28 
AMEEIOAi^^ AGEIOULTUBIST, 
[January, 
company must rise, and change seats. In the eon* 
fusion, the maid rushes for a chair, and the player 
left without a place then becomes lady’s maid. 
PIGEONS FLY, 
Is a quieter game, but quite as amusing. The com¬ 
pany sit round a table, each placing his two fore¬ 
fingers upon it. The leader says “ Pigeons fly I” 
and quickly waives his hands in the air to imitate 
flying. All the players do the same, excepting 
when he calls out a name of some animal that can 
not fly. Thus, the leader cries rapidly, “ Robins 
fly! Bees fly I Chickens fly I Cats fly !” In the ex¬ 
citement of the game many lift their hands from 
the table, without considering that cats do not fly, 
and these players are then obliged to pay forfeits. 
Do Deer Shed their Horns Annually? 
inquires “D. B.,” of Aroostook Co., Me. All our 
deer, including the elk and moose, do so. After 
the horns have dropped, a skin for new horns is 
formed, and the animal is then said to be “ in the 
velvet.” This velvety covering in time disappears, 
leaving the antlers hard and horny. The weight 
of horn shed by our elk and moose is large, but 
small when compared with the antlers of the ex¬ 
tinct Irish elk, the remains of which are found in 
great abundance in the bogs of Ireland, and its 
horns are to be seen in our museums. They rose 
to a bight of at least fourteen feet, and ha d a spread 
of twelve feet. The skull with the horns as found, 
shown above,weighs overninety pounde,andit is es¬ 
timated that, when alive, the animal had to support 
at least a hundred pounds in his enormous antlers. 
How Our Eyes Sometimes Deceive TJs. 
There are some minute fossil objects called 
“Diatoms,” which, when seen under the micro¬ 
scope, show beautiful markings upon their sur¬ 
faces. An eminent French naturalist, while ex¬ 
amining one of these which had been described as 
CIKCLES WHICH DO NOT SEEM ROUND. 
six-sided, found to his surprise that under a very 
powerful glass the figures were true circles instead 
of hexagons. This led him to try small circles of 
black on a white ground, and circles of white on a 
black ground. The engraving shows the white 
circles, and if you look at it from a little distance, 
it is difficult to believe that the white spaces are 
not six-sided instead of circular. The effect is 
more striking if one eye only is used. This is one 
of many cases in which the eye is sometimes 
deceived by strong contrasts of white and black. 
Hunger, the Best Cook. 
ADOPTED FROM THE FRENCH OP JEAN GRANGE. 
Mr. Rosiers, a French millionaire, was fond of 
eating; he knew what good food was, and pro¬ 
vided it without stint; but, alas 1 the appetite was 
wanting. In vain he sat down at stated hours to 
the choicest dishes and costliest wines. Every¬ 
thing he tried was tasteless, and he rose to curse 
his own palate, his butcher, and his cook. The 
cook he thought most to blame, and no better 
than a thief, for was he not drawing high wages, 
and spoiling everything he touehed V Old Matthew, 
the game-keeper, after long listening to his master’s 
moans and lam¬ 
entations, took 
courage to say 
that he knew a 
man famous for 
miles around for 
his “ fine cook¬ 
ing.” — “ Where 
is he?” eagerly 
askedMr.Rosiers. 
—“He keeps an 
inn at Vanzelles, 
a village fifteen 
miles away, but 
it is a rough sort 
of place, and his 
patrons are chief¬ 
ly wagoners or 
sportsmen—you would hardly like to go there. 
Sir.”—“I would go anywhere to find a dinner I 
could relish,” the rich man quickly replied, “ and 1 
shall not fail to visit your friend to-morrow.”— 
“But, sir,” said Matthew hesitatingly, “old Be¬ 
long, the host of the ‘Faithful Pigeon,’ as he 
calls his inn, is not accustomed to having a coach 
and pair stop at his humble door, and I fear if he 
sees your equipage, he will lose his wits, and be in 
danger of spoiling his dishes. But if you go there 
on foot with your gun as an ordinary sportsman, 
seat yourself at the general table, and eat out of tin 
and common earthenware, you will have a most 
delicious meal.” — “ Very well, Matthew, I can 
easily put up with the earthenware.” 
