46 NATURE STUDY. 



allowed to fall upon a slowly revolving sheet iron cylinder 

 that is heated by steam. A srraper on the side removes 

 the " beef extract " which is dry and hard, and it falls to 

 the floor to be ground up and added to the ground meat 

 for fertilizer. 



There is a lesson in such a visit on the economy of mod- 

 ern industry, that is profitable to the adult as well as the 

 child, and emphasizes one's belief that the education of 

 school children should not be considered complete till they 

 have seen all the various industries that are carried on in 

 their home cit5^ 



Scared by Bird Cannibal. 



A writer in the Boston Herald relates that a large colony of spar- 

 rows took possession of the attic and the eaves of a certain county 

 courthouse and built their nests and reared their young there with 

 all the bustle, noise and enthusiasm for which they are noted. 



One day in the spring a butcher bird made his appearance and 

 lighted on a tree near the courthouse. Now, a butcher bird is the 

 remorseless cannibal of his tribe. He catches biMs of all kinds and 

 impales them on a thorn tree, sometimes having a dozen victims 

 hanging there at one time awaiting the satisfying of his hunger. 



Perhaps the sparrows had never seen one before. Indeed, it is 

 more than likely, but instinct with the weaker birds is a sort of 

 good angel for their protection, and one minute after the butcher 

 bird lighted on the tree there was not a sparrow to be seen in the 

 neighborhood, though one minute before that at least a hundred 

 of them were flying about the house and the yard. Something told 

 them that the newcomer was their enemy and that he had come to 

 do them harm. 



The butcher bird remained around the courthouse for two days, 

 hoping, no doubt, that he might get a fair chance at the sparrows, 

 but they all " lay low ; " not one was seen, but an occasional little 

 chirp was heard from under the eaves, where they were safe and 

 snug. 



On the morning of the third da}^ a man who saw and recognized 

 the cannibal got a gun and shot him, and the moment he had done 

 so the sparrows came out of hiding and went about their business 

 as happy as they could be. 



