Tárogató, 1945-1946 (8. évfolyam, 1-7. szám)
1945-09-01 / 3. szám
36 TÁROGATÓ Animals oí prey, of course, do not depend directly on vegetable products. When a lion or tiger, for instance, starts to eat his kill, he is very apt to tear the carcass open and devour the pancreas and intestines — vitamins again. When sick, animals usually think first of a laxative, reminding us of physicians' advice to humans. The ailing cat or dog eats grass when attacked by digestive trouble, as a laxative. Bears know a species of berry that serves them as a laxative, and when the awake from hibernation the first thing they do is to look for these berries in order to bring their digestive function into order. Animals know, too, when to eat certain foods, and when, perhaps, to avoid those very ones. Hinds (red deer) are a striking example; when the female hind is expecting her young she eats only a certain kind of plant, a variety she never touches ordinarily. The director of a great zoo once said: “If one of my animals falls ill and we do not know the cause, I order every species of plant and food that grows in its natural habitat brought here. Thus, in most cases, the sick creature finds its medicine and recovers.” —Our Dumb Animals. —Canadian Boy. HOW ANIMALS SLEEP By Ethel R. Adamson An intersting thing to do next time you go to visit the zoo, or a circus comes to town, is to make a study of how the different birds and animals take their rest. Someone who took notes along this line tells us that: Elephants lie stretched out, their huge legs lying at full length, and the trunk curved under the body, when asleep. The rhinoceros liese at full length and almost always on the left side. Deer crouch low for their rest, with the forelegs bent under; the hind ones drawn up; while the head is turned to the right. An alpaca, when asleep, simply looks like a large ball of black wool; and polar bears, too, huddle up in a heap, with their noses buried deep in their white fur, and forepaws crossed over the eyes. Llamas, zebras, and buffaloes rest as cows rest — with their forelegs drawn under them and their hind legs drawn in. Camels lie on their stomachs with their fore and hind legs bent under them, while their heads and necks are stretched straight out. Monkeys squat in their cages, their heads bowed down over their chests, their arms resting on the things of their hind legs. The butterfly, like the bat, invariably goes to sleep head downward, its eyes looking straight down the stem of the grass on which it rests. It folds its wings to the utmost and thus protects its body from the cold. See if you can add to this list, and also check on all the above notes. —Canadian Boy. THE CARDINAL LEGEND The following is given as the legend of the Cherokee Indians about that beautiful bird, the cardinal: After the flood, it seems, everything was wet, cold and disagreeable. Fire could be obtained only from heaven, but man and animals had no wings to go and fetch it. So the birds offered to try. One after another flew upward, but returned unsuccessful. Finally, a grey bird offered to try. It was gone a long time, but when it returned its entire body was a flaming red, except for some black about its tortured eyes. Even its bill had been serrated by live fire. Ever since that memorable day the grey bird has kept its red colour, black markings and serrated bill. The Cherokees call it the “fire bird.” We know it as the cardinal. —Onward. RUSSIAN SOLDIER’S “TERROR” I Asked him the obvious question: “What was the most terrible moment of your experience in Stalingrad?” He thought for a little and smiled and said: “It was one night when we were on reconnaissance. I’d wormed my way along an open drain up to within earshot of a dugout where the Fritzes were. It was quite dark, and very still. Suddenly I ffelt something warm spread over me, something between a blanket and a flood of warm water. For a split second I couldn’t make it out, then I realized it was mice—thousands of mice running from Stalingrad down to the Volga. I daren’t make a sound. I’ve never been so terrified in my life as when they crawled over me.” —Canadian Boy.
