JARDIN D'ACCLIMATATION, PARIS 19 



Paris in 1880. It was to the efforts of this scientist 

 that France owes the introduction of merino sheep. 

 This beautiful statue is placed opposite the sheep pens, 

 so that the gentleman can still have his eye on the 

 Ty-ang or Chinese sheep, the grey sheep of Russia, 

 and the Astrakan sheep, which furnishes such a beauti- 

 ful fur. Not far from here is some rockwork executed 

 by M. Teiton, through which runs a little river. 

 Every day at a fixed hour the cormorants are made 

 to fish. The throat of this bird is encircled by a 

 collar, which prevents it from swallowing the fish 

 which it has caugrht at the bottom of the water. In 

 China these birds are used extensively for fishing. 



On the right, following the pheasantries, we come 

 to the poultry house, a monolith building in mortar in 

 a semicircular shape. Here are to be found the fol- 

 lowing among many other varieties : La Fleche, Mans, 

 Houdan, Bresse, Campine, Dorking, Cochin China, 

 Langshan, Brahma, etc. The eggs form an important 

 article of commerce in the Garden. The pens of the 

 poultry house also contain the largest collection of 

 pigeons ever brought together. Mention must be 

 made of the carrier pigeons, the descendants of those 

 birds which during the Siege of Paris carried no less 

 than 115,000 messages microscopically photographed 

 on bits of collodion which weighed next to nothing. 



On the edge of the lake is a large and elegant 

 pigeon tower, made of brick and iron, 30 metres high 

 and 6 metres in diameter, and divided into four stages. 

 The interior is divided into coops for 400 couples of 

 pigeons. The top is reserved for those pigeons which, 

 born in the place, are allowed their liberty, and are 



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