1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
227 
A Rustic Bird>Cage. 
Building bird-cages is one of the amusements of boys 
who like to use carpenters’ tools, and we give them a pat¬ 
tern of a very pretty one, which we saw some time ago. 
It was a cage for a parrot, but the same style may be fol¬ 
lowed in making one for smaller birds. The sticks are 
all cedar and left “ rustic.” Other wood with the bark 
on may be used. The roof is covered with sticks, split in 
halves and tacked on. The platform with the ladders 
seen inside will not be needed for small birds. In 
making a thing of this kind, start with a definite plan. 
Draw out the parts on a piece of coarse paper in thq 
proper proportion, and then work to measure. Where 
the pieces of wood cross one another, as in the door, 
they are “ halved together,” as the carpenters say, that 
is, a piece is cut out of each stick half way through, and 
one stick is let into the other. But few tools are required 
—a fine saw, a good knife, and a gimlet for boring. Try 
and make straight lines and square corners, and en¬ 
deavor to learn something even in building a bird-house. 
The Zebu or ISrsilimin Bull. 
Some cousins came on a visit, and I did as everybody 
in New York does with their country friends, took them 
to Central Park. City people go there to see the trees, 
the rocks, and the grass ; but you boys and girls who live 
in the country see so much of all these things every day. 
that you like to go to a city, just for a change. Then you 
will wonder why I took my country friends to the Park 
if they were to see only such things as they left at home. 
I didn’t say that trees, rocks, water, and grass were all 
that there was at the Park. No, indeed; there are such 
roads and bridges as you never saw before; and there are 
statues and fountains ; but above all, there are the ani¬ 
mals! There is a whole menagerie, from elephants to 
sheep. “ Sheep are no curiosity, you can see a plenty 
without going to the Park.”.... So thought my cousins, 
but when they saw the flock of pure Southdowns, and 
the Cotswolds, I noticed they wanted to take a long look 
at them. As we came to the pens where the gentler ani¬ 
mals are kept, we heard one visitor ask another, “An 
THE ZEBU OR BRAHMIN CATTLE, 
what is that wid the hump to his back “ Oh, that’s a 
dhrummydhary, shure,”—said another. I looked for the 
dromedary, but saw only a couple of the oddest little 
cattle—a Zebu, or Brahmin Bull and a cow. These are 
much smaller than common cattle. The best way to 
describe these animals is to give a drawing of them. 
You will notice their hanging ears, their great dewlaps, 
and the curious hump on the shoulders. This hump is 
fatty, and is said to be delicious eating. They have a 
different voice from common cattle, and make a sort of 
grunting sound. These animals are natives of India— 
cousin Philip, who is always trying to be funny, said 
he thought they had a very Indi-ured look. Indeed, 
they have a strange expression, and look as if they would 
like to be taken back to India where they are regarded 
as sacred animals, and stand in no fear of the butcher; 
though the Brahmins do not hold them so sacred as to 
allow them to live in idleness, hut they make them work, 
and it is said that when harnessed to a carriage they will 
travel-thirty miles a day. My cousins were more pleased 
with the elephants ; but these cattle were to me the most 
interesting things at the Park. I had read about their 
pictures having been found in Egypt, and that they had 
been kept as domestic animals over 2,000 years B. C. I 
had long wanted to see one of these sacred Bulls, and it 
was very satisfactory to come upon it unexpectedly. 
Will Warren. 
Chinese Kite Flying. 
BY “CARLETON.” 
If there is an American boy or girl that does not love 
to play, I do not care particularly about making their 
acquaintance, but the American Agriculturist has no such 
dull, mopish, stupid readers. I dare say that there isn't 
one of the young folks who watch for its coming every 
month that does not love to play almost as well as they 
love to work ! Work and play go well together. Only 
it is better to do the working before we do the playing. 
But the young folks in America arc not the only people 
in the world who love to play. A few months ago, when 
I was in China, I found the old folks were as boyish as 
any of us. We should think it rather small business for 
our fathers and grandfathers to spend a whole day in fly¬ 
ing kites, though Dr. Franklin, you know, did it. The 
people of Philadelphia, who saw that grown up man 
wearing a three-cornered cocked hat, going out to fly a 
kite in a thunder storm, thought he was crazy, hut we 
know what has come of his craziness—lightning-rods, 
telegraphs, and a great deal of the science of electricity. 
In September—the Chinese set aside one day to kite 
flying, and all hands engage in it. They say that a for¬ 
tune teller once told a man that on such a day all of his 
cattle would die, and the farmer not wishing to see them 
struck dead, went out upon the hills and flew his kite 
either to drown his sorrow or to propitiate the kind feel¬ 
ings of the good spirit in the heavens who had the care 
of his cattle. Although he kept his kite up all day, his 
cattle died; at least so runs the story. And now when¬ 
ever the day comes round, the people go out in great 
multitudes to fly their kites, to obtain the good-will of 
the spirits who have the cattle under their protection. 
