The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 6, 1901, Page 11

THE SUNDAY CALL. MAIN LOFT \W1TH ABROUT 3000 PIGEONS I SIGH T ng and does: € doz 20,00 year and s were bullt, & lofts on the utmost capac- b & P r s th r price. Dur per doz sumed by this is enormous. eight sacks of ;at caldron of this extensive four barrels of water are given costs $15 a day to e main requisite to and prolific increase food of the proper gigar ranch is conducted en systematic lines, All : zed. The feathers of b have been dressed ed du r are sent to olstery de uts of great fur- n welve to fifteen in each much ha are thorough- fon of carbolic TV JorNSo~ PHETO By AuTmom sts are also sprinkled with insect pow- and sulphur. Early each morning Johnson or h reads od-sized pile of stra y of material a . espe- birds cia the y at swarm the lace ily over e ground mass of gray and ite flutterers. nd then there is of wings a £ rt sud- in great m their lofts and wheel ever t ranch settling river bed where they drink and bathe. “They die sometimes,” gays Mr. Jonn- mn, as he ccnducts b vigitor over the m “Here's one, now. Got diphtheria,” and he pulls a three-w old uealer” from the llen nest bird caressin the vertel An h become badly bruised Three or killed to aveid fut four re misery. birds four old “Died of old iyt the are 3 s me: ones know me 1 know & good many enough, some of the bi them while th says 3 suffer him to c: wary of a strange The young birds are re filled with an enor- 3 : seem to ab- ‘I'm trying to raise all white remarks the p! ag he selects a large number of dark equabs for the market. “I'm only selling off my stock on rrnche dark squabs now. White birds present a carance. 'I'hev look bigger ar better. Three years ago my st but over threc- . The squabs n the morning. The crate, where they are sell dar until evening, at which time they are killed and dressed When sclectng the!r homes the maie bird ta essicn of first 1 female a preten she files T excitedly around making ding a better locatlon. As t the varlous Ps contain- tries to coax her h him, When companion he driv three or four times ing the malc tot if s turning they are mated In pigeon life the male % to be fickle. He h tut one mate, yet ringe. The - — . g e ok P =, 53 RORD RUNNER, KING SNAKE 2 ountry where a quarter of a cen- structed than the fighting cock, the road #&0 a rartlespake was to be runmer is one of the most dreaded enemies i rock and In every of the rattler. In fact, so great are his » Is rapidly becom- snake killing propensities that heavy pen- ity, says the New York Sun. gltjes are provided by the Territorlal sta- k relative, the Apache, the tutes as a protection to him from the gun ing from Arizona, and of the hunter. Apparently immune to the r In the most isolated venom in the poison sac of the rattler, the road runner attacks the largest snake 3 flization und the with impunity, and has never been known W the road runner to lose a fight. Frequently, indeed, the g ce may be attributed road runnmer has been known to battle % f the rattler. Wher- with and kill a pair of large diamond rat- € a ts way the rat- tlers whose total weight was five times en to higher ground, that of his own. pt 4 miner have N0t S0 common an enemy to the rattle- & . erever found, Shake, but no less deadly. is the king + e B snake, a species of the bull snake family. long-legged feath- Rarely seen in the lower countries, but ered his part, and done often found in the morthern forests and more lightly con- higher mountains, the king snake wages constant warfare on the rattler, and when PHOYC BY GRoNAWM | & AND RATTLER. his great lithe form coils around the body of the rattlesnake the life of the latter is a matter of only a few seconds. 4 Herbert Housland, a prospector, had an experience with a rattler, a king snake and a road runner a few days ago which he will not soon forget. He was with a party in the Bradshaw Mountains, south of Prescott, and was guarding camp for the day. He had lain down to sleep when he was suddenly aroused to find a great rattlesnake colled upon his breast. “I almost suffocated from fearing to breathe lest I should be bitten,” he said. “The snake was greatly excited, and in a minute I saw the cause. A king snake was trying to exeite the rattler to com- bat, and my person was the chosen battle ground. The king snake had probably forced the rattler to refuge upon my body, and following up his aggressive tactics was running in a circle around the rattler very rapidly. He crossed my breast from left to right and my thighs from right to BREAK