FANCIERS’ 
JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
741 

Pos AND JRABBIT PEPARTMENT. 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
' LADY FLIMSEY’S POODLE, “ PET.” 
BY A DOG FANCIER. 
Amon@ the most tractable of the minor canine species, 
the poodle dog is classed as eminent. This breed is, origi- 
nally, French, but it is quite common both in England and 
America, latterly. Specimens may frequently be seen in 
the arms or laps of women, as they ride or walk in our 
public parks or promenades; while in Paris, London, Mad- 
rid, etc., they are numerous. 
They are pretty creatures, with their long, curly, white, 
silken hair; and their bright eyes, round faces, pendant 
ears, and fat little bodies are attractive. Most of them are 
playful, until they become corpulent and lazy from over- 
feeding, while others are snappish and pugnacious at times, 
towards strangers. 
lady’s poodle, called “‘ Pet,” whose cunning performances 
and lively history were singular and entertaining. 
Lady Flimsey’s maid, who had charge of this little animal, 
generally, was an English girl, who taught “‘ Pet’ various 
queer tricks, which the tiny brute came to performing very 
adroitly. 
This dog would dance, sing (in his style), build houses 
with toy blocks, stand on his head, walk upright like a 
monkey, play ‘‘leap-frog’”’ and ‘hunt the slipper,’’ with 
the children, pretend to be wounded and fall lame, draw 
from a pile of colored pictures of animals any named vari- 
ety, as a horse, cat, dog, sheep, donkey, cow, lion, or birds— 
always correctly; and play divers other tricks to admi- 
ration. 
He learned the names of the different articles of his at- 
tendant’s or lady’s wardrobe too, and, when told to do so, he 
would go to the closets and bring out slippers, stockings, 
aprons, dresses, gloves, etc., with singular accuracy, upon 
hearing the names of the desired garments clearly men- 
tioned. , 
“‘ Pet’’ was very tenderly cared for, but he was frequently 
overfed by the girl, when he would of course get ill. The 
family doctor was immediately summoned, by day or by 
night, who would attend upon this delicate patient, as if it 
were achild; for he knew how fond Lady Flimsey was of 
her pet dog, and the shrewd physician always charged 
roundly, and was paid promptly, for this service. 
By nature “‘ Pet’’ was a clever mouser. ‘This sort of ple- 
beian divertisement was not encouraged in him; but at 
every opportunity he would shy out at the open back door, 
and search the walks and garden over for these house pests; 
for he possessed an inquiring mind, and was always on the 
lookout for novelties, when he was not under strict parlor 
surveillance. Thus his inherent curiosity was one day 
ludicrously gratified :— 
Lady Flimsey’s boy, Harry, a rollicking lad of ten years, 
brought home and secretly placed in the back yard, a good 
sized snapping-turtle he had captured in the pond where he 
sailed his little boat, and Pet, in his morning’s wandering 
around the garden, met this “‘ hard-shelled ” stranger, todd- 
ling about in the grass. 
The dog attacked the turtle, at once. He had never seen 
one before, and he proposed to get acquainted with the in- 
truder. But he could make no impression upon this strange 
* 
The subject of this sketch was a choice. 

creature’s ‘‘coat of mail.’’? The turtle drew in his head, 
contracted his paws close to his hard sides, and remained 
motionless. 
The dog nosed him about, barked, pawed him around, 
and turned him over, but could make nothing of this curious 
object, which he had just seen in motion, and evidently 
knew possessed life. At last Pet saw the cavity into which 
the turtle had withdrawn his head. 
He snapped at this, then at his feet, and then at his little 
stump of a tail; in the midst of which latter performance, 
he was most unexpectedly surprised, as well as electrified, at 
something that occurred, in kind—for Mr. Turtle seemed 
to have watched his chance and concluded, thus: ‘I don’t 
know who you are, neighbor; but, if that’s your little game, 
here’s two of us to play at it!’? And thrusting forth his 
head, he sharply seized Pet’s tail (that was vigorously wrig- 
gling at the moment just over his frontal), and clapping 
his muscular jaws together, he had unlucky Pet decidedly 
‘where the hair was short.’’ 
With ashrill yelp at the pain, Pet quickly turned about and 
then, madly howling as he went, he put away up the gar- 
den walk, with the turtle hanging upon his rear, with vise- 
like grip. As clearly as he could, with his shrill shriek, he 
screamed ‘‘ Murder, murder!’’ to the instant alarm of the 
household and the honor of his mistress, especially, who 
had a quick ear for the voice of Pet, when he was in trouble. 
In rushed the dog to the kitchen, then to the basement, 
up the back stairs, to the main hall—with the snapping- 
turtle fast to his tail—then to the front stairway, up which 
he tugged and banged, with his burthen, yelling and scream- 
ing in his agony and fright, to the dismay of Lady Flimsey, 
(To be continued.) 


2 | 
gas It is estimated that there are at present nine hundred 
thousand canary birds in the United States, of which number 
three hundred thousand were exported last year. In addi- 
tion to these there are upwards of one hundred thousand 
other cage birds. To feed this army of feathered songsters 
one hundred and seventy-five thousand bushels of seed, 
representing a value of two million dollars, are annually 
required.—Boston Herald. 
pa@s> LEARNED JAVA Brrps.—The Baltimore American 
gives the following account of a troupe of trained Java 
sparrows and paroquets now exhibiting in the streets of that 
city: ‘* When a suitable place is found, a circular table is 
opened and the birds are all turned loose upon it; they 
manifest no fear at the crowd, and do not offer to escape. 
The performance consists of ringing bells, trundling small 
wheelbarrows, dancing, swinging each other in small swings, 
an excellent imitation of a trapeze performance, and a num- 
ber of other equally interesting tricks. The most wonder- 
ful part of the performance, however, is done by a paroquet. 
This bird walks to the centre of the table, and, after bowing 
to the crowd, seats himself in a small chair near a bell. To 
the clapper of the bell there is attached a small cord, and 
any one in the crown is allowed to ask the bird to strike any 
number of times upon the bell. If asked to strike ten times, 
he leaves the chair, seizes the bell-rope and pulls it ten 
times, after which he bows and returns to his seat. This 
was repeated a great many times, and with one exception, 
the bird made no mistake. The bird will strike twenty-seven 
times, but after that he refuses to strike more. 
* 