The next morning, after nibbing a biscuit and 
sipping a little wine, Mr. Rosiers took his gun, and 
set out for Vanzelles. He was past fifty, short and 
stout, and was quite unaccustomed to walk fifteen 
miles for his dinner. The day was warm, and 
when he reached the “ Faithful Pigeon,” he was 
out of breath and ravenously hungry. Dinner was 
just being served, and the millionaire quietly took 
the first empty seat among the wagoners... .Never 
before had he tasted such tempting dishes, de¬ 
liciously cooked, and served in delf and earthen¬ 
ware ! Certainly, Lelong was the best cook in the 
world! After a deal of persuasion, the host of 
the villag'e-inn was induced to leave his establish¬ 
ment, and accept enormous wages as head cook in 
Mr. Rosier’s city mansion. But, alas I his roasts 
and fricassees were not the same as when prepared 
in his own little kitchen; he seemed to have lost 
his art, for the rich man again lost his appetite. 
In vain he scolded, in vain the new cook tried his 
best to tempt the master’s palate, and appease his 
anger. “I shall die of starvation !” cried Mr. Ro¬ 
siers, rising from a sumptuous, but untouched meal. 
“ Matthew, can you explain the meaning of this ?” 
“Do not be angry with me, sir,” replied the 
game-keeper, “but remember, that it was only 
when you had walked fifteen miles for your dinner 
that you were able to enjoy it. If your food seems 
tasteless now, Master, it is not Lelong’s fault. 
About Scorpions. 
—o— 
A young reader asks what kind of 
creatures scorpions are, and if their 
sting is deadly. Scorpions are close¬ 
ly related to spiders. Their bodies 
have six broad joints, and six others 
very narrow which form a sort of tail. 
Two of their mouth parts are formed 
into pincers, like the large claws 
of the lobster. At the end of the tail is a sting, 
having two very small openings below the point, 
that connect with a little bag from which a poisonous 
liquid is thrown into the wound made by its sting. 
The scorpions vary in size ffom an inch in length, 
to the enormous kind found in Ceylon, six inches 
long. They are found in all waim countries; a 
small one is a native of some of our Southern 
States, and in Western Texas they are quite abun¬ 
dant. They are usually of a greenish-yellow color, 
and in Africa tliere is a black one. The violence of 
their poison varies greatly in the different kinds, 
but ordinarily it is not more serious than the sting 
of a wasp. I have known many persons stung by 
them. In travelling in Western Texas, and in what 
is now Arizona, our teamsters did not take the trou¬ 
ble to put up their tents, but spread blankets on 
the ground, and their only preparation for bed was 
to take off their boots. I have frequently seen a 
boot fly across the camp, accompanied by a loud 
exclamation. The teamster in putting on his boots in 
the morning, was made painfully aware that a 
scorpion had taken shelter in one of them during 
the night, by a sting in the intruding foot. This 
happened a number of times, and I never knew a 
man to be laid up from the effects. Intelligent 
Mexicans informed me that there is a scorpion in 
the southern portion of their country, whose sting 
is always fatal to children. The Doctor. 
Head, Body, and Legs. 
A party of young people may amuse themselves a 
long time thus : Cut some pieces of paper of any 
size desired, but three times as long as broad. Each 
one with a pencil draws upon the upper part of a 
piece of the paper the head of a quadruped, or bird, 
or a human one, and folding the top down to just 
cover the drawing, passes it to another, asking 
for a “ body.” When this is drawn and covered 
by another folding down, the papers pass on to 
others to add the legs. After all are finished one 
is chosen to unfold and exhibit the drawings, and a 
variety of odd and ridiculous figures will appear, 
affording great amusement and fun. The four 
small cuts in the upper portion of the engraving 
show the manner of folding the paper as the dif¬ 
ferent parts are drawn, and below are given speci¬ 
mens of incongruous figures that may thus be pro¬ 
duced. When drawing the head, continue the 
neck a little below the fold, in order that the one 
who draws the body may know where to attach 
it. Do the same with the lower edge of the body. 
THE ANTLERS OP THE IRISH ELK. 
