is regularly brooding a litter of seven pound puppies. She has to spread herself to do it, but she takes them all under her motherly wing and tucks them in nicely. The youthful canines know and heed her gentle cluck. They get their ‘'victuals of the natural mother, but their love and attachment is most tender and affectionate toward adopted Mother Biddy. A Fighting Hen. - Hugh D. McMullen, of Aurora, Ohio, owns a matronly old game hen, which just now struts about with a brood of chickens. The other day a large gray rat seized one of the peepes and started for his hole. The hen cut off the rat’s retreat and fiercely attacked" him. The strange pugilists fought for five minutes, at the end of which time the rat gave up the ghost. Next day another rat made his appearance in the yard. He, too, was attacked, but fought more gamely than the first of the rodents. He put out one of the fowl’s eyes and was himself finally laid low. A Turkey Gobbler Lays Three Eggs.—Miss Bass of Lebanon, S. O. (says the Abbeville Medium), has a turkey gobbler just a little ahead of anything in the turkey line in history or tradition. Last week the turkey was a gobbler in all the pride of his gobblerhood ; now he is a turkey hen, and, as a proof of his change of sex, laid three eggs on the day succeeding this monstrous metamorphosis. This tale will seem almost incredible, but the owner has the eggs to show for themselves. How can such an unheard-of change be accounted for ? What do the scientists say ? and what’s to become of us when turkey gobblers turn against their own sex in this way and settle down into laying hens? Oh, it is awful!

A “Cluck” and Six Kittens.—The Reading (Pa.) Eagle says: Mr. Aarvin, of West Leesport, has a “cluck” which tenderly cares for six kittens about 3 weeks old. The cluck had been deprived of a brood of young chickens, and, feeling the loss very keenly, she no doubt considered the taking charge of the kittens a just compensation. The kittens seem to listen to her call, and will nestle under her wingsand feathers like little chickens. No one is allowed to approach, not even the cat. herself, while the hen has charge, but she seems satisfied when the kittens occasionally creep out and go over to the mother cat in the next corner. This is indeed a great curiosity. Quite a number of persons have watched, with great interest, the old hen caring, for the kittens. She “clucks'” and calls them, plays with them and scratches, and endeavors to find for them. The kittens jump about the old hen and make a big fuss with their two-footed, feather-tailed mammy. A Sheep’s Fight With a Mirror.— Quite a commotion occurred in a farmer’s house, near Rome, N. Y., a few days ago. They were cleaning the house, and left open the doors leading to all parts of the house. In one of the rooms was a large mirror, reaching to the floor. On the premises is a sheep whose head is graced with horns, and which is very tame, entering the house whenever an opportunity is presented. This woolly animal got into the house unnoticed. When first discovered, it was standing face to face with the mirror, shaking its head fiercely. Before it could be reached, it jumped back for a good start, and then plunged its head into the mirror. Instead of coming in contact with some other animal, as it expected, it demolished a SSO mirror. The crash so frightened the animal that, in its endeavors to escape from the screams and attacks of the women of the house, it found a place of exit through a French window. White-Head Sam.—Thereisin Washington, D. C. (according to the Evening Star, of that city), a living curiosity in the shape of a boy of many colors, known around the neighborhood as “White-head Sam.” His name is Samuel Lewis, and he is the only child of his mother, with whom he lives. He is about 11 years old, and remarkably well grown, but presents a very singular appearance, his face being of a light yellow, his cheeks darker than the other parts of the face, and bis head is covered with short, white fleecy hair; his eyebrows are a yellowish white, and his eyes, once of a pink tint,are now a dark red, and they seem continually on the move. His body, legs and arms are as white as the fairest Caucasian, and the tops of his feet and the backs of his hands are as black as the ace of spades; and, besides these peculiarities, he has a double row of teeth. He is a boy of more than ordinary intelligence.