THE EDUCATIONAL HUMANE SOCIETY 



277 



the temperature in winter is near but 

 not below freezing. Take it out occa- 

 sionally and hold it in your hand. To 

 hold in your hand the sleeping, slowly 

 breathing, crescent ball of fur is to 

 come into intimate touch with the Un- 

 known. It is an experience never to 

 be forgotten. 



Foxes, squirrels and even skunks 

 have won favor as pets. Any form of 

 local four-footed animals will respond 

 to gentle and judicious treatment. 



Frogs and turtles have one excellent 

 quality in requiring but little care. 

 Feed them occasionally during the 

 warm months. In winter they seldom 

 eat. Keep in a cool, moist place. 



Chameleons, newts, fish and hosts of 

 smaller forms of life may be cared for 

 in terraria, vivaria or aquaria. 



Many insects are excellent pets. 

 Bees and ants are preeminently good, 

 but grasshoppers and crickets are a 

 close second. Feed these bits of moist- 

 ened bread and some fruit — conven- 

 iently apple or banana. 



Bees may be kept in so simple a 

 hive as a boot-box, and ants in a bottle 

 or fruit can with netting over the top. 

 But the bees are better enjoyed in a 

 variety of hives from the dealers, and 

 ants in one of the many forms of cages 

 advised by books on formic life. 



So select what you can best care for 

 and then care for it according to needs. 



Once there was a man who did not 

 care for pets. He died and no one 

 cared for him. Love always begets 

 love, and the absence of it is equally 

 in relation of cause and effect. 



Pets are a tangible expression of 

 love. 



Age of Bullfrogs. 



Our two bullfrogs, Rana catesbiana, 

 after having been in captivity for eight 

 years died in August. Frequent men- 

 tion of these frogs has been made in 

 previous numbers of the Museum News, 

 but as little seems to be known concern- 

 ing the age of bullfrogs, it may be 

 worth while to record the following 

 brief data : 



The frogs came to us from Elmhurst, 

 L. I. in the summer of 1902, when fully 

 grown, the male measuring 12.6 inches 



and the female 14.4 inches, total length. 

 Three days before death the male 

 weighed 15 ox. and the female 25 oz. 

 Allowing two years for the tadpole 

 stage, and three years for the growth as 

 frogs, our two captives must have been 

 at least thirteen years old, counting 

 from the egg state. Under natural and 

 favorable conditions it seems probable 

 that bullfrogs live from fifteen to 

 twenty years. — The Museum News, 

 Brooklyn, X. Y. 



FEEDING A YOUNG SPARROW HAWK. 



A pet at Arcadia that has attracted much attention. 



"Bird-Lore" for October publishes a list 

 of 244 birds seen by one person during the 

 course of one year in one state. This is 

 over two-thirds the known bird population 

 of Massachusetts, the state in question, and 

 is doubtless a greater number of birds than 

 has ever been observed before under similar 

 conditions. The same issue devotes special 

 attention to methods of attracting birds in 

 winter and various devices for holding food 

 are described. There are two full-page 

 plates in color and numerous photographs 

 of birds from nature. • 