This festival is called the “ Ascending-on-IIigh- 
Day,” because then they send their kites up 
to the clouds. They beat us all out in making 
kites. The best one I ever had in my boyhood 
was small and mean in comparison with theirs. 
The frames of mine were covered with newspa¬ 
pers, while theirs arc covered with red, green, 
yellow, or purple silk. Mine was simply a square 
frame, and not more than three feet high, while 
theirs are in the shape of spectacles, eagles, bats, owls, 
dragons, crocodiles, winged serpents, or fishes. They use 
small bamboo sticks, which are hollow, for the frame, 
which, therefore, is very light. Some of the serpents are 
fifty feet long, with wings stretching 
forty feet from tip to tip ! I think 
that I hear you say—“(9, what a big 
one!" Some resemble men sailing 
through the air. All arc gaily painted 
and beautifully decorated. Everybody 
goes out to see the sight, and the 
hills are covered with spectators. 
Imagine yourself near a town on 
the kite-flying day. You will seethe 
town in the distance with a tall pa¬ 
goda rising above it. The people 
are coming out to enjoy themselves 
for the day. You will be amused 
with the odd forms of the kite. One 
Chinaman has a kite shaped like 
an eagle. Near him will be another 
who is sending up a kite that looks 
like a vampire, which is a queer 
creature, having a body like a mouse 
—the head of an owl—and wings 
like an umbrella covered with India 
rubber—a creature, it is said, that sucks the blood out of 
your toes'while you are asleep. I don’t believe it though. 
When the sport of kite flying for the day is over, the 
Chinamen go to their homes and have a grand dinner, 
just as we do on Thanksgiving day or at Christmas. 
The Chinese are quite as boyish in their other amuse¬ 
ments. I know that we should all laugh until our sides 
ached were we to see a procession of grown up men 
walking through the streets on stilts! Yet that is what 
you may see in China. The stilts are five or six feet high, 
and those who walk on them arc so expert that they 
have no fear of tumbling down. They dance and sing, 
straddle over men’s heads, step across ditches, and take 
great strides as if they were long legged giants, tall 
enough to look into the second story windows of a house. 
It would bo an easy matter, however, to trip them up 
and give them a tumble. 
The boys of China have no wide-awake, jolly games. 
They don’t know what real fun is. The old men have 
all the fun, which does not seem to be hardly fair. 
Though the fun of the old folks does not amount to much. 
They have one amusement which I am sure you would 
like to sec. They have many superstitions and believe 
that dragons have a great deal to do with human affairs. 
They must keep on the right side of the dragons, and so 
they have festivals in their honor. On the evening of 
the day on which the festival is held, the dragon makes 
its appearance in the streets. It has a great head. Its 
mouth is wide open; its eyeballs flame with fire ; its body 
is as long and as large as that of the sea serpent, with 
claws like a crocodile’s. 
Think of walking along the street in the night and 
seeing such a monster coming towards you, wriggling its 
body over the pavement, twisting,—turning,—creeping,— 
crawling,—working its jaws as if to cat you up! If we 
did not know what it was, we should scamper into the 
house, holt the door, run up stairs, or down cellar, or get 
behind somebody; but it is a dragon that does not eat 
folks. We could despatch him with an ax in a short 
time, or we could make an end of him by touching a 
candle to his tail. His ribs are not very strong—they are 
made of bamboo, and his skin is of paper. 
It is not very difficult to get up a dragon. The Chinese 
take some small bamboo sticks which they make into 
hoops—some large and some small, the largest for the 
body—the smallest for the tail. Those arc for the ribs 
(Continued on next page.) 
New Puzzles So l>e Answered. 
No. 381. Grope Puzzle .—Plant 19 trees in a grove, the 
trees to stand in 9 rows, having 5 trees in each row. 
No. 382. Weight Puzzle .—The following is sent by M. 
Butler. A grocer having no weights, except a 40 lb. 
leaden one, wishes to have this cut into four weights in 
such a manner that he can weigh with these four weights 
any number of pounds from one up to forty. What 
should be the weight of the different pieces? 
No. 3S3. Arithmetical Puzzle .—Three men agreed to 
sell their eggs at the same price. The 1st had 50, the 2d 
30, and the 3d 10 eggs. They each sold at the same 
prices, and each received the same amount of money. 
How did they sell and how much did they receive ? 
'. 384. Illustrated Pebus .—A maxim, which, if followed by 
old and young, would save much trouble. 
No. 3S5. Illustrated Pebus .—This is a very true saying, 
which the artist has ingeniously expressed in a rebus, 
