The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1864-02-09

butcher, in the Bowery, who kept hin
in horse stable for a year before he wa
exhibited. He was bought on specula
ton, and we heard that the unluck,
butcher lost by him. He was after
wards purchased by Van Amburg, ant
has been in this collection many years
We may add here that several pairs o
buffalo and some fine elk are on the way
here from the West, AID will be added
shortly to the Broadway collection.
Lions, and all other animals of the cal
kind suffer, when imported ms this
country, from kind Of consumption
They wheeze, loose flesh, their lungs be
come diseased, and they finally waste
away and die. When one Of these great
beasts dies, he is submitted to the Fac
ulty, and it is pleasant evidence that
the proprietors are not merely 'showmen
but have an intelligent interest in these
wonders Of nature, that they have for
many years contributed their defunct
specimens to the collection of the Phil
adelphia Academy of Natural Sciences,
in whose halls may be found at this day
some skeletons Of lions, tigers and other
animals famous in their day.
In the subdivision of labor, one man
takes charge Of four cages, to clean, feed
and attend upon the wants Of the occu-
pants. The flesh eating animals are fed
butonce a day. and not at all on Sun
days. The monkey and other small an
imals are fed twice day. None but
good beef is fed, and it must not have
the slightest grain Of salt upon it. Wa
ter is given four or FIVE times a dav. A
full grown lion eats from fifteen to eight
cen pounds of meat day. An ele-
plants rations are three hundred pounds
of hay and two bushel Of oats when he
is travelling; when standing still, he gets
no oats, but an additional hundred weight
Of hay. The elephants lie down when
the go to sleep. Two barrels Of water
moisten each elephants daily hay.
When an animal falls i'll il is doctor.
ed. The mysteries Of a hons ptysic
must be sacred here. They belong to
his faithful master and attendant, who
knows by the experience of more than
seventeen years, what will best restore
his rounded form. his glossy coat and
his easy breathing
Not unfrequently animals bring forth
young. Some dozen of lions have been
born in this country, but only very
few live to cut their second set Of teeth.
There is now in a cage on the right
hand side lion Of good size, born three
or four years ago in Georgia.
He is a very savage and intractab
beast, who submits to but one master,
Mr.. Frost, who nursed him tenderly
when young. and whose voice 10 this
day will quell him even when he is most
furious. Lions generally produce three
or four at litter. Two cunning little
leopards, on the left, are natives of Wis.
consin. They are not bigger than cats,
but already scratch and fight "as tits
their nature to-" They even quarrel
with their mother for her raw meat
They receive only cooked meat, and oc-
casionally rations of beef broth.
Until the young are two months old
they cannot be exhibited on account of
the jealousy Of The mother. who fire.
quently kills her young in her frantic
efforts to get them out of the way when
strangers are staring at them she will
pick them up in her mouth and fling
them against the back of the cage to get
them out Of sight. For this reason,
when a lioness or tigress has young
family she Is shut off from the outer
world and kept in wholesome quiet till
her nerves acquire some tone, and she is
able to receive visitors and exhibit her
cubs without too great agitation.-N. Y.
Times.