FA ce o s 8 s < St he does not hesitate to send languist glances and coo at other lady birds. is tolerated by his mate, who is always| faithful until he then she seel nother partne The nesting begins when aré about six months old. g een days for that are laid at a setting to hatch. he male bird di- vides the time on the nest with his mate, going on duty about 9 in the morning, | giving her an hour or two to fly around, eat, drink and take her bath. Later in the day he takes another turn. The fe- sick or die: without 5 the pigeons It takes - | the two e male bird sel to return at and 1s alwi ready ment's notice more so ¥ n At three weeks the squabs are her bath v r market ¥ eady to lay more ¢ to fly it falls off ut of the After the squab NOTABLE METECRS OF RISTORY- of the most remarkable meteors 3 ugh d an ele Freder wrent cloud rounded T Smo; Scon after the flash r of terrific explosions was heard 1 the dis- charge of a thousand cannon. ese were 11 ED Tay ED HAWK THE PlGQEor S GREATES RANCH, SHOWING SixX PIGEON LOF = wire nce that heard throughout De and laft, and within less than a foot of the rattler's body. “The velocity of the snake was most wonderful." It seemed to be one continu- ous ring, and part of the time I could seemingly see three or four rings at once. I made a slight movement with my right foot, which attracted the rattler's atten- tion for an instdpt, and that was fatal to him. At that one false movement of his eyes the king snake darted and seized the rattler by the throat, close up to his head, and began instantly to coil around his vietim. “They rolled off me in their death gtruggle and became one tangled mass for ten minutes, when the rattler's sounds died away gradually. While I lay ex- hausted from my tright a road runner durted out of a bush and grabbing the two snakes.in his beak began to drag them away. The welght was too great, but be kiiled the king snake by a blow from his long bill, and ran away as I arose and threw the two reptiles into the bushes, and there the bird and his mate devoured them.” MUSICAL DENTISTRY 18 LATEST USICAL dentistry is the latest m @iscovery in Paris. It has been taken up by a well known phy- sician, who expounded it before the Par{s Academy of Medicine, and it has thus received the sanction of high scientific authority. The method consists in drawing teeth to the sounds of sweet music. A usually trying operation be- comes, it is stated, not only painless, but quite pleasant, when conducted in this way. The physiclan addressed the academy meeting on hehalf of a Paris dentist, who has alrehdy applied the musical method with success. The ldea of the new process was first suggested by observation of patlents under the influ- ence of anaesthetics, the drug used being nitrogen protoxide In vapors. As is known, the incipient effect of the latter s to produce In nearly every case disagree- able, sometimes almost unbearable, sensa- tions, resembling those experienced in -caused by the per nightmare. The dentistin question came to the conclusion that is ordeal of bad dreams a 1 ment of the : thetic_influence tion of no by the mind when in a state still partial consciousness. Why soothe patients into the required condition of temporary oblivion by sweeter sounds? The dentist tried the experiment, and he and his patients were alike charmed witn the result. The latter were as good as gold; the tooth-pulling operations, not being interfered with by the greans or contortions of sufferers, were performed with the greatest ease, and on recovering consciousness all that pawents remem- bered were bars of the “Lohengrin” over- ture, for example, still softly singing in their ears. The new method having been invented, nothing remained but to bring it to its greatest possible pitch of per- fection. The obvious difficulties in the way of dentists habitually keeping bands, o FaD. n the premises PRARISIA ers and by solo choirs of rator powerful whose ed has be hod mac The the gas administered, and ward the occupant of the once dreaded dental chair awakens from pleasant dreams to see the smiling surgeon show- ing him his tooth. Of course a varied cholce of musical selectlons can—and, should—be = to suit different aments and teeth. Without going particular que: sician spoke quite enthusiastically about the new proecess to the assembled academicians. He Is eager to apply the musical method to surgical operations general. He intends making experiments of his own in this direction, and he hoped that some of his hearers would do like- wise.—London Telegraph. ions the phy-