FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



123 



found himself in a railway carriage, bound for Chatham, to 

 join his ship, when who should enter the compartment but 

 Landseer. For some time he looked at the gallant sailor, 

 and appeared anxious and perplexed; at last, as if in despair 

 in not remembering the name of his companion, he blurted 

 out, "Tyke." A recognition followed, and a talk about old 

 times whiled away the time until they reached Chatham, 

 where they parted. Poor Tyke met with a sad end: he was 

 bitten by a mad dog and destroyed. — Land and Water. 



CAT vs r RABBIT. 



A little old man in blouse and felt hat, says a Paris 

 letter writer, was pointed out to me by the policeman as one 

 who, in addition to rag picking, deals in questionable rab- 

 bits. He is known as the Pere Jacques, and is regarded as 

 a person of some importance in the rag fraternity. I ap- 

 proach Pere Jacques and engage him in conversation. He 

 has become expansive over his wine, and makes indiscreet 

 revelations touching the rabbit business. Twenty years ago 

 he skinned and dressed his rabbits, and people bought them 

 without asking any questions. That was the bon temps, and 

 if it had continued he would be to-day a man of indepen- 

 dent fortune. But the journals and inquisitive people got 

 to talking so much about cats in connection with rabbits 

 that a long season of dullness followed as a consequence. 

 The newspapers went so far as to figure up how many rab- 

 bits were brought into Paris each year, and how many were 

 consumed, and they made it out that twice as many were 

 consumed as were brought in. He felt for a time as if the 

 business was ruined, for thereafter the rabbit purchasers de- 

 manded the head of the rabbit as a guarantee of the genu- 

 ineness of the animal. But he was equal to the emergency. 

 He gave an extension to his commerce by making an ar- 

 rangement with all the cooks on his rag beat to buy their 

 rabbit skins on condition that the heads should be delivered 

 with them. Thereafter he was enabled to fnrnish to skepti- 

 cal buyers the rabbit head with the dressed cat, and every- 

 body was satisfied. He-sold the animals to the small out-of- 

 the-way restaurants, as a rule, where they were made into 

 gibeolottes. The cat entire yielded him one franc, and they 

 to whom he sold the flesh usually got about two and a half 

 francs out of the animal when turned into gibeolottes. The 

 business was fair, but there was more competition — espec- 

 ially since the Commune, under which some people had 

 learned to eat the cat with pleasure, knowing him to be cat. 



The Black Martin. — The writer in Our Dumb Animals 

 says: — "We often wondered, when reading the history of 

 birds, why so little is said about the black martin, the most 

 beautiful, and most interesting of the swallow family. We 

 would like to ask for information in relation to providing 

 houses for them — how they should be built, and how many 

 rooms in one house. If others were like us in their love of 

 birds, there would be few birds killed, and much more at- 

 tention would be given to the building of houses, and in 

 many other ways providing comfortable places where they 

 can build their nests and rear their young. Two years ago 

 we erected a martin-house, with five rooms, on a cedar pole 

 twenty-five feet high, in the yard, near the house, for the 

 accommodation of any birds that might choose to occupy it. 

 Bluebirds were the first to take possession, and were not dis- 

 turbed in their new home that year. Last year the blue- 



birds came again, but had been there but a few days when 

 four pairs of black martins put in an appearance, and re- 

 mained several days. They examined every martin-house 

 in the village, but finally made war on our poor bluebirds, 

 drove them off, and took possession, remaining till about the 

 last of August, and taking with them quite a large family. 

 Last spring one pair of common swallows occupied one room 

 in the house, and in a few days six pairs of black martins 

 arrived, and wished to take possession of their home of last 

 year. But the swallows were not to be driven off - , and the3 T 

 held possession of the tenement they had taken, leaving but 

 four tenements for the martins ; consequently but four pairs 

 remained. In due time our house was filled with martins ; 

 and they attracted the attention of the whole community by 

 their music, which could be heard for half a mile, from 

 morning until night. Other parties in the village erected 

 large, elegant martin-houses ; but no birds came. Next 

 season, probably, the whole flock will be back ; and we want 

 to provide the best accommodations for them, that they may 

 all stay with us; so we write for the abova information. 

 We have many different kinds of birds about our premises, 

 and do not allow any one to frighten them ; and they are 

 always very tame. They are so musical that we want to do 

 all we can to encourage them to stay with us. Our home, 

 without the company and music of birds in summer, would 

 be a lonely, unpleasant home, indeed." 



jgQf An eccentric cow in St. Paul, having a wish for 

 something better than the cold, bare barn, cautiously stole 

 up the front stoop and stairs of a dwelling-house and sur- 

 prised its mistress by poking a pair of horns through the 

 second floor front door. The lady with the characteristic 

 presence of mind of her sex, attempted to drive the now 

 belligerent foe out with the broomstick. Failing in this, 

 she called in the "tyrant" man, who disposed of the cow, 

 and a great part of the furniture, stair-carpet and matting, 

 not to mention suffering a few broken fingers and a scraped 

 nose. This excursion of " Bessy " to the boudoir of its mis- 

 tress cost the family a little less than " Bessy " was worth. 

 But the children think more of her now than ever. 



THE ESSEX COUNTY (MASS.) POULTRY 

 ASSOCIATION 



Has been organized by the choice of the following offi- 

 cers: 



President — George B. Loring, Salem. 



Vice-Presidents — Hon. William Sutton, Peabody ; Fran- 

 cis H. Appleton, West Peabody; George W. Boynton, 

 Georgetown; Francis Dane, Hamilton; George R. Harris, 

 Salem. 



Corresponding Secretary — N. B. Perkins, Jr., Salem. 



Recording Secretary — C. A. Beckford, Salem. 



Treasurer — H. B. Griffin, Salem. 



Executive Committee — Aaron Low, Essex ; Mark Pit- 

 man, North Beverly; Ira J. Patch, Lynn; John Swiner- 

 ton, Danvers; John C. Ropes, Salem; William B. Atkin- 

 son, Newburyport; Bennett Griffin, Gloucester; H. G. 

 Herrick, Lawrence ; Winsor M. Ward, Peabody ; Solomon 

 Cummings, Rowley ; A. L. Dorr, Haverhill ; T. 0. Ward- 

 well, North Andover.. 



The Association proposes to hold an Exhibition at an 

 early day, at some convenient point in the county. 



