The evening times., 1896-02-28
ROSTERS MONKEY FIcE
Peculiar Freak Of Chicken Ma
ture Owned in This City.
"PETE" is A PECULIAR BIRD
Hard to Tell whether He Is Fowl
or Manmal-He Possesses Nose
and Club Feet without Claws or
spurs-Makes Noise Very Much
Like "A Dog.

There is a rooster in Washington which,
though 1t was not seen at the recent poultry
| show. has as much claim to distinction as
! any proud bird exhibited there, and which
is far more Interesting than a chicken
whose uncommon quality lies only in its
blue blood and first prizes.
This particular rooster happened as a
freak when he made his initial appearance
in the world and he now appears with the
face of monkey or other mammal and the
body OF a chicken.
The freak is the property Of a lady who
lives at No. 407 street northwest. She
thinks The world of his roostership and it
would take good round pile OF the yellow
metal to induce her to part with him.
Tie birds full name is Peter, but this
has been contracted and abridged for con-
venience sake to Pete.
Viewed as a chicken, he is cross be-
tween a Brown Leghorn and a game cock.
But Pete's eternal mortgage on notoriety
lies in the fact that when looking at his
head it is difficult to tell whether he is a
fowl or a mammal.
In fact, such a wonder is Pete, that
man like Prof. Garner, who has been in
Africa conversing with monkeys, for the
purpose OF tracing the missing link, would
go far to see him, were be aware Of his
existence this side of Mars.
PETE HAS NO BEAK.
Pete is EJt prepossessing at first glance.
but upon closer acquaintance he becomes
Fascinating. He never had a beak like
other fowls. AT the point where that part
of a chickens anatomy ought to begin,
his head tapers OFF into snoot that reaches
hardly half as far from the base as the
bill would reach.
1t is difficult to tell exactly what this
face resembles. 1t really has more the
shape Of the nose of a rat than that OF a
monkey but there is an absence of either
hair or feathers ON the upper lip and about
the mouth that leaves the impression of
the resemblance OF the latter animal more
than anything else.
The mouth is long and finally leads off
into the jaw in the same manner that the
upper and lower sections of a chickens
bill unite. The freak has a tongue very
much like that OF d parrot, and the only
plausible reason why be could not be taught
to talk is that the roof of his mouth is very
soft, and would form such a poor sounding
IIdI Ills NOuio PlOOdbay
be inarticulate. STILL it is believed that
this defect will be helped by time, and that
possibly 1t could be hardened by means Of
CHEMICALS.
The chin is very much like that OF mon
key, and is clearly cut. Though large red
combs are the peculiar feature of the brown
lcghorn family, Pete has little OF one, and
its brightnessis not astounding.
NoCLAw FOR SPUR
Another strange thing is that he has club
feet, too. On the last toe of the left foot
q small growth has started that looks very
much like a nail. He has not a sign OF q
claw or spur.
The owner is a firm believer In hypnotism
and occultism. She is a thinker, and there
fore Pete is calculated to arouse a more
deeply seated interest in her than he does
in the mere casual observer, who is filled
with nothing but morbid curiosity when
he turns his eyes in Pete's direction.
ave got the bird from the South, from
Florida" said she, land do not know ex-
actly how old he is, but think he is about
two years of age. Now, really, don't you
think he Is wonder?
LOOK at his head. You will see that it
nary chicken. That would indicate that the
cOnv nvolutions in the brain are deeper than
they are in the ordinary fowl. That is one
OF the cheif distinctions in fancy fowls.
The finer the breed the deeper the head
and the smarter the bird. All animals
are the same. The depth of the head nd of
the convolutions of the brain increase
with intelligence in the animal Kingdom.
while he has a very heavy coat of
feathers, you will notice that there is no
hair on his body at all like there is on
other chickens. He sometimes seems TO
me to have the intelligence of a human
being.
BARKS LIKE DOG.
Pete sneezes instead of crows. The noise
resembles very closely that of a baby
when il sneezes. He never makes any of
the sounds of the average chicken, but when
frightened barks like a dog"
Just at that instant a stranger came into
the room where Pete was on exhibition.
and he set up a noise that could be very
easily reconciled to the barking of a dog.
1t was not the sharp, quick bark of the
little rat terrier, but the more prolonged
and echoing bark of the hound. When he
had finished the lady continued:
"He finds a difficulty in eating any hard
food, though he is quite ford of corn. He
shows apreference for meat above all other
food, however. If a handful of corn is
held before him and q handful Of meat
placed close by, be will begin eating the
corn, but will keep his eye rlveted cOu-
tinually on the meat, and will enter Wig
orous protest If any one tries to take it
away. He swallows what he eats like any
other fowl"
The owner has views as to how Pete
happened. She explained them TO the re-
porter. but they entered too far into the
psychological and physiological world to
be intelligenty related in a newspaper ar
ticle. She sees great possibilities in the
bird.
1t is understood that the president OF a
prominent Democratic club in this city
has visited Pete's owner aud offered an
apparently fabulous sum for the bird as a
mascot for the Organization, but the offer
was refused.
CONNIvING AT BI.ACKMAIL.
Miss Matte Overman's Confession at