15996 Kangaroos, Australia

Kangaroos live in Australia. They are the strangest animals you ever saw. Look at those feeding in the park. They are standing on all four legs. That is so they can get their mouths down to the ground. One is sitting up on his hind legs like a squirrel. His strong tail helps him keep his balance. Probably he is five feet tall and his tail is a yard long. You can see his short fore legs very well. With such long hind legs and short fore legs, how does the kangaroo run? Why, he does not run at all-he jumps. Look over by the fence. That kangaroo is jumping along on his strong hind legs. His fore legs have nothing to do with it. If you could jump as far as he, you would beat all the other boys, for he can jump almost ten yards. Measure and see how far that is.

Baby kangaroos are hardly as big as mice when they are born. Mother kangaroo picks them up in her fore paws and puts them in the cradle ready for them. Do you want to know what the cradle is? On the front of the mother’s stomach between her hind legs is a sort of pouch. She puts her baby into this pouch and carries it about with her. Baby lives in this pouch until old enough to care for himself.

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13750 Crocodiles, Palm Beach, Fla.

You must not go swimming where such creatures live. Look at their teeth and you will know why. These crocodiles are kept where people can see them. But there are few wild ones that live in Florida. They are sometimes hunted because they are dangerous. They are sometimes killed by Indians for their skins. Leather is made from the skins.

Crocodiles live on the shore of some water. They are not fish, but they can swim. They can stay under water a long time without breathing. But after a while they must put their pointed noses up into the air to take a breath. They live in warm countries and like to sun themselves on the hot sand.

Baby crocodiles come from eggs about as large as a turkey’s. These are laid on shore and covered with sand or mud. The sun makes them hatch. When the little crocodiles are hatched, they go into the water. Their mother does not take care of them. If they grow up they may be nine or ten feet long. They may live to be one hundred years old.

Crocodiles eat meat and fish. They snap with their strong jaws any animal or fish that comes near. Both jaws are hinged and both can be moved up and down. Your lower jay is hinged, your upper is not. Try it and see.

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7818 Young Flickers

One day a man saw a hole high up in a dead tree. He saw a flicker go into that hole. He knew it was the door of her home. He was sure she had babies at the bottom of her home. He wanted you to see them. So he sawed off a part of the tree trunk. Then he took their picture for you.

These baby flickers are woodpeckers. Their toes are in pairs. Two turn front and two back. These toes have sharp, strong claws on them. Their tails have stiff feathers. Their bills are large and strong. Their tongues are round and long.

When they are older they will walk up and down the trunks of trees. You never saw a robin do that. The flickers’ sharp claws and stiff tail feathers will help them. With their large strong bills they will dig through the bark for insect eggs or grubs. They will pick these out of the holes with their long tongues. Robins cannot do these things.

The home that you see was dug by the flicker with his bill. The door was way up at the top. The white eggs were laid where the three babies are. Do you see the white spots on their backs? When they fly they show the yellow color under their wings and tails.

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7819 Ring-Necked Pheasants, U.S.A.

Once there were no pheasants in America. The kind in the picture live in China. They are such beautiful birds that some were brought to our country and kept in pens. Hunters thought it would be nice to have more game birds to shoot. So after a time many were set free in Oregon, one of our western states. Now there are many living wild in that state.

The father bids have a band of white around their necks. That is why we call them ring-necked pheasants. The mother birds have no white bands. When they are wild their food is acorns, grain, and other seeds. They hide under bushes in the daytime and come out in the evening to feed.

Each hen pheasant lays her eggs in a nest of leaves and sits on them as our hens do. When the little birds hatch they are much smaller than chickens. They can run about at once. They are almost the color of dry leaves. If you should surprise a family in the fields or woods, you would see the young ones run away and hide. They run about much more quickly than little chickens. They go so fast you can hardly keep your eyes on them. When they are grown they can fly, but they do not fly unless they are in danger.

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