The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-09-21
a LONDoN BIRD AUCTION.
The Queer Market Near Bishopsgate
street, v ithout.
From the Nel0 York Times.

Sunday morning, beginning shortly after
10 o'clock and finishing at L; or, to
be more exact, when the pubs" open.
Public houses are kept closed during
the forenoon, opened at l o'clock, closed
again at 3, and reopened for the rest of the
day and night at 5. Where the bird auc-
tions are held extends over three long
blocks. Turning to the right from Bishops
gate street, at the terminus of the Great
Eastern railroad, you enter Anchor street,
where the show begins; thea go through
Slater, Hare, Bacon, and adjoining long
blocks of streets, the occupants OF the
grim, dark houses of which are bird fan
ciers.
From early morning, from the north,
south, west and east of London can be seen
men, singly or by twos and threee, accom-
panied by dogs, some muzzled, Others in
leasheS. but all going in one direction, TO
the bird auction district, adjoining White
chapel. Way out of London from Ham
merssith, Richmond. Syndenham, are COS
termongerS riding on their queer little bar
rows, driven by swift-going, patient little
donkeys who jog along contentedly carrying
two and even more hurley men, smoking
clay pipes These barrows are piled up
high with bird cages, covered over with
canvass The men hold or carry in their
arms dogs of every description, many, in
deed, beng valuable animals, such as col
lies, spaniels, Skye and Scotch terriers, the
now-all-the-faShion sleek-skin and iutelli-
gent fox terrier. and delicate lap and pet
dogs. Where these dogs come from one
may imagine, but few but the costers can
tell.
Later In the morning can be seen we'll
| dressed men driving smart horses to traps
and other vehicles. Some of the men have
| the jaunty air OF sporting men. Others
have the appearance of sedate business
| men, many that of clerks When they all
reach Bishopsgate street, the sight becomes
| interesting and amusing. The Englishmen
are born drivers and all seem to have a love
| for animals and birds. The price of good,
lively, strong ponies, averaging from 45 to
| e10, makes it an easy matter for men to
possess one. The price of a sleek, bright
| eyed, nimble. strong little donkey that can
trot along carrying load seemingly out of
| all proportion to its strength is only e., or
about $40.
| Bishopsgete street. Without, is one of
London's remarkable thoroughfares. Week
| days it is thronged from morning to late at
night with workingmen, women and chill
dren. clerks, porters small tradesmen, and
a vast horde of humanity jostling each
| other. The roadway Is damned with omnf-
| buses, drays, cabs. hansoms. carts and
csstermongers' wagons. At different cross
ings policemen stand assisting pedes
TRANS over and regulating traffic. To
cross Bishopsgate street requires skill
| and GOODNESS, and it is wonderful how few
| accidents occurr. To see men, women and
children darting across that thoroughfare
is a sight to study. If it rains, as it usually
does, and the street is muddy, none escapes
| being sprinkled from head to foot with a
thin, spreading, yellow mud. Sometimes
you get good splashing in the face, which
for the moment blinds you, but everybody
seems accustomed to this and none seems to
| worry about 1t. Bishopsgate street, With
| out, is to London what the Bowery is to
| New York. Here, however. are what are
not TO be seen on the Bowery. numbers of
meat, sausage, aud pudding shops. For
penny you get large smoking hot saveloy
sausage and chunk Of good white bread,
or a large slice of raisin dumping,
or bowl of good peasoup. For pence to
pence you get thres large slices of excel.
lent roast beef, mutton, veal. or pork, with
| bread and vegetables. Many women and
children daily crowd these shops and get
their sixpenny dinners, which they carry
away in baskets. A sixpenny dinner is GER
| tainly good, plain, ample meal, which in
cludes great slice of pudding
On Sunday Bishopsgate street is still a
busy thoroughfare. 1t is at the junction OF
| BishopsgBte street, Without, and the Great
Eastern railroad terminus that the great
throng Of men and boys turn into Anchor
street, where, at the junction of Slater
street, the so-called bird auction is. This is
rendezvous also for dealers in dogs, chick
ems, geese, ducks. rabbits and rats.
But what a show of birds! There is moth
| ing like it in any other part of the world.
1t seemed the morning was there as il all
the varieties of the pathological kingdom
had been assembled together in these long,
narrow, gloomy streets. From one store
u IL - IL
hung from ground floor to roof hundreds
of cages. The dipgy, smoke-begrimed
bricks we're lined with long rows of cages
filled with bright, yellow canary
birds; above we're the brilliant
plumaged chaffinches. goldfinches,
and bullfinches, the blackbirds,
sand thrushes, starlings, linnets, skylarks
by the hundred, and nightingales, all war
ranted to sing. This house was surrounded
by a great crowd, and the proprietor and
his half dozen assistants had all they could dc
to keep up with the purchasers. And how
cheaply they wentl Splendid full-songed
chaffinches, 8 pence and pence each; lin
nets, pence and 3 pence; beautiful full
f1edged, full-songed Holland canaries from
shillings to 4 shilhngs-those would cost
twice that many dollars in New York-her
canaries from 1 pence to 6 pence
each; common canaries from l shil
Ling to shllings and pence
each; splendid. healthy, full-songed sky
larks, starlings thrushes, black birds, cag'
and all filings, for from shillings to
shillings each; nightingales in full song
cage and all, from shilhngs to 10 shillings
1t was wonderful to see the commences
classes of men-bricklayers and laborers-
buying birds. AS the time passes by auc
the hour for opening the pubs the excite
ment grew apace. l saw one man buy IL
twenty-five full-songed splendid canary
birds for / guinea, or less than Is cent
| apiece. He, however, was a dealer, anc
he had his assistants and trap, or oper
wagon, with him.
Fine, fat rabbits were sold at pence
apiece, and at the close went down to
pence Just think what an excellent dinner
could be had for the small sum of pence
as rabbit skins are really sold for l pence
apiece. Fancy rabbits, lopped-eared, big
choice-breeding English hares that woule
make the sportsmen of Tuxedo park envi-
GUS, were sold by the brace and the dozen
at extremely low prices A dozen full-slzet
hares Of great strength were sold for II
The sales in geese, ducks and other poultry
was immense, chickens been sold at from
shilling to pence and 6 pence, ducks fol
less, and big, fat geese from 2 shillings to
shillings
Besides the small birds there we're larg'
quantities of parrots, oockatoos and al
kinds of bright-plumage speaking, swearing
laughing singing birds One parrot caugh