Morning journal and courier., 1883-02-19

Z He did not at first show, nor has he everI Sshown, the slightest fear of me. When al
 Flowed to walk on the grass, he was as tamel sas if he had always known civilization. To #day any one can pick him up. He followsI gus around the yard, comes when he is called,
 jumps down the steps and investigates the
 Kitchen He plays with the children after
 his fashion, and is effusive and sometimes
 annoyiHg in his affection. If the little girls
 lie on the grass he will come up and nestle aagainst their necks If they pay atten- zlon to him he pulls their hair or bites theirI S#noses. When they dig for angle worms he
 jumps into the hole and snatches his share HHe sometimes accompanies me to the market,
 stalking along the pavement unconcernedly
 have been obliged to limit his privileges il sthis respect, a large sidewalk committee is sssure to follow us, and Jumbo will, I am sor ;ry to say, steal any scraps of meat which art
 within his reach. * I brought him from Mt. Desert in little &basket, which the Indians made for him. H, sSwas very quiet, but alert, on the steamer and
 the cars. put him in the stateroom wash sbowl for 8 bath, which he took in the mos
 manner. In the two days of tht
 iourney he ate three times his weight of fish #gor9ing pieces of 8 size far beyond his appa
 rent capacity. I believe thet his lower jaw
 tunlocks, in order to accomplish his marvel k sous feats of deglutition. This voracity it !
 Aess marked now that he is grown but fol K 7s1x weeks it continued, to the astonishment 3of all beholders. At our summer home k Snear the old oak of Woodbridge, there is +
 stream and pond, where the children fishec k 2 flor him. In twelve days he ate one hundred Y 4and twenty roach, averaging three inches il | slength. In one day he devoured sixtee1 4 &roach, two frogs and number of minnows This was followed by two days of indiges
 tion. On the third day he was tempted witt
 clams, of which, at one effort he ate seven Mteen peck suf6cing for two days only. Al 5 present his appetite is more eapricious, bu 3on occasion he will snatch and swallow hall sSpound of raw meat in less than 8 minute bl @the watch. He accepts and rejects variout Particles of food without hesitation. Of fresl fish, Holsters, clans, oysters and fresh mea' She IS very fond. Tainted or sour meat h, # will not touch, nor saIted meat. Grasshop k %pers, crickets and butterflies are especially '
 welcome. He is most accomplished catch Her of house flies. One day the childrel 6caught live mouse, which was let loose neaI
 the bird. No cat could have caught it more saquickly. He took it by the tail, tossed it &and caught it by the head, crushed it flat
 land, accidentally dropping it, took it by tht sts1l, carried it to the pool, swung 1t back and
 forth until clean, and then swallowed 1t. On
 another occasion, he took dry crust he
 could not break, and, dropping it in the pool
 waited until 1t was softened and then ate it
 have tested him with all kinds,of vegetable
 food, only developing an epicurean taste fol
 watermelon and grapes. I fancied that the
 ruddy color was at the bottom of this prefer Hence, but that cannot be, as he refuses the X &blood-red beet.
 From the first he had a habit of dancing
 in the most comical manner. He would un
 fold his little stumps of wings, and hop up
 and down for minutes together. For long
 time this seemed inexplicable, but the devel N
 opment of his wing has solved the mystery < If one wing was not clipped, he would nov fly, but when he tries to fly he invariably
 turns toward the wind, and leaps up to catch $ the current against his wings to assist the
 beginning of his flight. I have seen the 2 wild duck do the same on rising from the
 water. This instinct of flight before the growth of the wing struck me as very re Smarkable. His feathers grew first on the under side of the outer point of the wing linen on the top of his head; next on his back and breast; fringe of down fingered around his neck long after all down had else K where disappeared. The tail, which is broad, 9grew last of all. When first caught, and for a long time thereafter, he had but one note -an exceedingly plaintive piping. He has ssince, without the possibility of hearing one Aof his kind, acquired two others. One is .the laugh-a reai ha ha-ha-ha-which gives sfhss name hIGzsAs Ridih1taada8 to his species The other he has just achieved under ludi aerous circumstances. The children put their !diminutive pet kitten near the gull. Jumbo Instantly took it up by the tail and carried it 3around the yard dangling from his beak The kitten, of course, squalled vigorously. 3whereupon the gull dropped it. and, throw ling back his head, opened his mouth prodi- tgiously and prayed in the most vociferous manner. The sound was immense in volume land excruciating in quality. A donkey alone 5could surpass 1t. That kitten is kept out of ;his way as much as possible, out of respect for the quiet of the neighborhood. Yet strange to say, Q friendship has sprung up between them, and when kitty gets into the |yard, they often sit side by side on the same gray box in perfect content. During.the.day umbo carries his head on a line with his beak, and has most meek and subdued as beet. As night comes on he walks proudly, With head erect, and with q strutting gait II see no reason yet for this change of bearing. If he perceives at the window he becomes meek again, piping the plaintive |note, which never ceases while we are in |sight He is mute while no one is in sight During the day he seldom tries his wings but in the twilight attempts number of ex- periments in play and flight.
 And this brings to mind some of his most antics. I had small pool made and lined with cement, for him to bathe in and for the purpose of studying his swim ming instincts. He was terrified at first when the water lifted him from his feet at would scramble out of the pool, as if in fear of drowning. After awhile he found he could swim, and is now thoroughly at home on the water His delight in bathing is i'm mense With futtering of his wing, and bobbing of his head, he vets himself thor oughly, and then goes to the sunniest spot, and, passing each feather between his mandi M bles, consumes hour at his toilet. So far las I have seen, this dressing of his feathers lis in definite order, and leaves him as smooth and sleek as possible. In his play |the gull nature comes out strongly. For Hong time he has had corn-cob at one end # of the yard and thread spool at the other Half 'dyirg, half-running, he strikes the cob |or spool, throws it up, catches it, and then |parades about, ha-haing at his success. Sometimes he will drop the cob in the pool, & |climb on box near by, and then fly to the @ |cob and bear it of, as old gulls do with fish. The servant was once picking up clothes pins near the house. Jumbo picked lap one at the other end of the yard and brought it near her. On her attempting to |tske it from him he ran of ha haing again
 For the purpose of testing his capacity for |the emotions l introduced into the yard |gorgeously colored young drake. Mr. Drake had no sooner gained his feet than the gull had him by the head and led him around the yard. as if to assist him in finding hole in the Hence through which he might depart Not succeeding he let him go, and from that day @ |a month past, has taken no notice of him beyond bristling his feathers when the drake 'comes too near. He will not permit the = drake to be in the pool at the same time with lhimself. When the drake's com is put out |the gull goes to 1t first, pecks at it but never
 
 hear until some minutes have passed. It @ must be admitted, therefore, that our strange pet has a jealous and dog in-the-manger spir ft. That he can be furiously angry many facts show. placed mirror where Jumbo could see his own image Instantly his feath. Eers bristled up, and he charged furiously on the mirror. Not hitting his supposed foe he few at him again Meeting with no better sueeess he walked behind the glass; stood with an appearance of astonishment at not Finding his enemy; then went back in front |of the mirror and flew at his own shadow again. Once more he went behind the mir ror, this time from the other side. There he |stood for moment, and then walked away, and has not been interested in any sham gull slnce. small rubber tube which carries clean water to his pool, and which writhes and comforts like an eel under the water pressure. he particularly hates. He flies at Ft with every sign of rage, nor will he stop nntll the tube is removed or hidden by the 1ising water.
 These facts are surely enough to show that from the egg, though wholly separate from I~s-