P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY. 



133 



numbers, the rabbits appeared. The twenty 

 or twenty-five million sheep pastured on the 

 Riverina plains are being gradually eaten 

 out by rabbits to an extent which is repre- 

 sented by the decline of the flocks supported 

 at one station from one hundred and ten 

 thousand to twelve hundred head. The rab- 

 bits at that station have eaten up and de- 

 stroyed all the grass and herbage ; have 

 barked all the edible shrubs and bushes ; 

 and have themselves perished by thousands. 

 Foxes have been introduced for the accom- 

 modation of hunters, and in the belief that 

 they might help to keep down the rabbits, 

 and have become an additional and fast-in- 

 creasing nuisance. Mr. C. G. N. Lockhart, 

 in " Blackwood's Magazine," advises that 

 the rabbits be fought by the encouragement 

 of their natural enemies, cats and iguanas. 

 Cats hunt them industriously, and it may be 

 estimated that the progeny of one pair of 

 cats will in the fifth year be equal to the 

 slaughtering in one year of two million and 

 a half of them. Iguanas, in the growing 

 scarcity of opossums, their proper food, may 

 probably learn to eat rabbits. The bounties 

 offered for the destruction of rabbits are .act- 

 ually contributing to their perpetuation. 

 The professional trappers find them a prof- 

 itable game, and take care to keep up the 

 supply. Hence they make war upon the 

 cats with much more anxiety for their ex- 

 tinction than they show against the rabbits. 



The Fate of the Gulf Stream. M. J. 



Thoulet, applying the results of some recent 

 observations respecting the relative levels of 

 sea-water, describes the Gulf Stream as like 

 a river, having a crest-line more inclined in 

 the vicinity of its source than toward its 

 mouth ; separated by a valley of relatively 

 abrupt inclination from the southward New- 

 foundland current, while its right flank has 

 a more considerable breadth. Certain cur- 

 rents from the Gulf of St. Lawrence strike 

 it so as to retard its speed and cause the de- 

 position as a submarine delta in the slope 

 of the " banks " which extend along the 

 United States from the Great Bank of New- 

 foundland ; while the eastern polar current, 

 passing around Newfoundland on the east, 

 strikes it perpendicularly. The waters of 

 this current, colder but a little lighter than 

 those of the Gulf Stream, mingle with them, 



and almost stop it. Its warm waters then 

 spread out, and although they still possess 

 a general direction toward the east, are sub- 

 ject to the impulsion of the winds and other 

 accessory causes affecting the economy of 

 currents. The Gulf Stream is then in the 

 best condition to mollify the climate of west- 

 ern Europe, but no longer has individuality ; 

 it has become a simple drift without depth, 

 and may be compared to a great river lost 

 in swamps. 



Wild Creatures of the Alps. Martens 

 and eagles add to the charms of the land- 

 scape for the Alpine tourist, but are hunted 

 by the forester as his special enemies. The 

 marten is a great destroyer of eggs and weak 

 young creatures, and even attacks roes during 

 the heavy snows of winter. It steals along 

 by the animal as it labors through the heavy 

 drifts till it becomes exhausted, when he 

 springs upon it, bites its jugular vein, and 

 sucks its life away. The marten does not 

 eat its game, but drinks the blood while it is 

 still warm, and leaves the body for other 

 beasts and the elements. The fox hunts in 

 a similar way, but eats the flesh till it is sat- 

 isfied, and buries the rest of the carcass. 

 The foresters do not like to pursue their 

 predatory enemies with poison and traps, be- 

 cause, it is said, " they seem to think that 

 they are taking an unfair advantage of a 

 brother sportsman by employing such un- 

 derhand means of getting rid of him." Still, 

 they will lie in ambush to shoot their rivals. 

 Selecting a conveniently situated building, 

 they attract the foxes toward it by scattering 

 carrion around at a suitable distance. Hav- 

 ing learned the hour at which the animals 

 are accustomed to appear, they lie in wait 

 for them, on some moonlight night, and 

 shoot at the shadowy forms as they come in 

 sight. The larger birds are shot in a similar 

 manner, but under circumstances of more 

 labor and discomfort, because they are more 

 wary. While the fox can be waited for in 

 a warm room, with the window closed, the 

 birds have to be watched from some rugged 

 spot where it is impracticable to have a fire, 

 and with open windows. The birds are also 

 hunted for with a decoy horned owl a 

 creature toward which they are hostile ; and 

 some of the foresters keep owls for this 

 work. While the hunters hide in some shel- 



