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FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



earlier birds were of a creamy white; so much so as to be 

 almost, if not quite, straw color." 



Again, in No. 11, same volume of World, J. B. Smith, a 

 noted Leghorn breeder, says: "I believe the standard on 

 the ear-lobe should be changed, and instead of reading 

 'pure opaque white,' it should read 'pure white or straw- 

 color ;' for some of the best specimens I have ever seen had 

 straw-colored ear-lobes. They were common, years ago." 



But I differ with Mr. Smith. I think the standard should 

 be either the one thing or the other. Instead of "pure 

 opaque white," I would'substitute "pale straw-color." 



The editor of the World says, in same number referred 

 to: "White ear-lobes upon White Leghorns are not as beau- 

 tiful or as novel as cream-colored ones, and they are at war 

 with the yellow skin and legs. It was a mistake that cream 

 or straw-color was not adopted as standard in the first 

 place." 



If the standard, as now revised, allows both white and 

 straw-colored lobes, I hope it will be considered a disquali- 

 fication where the ear-lobes do not match in the pen. 



In the late Pennsylvania Show, the cock in the first pre- 

 mium coop of White Leghorns had straw-colored lobes, and 

 the hen in the same had pure white lobes. 



I would like to hear the opinion of other Leghorn 

 breeders on this subject. A. R. Tatnall. 



Wilmington, Del. 



{oHf Among the very rarest novelties exhibited in the 

 Boulevard Fair, is the "elephant rat," alleged to be alive. 

 The science of medicine has of late established the possibility 

 of transplanting flesh from one part of the body to replace 

 it in another ; even bone has taken root. An admirer of 

 nature had the bright idea suggested commercially by the 

 numerous phenomena at present exhibited in the city and 

 reaping a golden harvest, to engraft a portion of a rat's tail 

 on a rat's nose, the thick end uppermost. Darwin never 

 dreamed of such an intermediary race. The exhibitor suc- 

 ceeded in twenty grafts, the process being effected in the 

 course of a month. The fact is asserted as true, and though 

 I specially visited the part of the Boulevard where the dar- 

 lings were to be seen, they were invisible, but persons 

 affirmed their existence was true. In addition, there are 

 exhibited, not only gambling birds that will find a required 

 card in a pack, but " table turners " of an unexpected kind, 

 consisting of birds which will upset tables and chairs in a 

 tiny drawing-room. 



ggj^- The Robin. — A Robin came in the severity of the 

 winter to the window of a pious countryman, as if he would 

 like to come in. The countryman opened his window and 

 kindly took the confiding little creature into his dwelling, 

 and it picked up the crumbs and scraps which fell from his 

 table. The children of the countryman were very much 

 attached to the bird, but when spring reappeared in the 

 country, and the leaves put forth, the countryman opened 

 his window, and the little guest flew into the neighboring 

 woods and built its nest and sung its cheerful song. 



Behold, when winter returned, the robin came again into 

 the countryman's house, bringing with him his mate. The 

 countryman and his children were very glad when they saw 

 how trustingly the bright eyes of both the little creatures 

 looked about, and the children said : " The bird slook at us 

 as if they would like to say something !" 



Their father answered: "If they could speak they would 

 say, ' friendly confidence awakens confidence, and love be- 

 gets a return of love !' " 



YOUNG FISH-HAWKS. 



The young Fish-Hawks are the funniest things you ever 

 saw, awkward and mis-shaped and yet with such a wise, 

 dignified expression! I watched for several hours a couple 

 learning to fly. They sat balanced uneasily on the edge of 

 the nest, solemn and grave as judges, and looked as if they 

 had come out of the shell knowing everything. The old 

 birds were coaxing, and going through various exercises, 

 which, I suppose, were the first principles of flying, and the 

 young ones tilted about and rolled over, and finally got 

 fastened between the sharp branches of the tree. The 

 mother and father fussed and scolded, " Bill-ee, Bill-ee, 

 Stu-pid-i-ty." The young are very slow in learning to fly ; 

 and I have heard that they often linger in the nest long 

 after they are well able to help themselves, to be fed and 

 waited upon, till driven away by the parents, who beat 

 them out with their wings and pick them with their 

 sharp beaks. I don't like to think this, but it may be 

 so, for one day we found a young bird drooping on the 

 fence. He allowed us to come very close to him, and 

 we discovered that his wing was broken. It was not shot, 

 so he must have fallen in his effort to fly. No birds were 

 near him ; he had evidently been deserted. He looked for- 

 lorn and pitiful, so we took him home and put him in the 

 wagon-house. The children were verj attentive to him; 

 they cut up fish for him — pounds of it — and tried to amuse 

 him as if he were a lamed child. But it was of no use ; he 

 drooped still more and then died, and was buried with mar- 

 tial noise and pomp. He would not have been a successful 

 pet, for these birds have a lonely, isolated nature. They 

 seem to have bred in them the wild, untamable spirit of the 

 wind and wave, and if deprived of their free, soaring flight, 

 and their sportings in air and water, they will languish and 

 die. — St. Nicholas. 



ANECDOTE OF LANDSEER. 



It is now some twenty years ago that a large part} 7 were 

 assembled at one of the ducal ancestral homes of England, 

 and among the guests expected was Sir Edwin. During the 

 day the question turned upon which was the handsomest of 

 two dogs — one, a King Charles spaniel, called Dash, belong- 

 ing to the lady of the mansion, and a terrier, the property 

 of a gallant officer in the navy, now an admiral. After 

 describing the merits of the two dogs, an Englishman's 

 argument — a wager — was resorted to : the Duchess, if the 

 winner, to receive a certain number of Houbigaut's best 

 gloves from Paris ; the Captain to receive a beautiful hunt- 

 waistcoat of buff silk, ornamented with gold frogs, should 

 his terrier (Tj'ke) carry off the prize. An understanding 

 was then come to that Landseer should be the judge, but 

 that not a hint or remark was to be given or made to him. 

 For an hour before dinner, and during the entire evening, 

 Dash was moving about the room or stretching himself 

 upon the rug before a blazing fire. Next morning, a visit to 

 the stable was made by all the guests, headed by the host 

 and hostess. While admiring one of the Duke's hunters, 

 "Tyke" made his appearance. "What a beauty!" said 

 Sir Edwin. The Captain gave a look at the hostess, who 

 immediately replied, "Fairly won;" and within a week he 

 appeared at table in the hunt-waistcoat. During the visit a 

 sketch was made of Tyke, who afterward appeared as " Im- 

 pudence" in that splendid work of art, " Dignity and Im- 

 pudence." Fifteen years elapsed, when one day the Captain 



