FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
119 

rearing; one of them turned out to be a cock, the other a 
hen—the latter, which I am now going to give you an ac- 
count of. She kept them in a cage, amongst other lots of 
birds, in the school-room, where they were frequently allowed 
to fly about. In April, 1871, the cock disappeared during her 
absence from home. After that my sister did not care about 
keeping the hen, so she let it out purposely into the garden ; 
but so accustomed had it got to the room and the society of | 
the other birds, that it had no intention of finally taking its 
departure, as it continually used to come into the room 
whenever the window was opened. Last summer this spar- 
row paired to a wild cock, and built a nest in the ivy about 
twenty yards from the house, within reach of the ground, 
with material taken out of the room. During the time it 
was sitting, it would fly off its nest on being called, and take 
a caterpillar from her hand. At length it hatched its young, 
when it came backwards and forwards to the room for food, 
but my sister, wishing to give it some caterpillars, went to 
look for them amongst the flowers, and the sparrow used to 
follow her, and when she found one it would fly to her to 
take it out of her hand, and continued to do so wherever she- 
was. After the young had got a little older, my sister used 
to take food to the nest, and when she held some close to it, 
the sparrow would take it out of her hand when sitting on 
the nest. The young sparrows soon left the nest and sat 
about the trees, my sister feeding the mother with her young 
sitting close to her; but the young soon went away and left 
the old sparrow, which still remains in our garden, and 
comes to be fed every day, and stays in the room all night 
very often, which it is doing to-night. The cock which 
disappeared was tamer than the hen, and it used to nestle 
about my sister’s hair.’’ 


Ftems Huteresting and Bmusing. 
ges> A PROFESSOR in Montreal recently introduced two 
tame skunks, to illustrate a lecture on the diffusion of odors. 
y@s> J. F. Ferris, Stamford, Conn., has sold his entire 
stock of White Leghorns to C. H. Crosby, Danbury, Conn , 
for Rollo Nichols, Esq., of the same place. 
g@s> THERE was a room with eight corners. In each 
corner sat a cat; before each cat sat seven other cats; and 
on each cat’s tail sata cat. How many cats in all? <An- 
swer—Hight cats. 
yp@s~ Frog nuntinG for the Boston market is said to be a 
profitable employment in Newburyport. The frogs are 
kept in tubs and fattened with meal, and afterwards shipped 
to order. 
p@s SraristTics show that those who love pets rarely be- 
come criminals. Out of two thousand convicts, of whom 
inquiry was made, only twelve admitted that they left pets 
at home. This offers a valuable suggestion to parents. 
Children should be encouraged in a spirit of tenderness and 
a love of the beautiful. 
pa@y> Woman’s Loatc.—Ladies’ logic is not always of the 
clearest. A married lady with a family, who lived in a 
villa, was asked why she was at the expense of keeping a 
cow, seeing that it would be surely cheaper to buy milk for 
the household. ‘‘ Well,” said she, in reply, ‘‘ we keep the 
cow because we have a field quite at hand, which answers 
very nicely.”’ ‘ But,” was the rejoinder, ‘‘ why do you rent 
the tield?’? The answer was: ‘‘ Because, you know, we 
have got the cow.’’ 

pas Rank ANIMALS.—The Paris Jardin d’Acclimation 
has just received a large consignment of rare animals from 
the Coromandel coast, Polynesia, and South America. 
Among them are four young Pategonian Hares, which 
grow to the size of a fawn; some curious Ducks, from the 
Dafilia Spinicandi (never before brought to Europe) to the 
Melopiona paposaca of Micronesia; a Swan, which looks 
like a floating log, thence called Dendrocyenal arcuatu ; 
some Tufted Partridges; a Cryptonyx Cristalus, whose eyes 
are half covered with a red eyelid; Quails from Coroman- 
del; the Cathurnix Coromandelica, &c.—American Sports- 
man. 
s@s- WE OVERHEARD a dialogue the other day between a 
couple of elderly ladies, both parties seeming to take a lively 
interest in the poultry business, discussing the merits of 
their favorite breeds. The first lady said she once had a 
stock of hens that used to lay two eggs per day the year 
round—she had forgot ‘‘the name on ’um.’’? The second 
lady replied that when she was first married her mother 
gave her a hen that done that the first year, and she and her 
man used to brag on her, and it made the old hen mighty 
proud. So, one time the old hen thought she would see how 
well she could do; so on Monday she only laid one egg, and 
the next day two, and doubled every day until Saturday, 
when she laid a goose egg, and busted. The other lady 
heaved a sigh and said, ‘‘ I must go.’’—KHzchange. 
ye@g~ ULceratTeD Fret or Brrps.—In your Journal of 
November 3d (page 362) I observe a question about a Bull- 
finch’s feet being swollen, and Mr. Blakston says it arises 
from the cage, &c., not being kept clean. Now, this cannot 
be, as I knew several kept in a room, afflicted with bad 
feet. I have observed that Bullfinches seem more subject to 
this complaint than other birds, but I have known Canaries 
affected with it. It comes on with a sort of swelling, and 
goes on, if not stopped, till the foot suppurates, and off drop 
the claws, and sometimes the foot. I found out a cure for 
it in one-fourth of the solution of chloride of soda, and three 
parts of boiled rain-water with just the chill off, put into a 
little galleypot, and the bird’s feet put in twice or thrice a 
day. The same water will do for a day or so, but it must 
be kept corked up, as this solution is a solution of soda im- 
pregnated with chlorine gas, and not as many of the chem- 
ists will tell you, common salt. I have known this cure 
birds after one or two of the claws have dropped off, and it 
may be of use to many of your readers.—A. Y., in Journal 
of Horticulture. 
pas> A BEE RAISER in New England is said to have pat- 
ented an invention for the protection of bees from the attacks 
of the honey-moth, which enters the hives at night and 
rifles the stores. The idea arose out of his familiarity with 
the daily routine, not of bees only, but of hens. Hens, he 
observed, retire to rest early; bees seek repose earlier still ; 
no sooner are they sunk in slumber than the moth steals 
into their abode and devours the produce of their toil. He 
has now built a stand of hives with a hen house above it. 
The bees first betake themselves to their dwelling and set- 
tle themselves for the night. The hens then come home to 
roost on their perch, and, as they take their place upon it, 
their weight sets some simple mechanism to work, which at 
once shuts down the doors of all the hives. When the day 
dawns, hewever, the hens leave their roost, and the removal 
of their weight from the perch raises the hive doors and 
gives egress to the bees in time for their morning’s work. 
