POSSIBLE PETS 
279 
— for the bear was fat. “ Oh, no ! I should not think 
of such a thing,” said the butcher. “ I want him 
for a pet.” “ Very well; how high will you go? ” we 
asked. “Up to ten pounds,” the butcher replied. 
But though we did our best, the owner would not 
accept less than eight hundred francs, to the great 
disappointment of the would-be purchaser. What is 
required for an every-day pet is that it shall be 
beautiful and intelligent ; that it shall neither be too 
large nor too delicate ; and, if a bird, that it shall 
sing or talk — preferably both. The two first re- 
quirements will not go far to limit the choice. Beauty 
of form and harmony of colour are the almost insepar- 
able attributes of that physical perfection which the 
natural life of animals demands ; and he would be a 
rash man who classed any of the more highly 
organized animals as “ stupid ” without trial. 
But there are “ diversities of gifts,” and the ex- 
quisite beauty of the silky little chinchilla must be 
held to compensate for the want of the lively clever- 
ness of the coati-mundi or the Capuchin monkeys. 
The limits set by size and constitution are the main 
consideration in the choice of pets. Yet even so the 
possible range is very great, and might well extend 
far beyond the species which form the main body 
of those usually seen in this country. To begin with 
our native animals, who has seen a tame hare ? 
Most school-boys have kept tame rabbits by the dozen 
— singularly uninteresting pets when shut up all 
day in a box munching cabbage-stalks — and generally 
