The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-21

sung 'o eooulil AHleIlCd, AiiiStN VI AiA7 dia to bring him back certain birds or beasts, and this is practice to which he still adreres, although he also sends orders to the great European wild beast emporiums and has visited Flu rope personally to make purchases.
 In the present month he has received consignment of animals and birds in fulfilment of an order given to the cap tain of an East Indianman. By far the most notable member of this group is baby rhinoceros, which is, MT. Burns says. the only infant of its spe- cles ever brought to this country, and is younger than any ever taken to Europe. Its age is placed at nine months. It stood the voyage of forty five days without injury, and appears in excellent health, as It occupies pen on the ground floor of the South street establishment.
 As MT. Burns gave little soaked grain to the infant rhinoceros, he fear lessly inserted his hand in it's capa- cious mouth, but as he and the visitor passed from the pen little further to the rear of the room, he called, Look out! don't get too near" and a savage snarl from behind the iron bars of a nearby cage showed that the warning was not without cause. This cage and the one adjoining contained two black partners about three years of age, which formed part Of consignment from India. Fellow passengers with them on the voyage were lot of mon keys, including a fine specimen of the Sumatra ape, and number Of birds, among which were a couple Of casso- varies. In the pen with the latter had been placed a decidedly rare bird, the great white crane of America. This crane flies very far to the north, and 1t is difficult to capture one alive. MT. Burns remarked that the one in his possession and the one in the Central Park menagerie were the only speci- mems in captivity that he knew of.
 The wild-beast trade Is said to be a bigger business in New York now than ever before, which is natural conse- quence of the growth of the country, the multiplication of the geological gardens, and the increase in the num- Der of travelling circuses with menag- erie attachments. Various causes have operated to reduce prices, how ever and times have greatly changed since ten thousand could be obtained for an elephant, and lion could be sold for five thousand dollars. Now lions are not imported at all. They | breed we'll in captivity, and nearly ev- cry circus has young lions to sell. The | effects of cage-life and in-and-in breeding are not favorable to the race, though, and the specimens born in cap | tivity are inferior in strength and ap- pearance to their wild kindred. Tigers are imported in large numbers Mon- keys are scarcer and are still imported Monkeys are imported in large num- bers, as they do not breed well here MT. Burns declaring that he did moi think more than twenty had ever beer bred in the whole country. For ele. plants, he said, there was always g l good demand, but at a great discount ! from the old prices, because so many were imported. A year ago he ha6 seven small elephants in stock at one I time. The price of good elephant now ranges from fifteen to twenty-f five hundred dollars, the latter being the very highest, despite the fact that only | two have ever been bred here. One o1 these was born at the old winter head quarters of Barnums circus at Bridge port, Conn, and the other in Cooper & Bailey's London show, then in Phila delphia. The latter baby elephan proved to be fortune in itself, becom ing the great feature of it's owners ex hibition.
 Rhinoceroses are scarce and valua ble, Mir Bailey, of Barnum & Bailey recently paying $7,25o for full-grow1 one in England. There are now, it l. said, only two of full growth in thi! country, one being in the Philadelphia geological garden, and the other th' African one, in Central Park, for whicl seven thousand dollars was paid.
 l Snakes of various kinds are largel, imported by MT. Burns from Africa India and South America. and h, sometimes has in his place of business as many as five or six hundred at once averaging about ten feet in length l The biggest come from India, and las year he had some pythons thirty fee long. Many of the smaller ones ar sold to the snake -charmerS" of cir cuses and dime museums, while tn
 most enormous specimens are com monly taken for exhibition in circu side shows. The importation of par rots and other tropical birds is als
 an important feature of the same deal CTS trade. Of parrots alone he han
 dies thousands in year, chiefly Mexi can, with some from South America but very few from Africa, as the Afri can parrots, though fife birds and eX cellent takers when matured, are s
 delicate in this climate that many di
 on the dealers hands soon after arri
 val here.
 There are five floors in the Soul street establishment, and at some sea
 sons of the year all are filled with rep resentatives of the animal Kingdom
 from most parts of the world, whil
 some of the larger beasts, as elephants are kept in a place at Ridgewood, l..
 This is the dull time of the year at tn
 store, the active season beginning il
 March and lasting Into September
 The proprietor, in addition to his i'm
 porting and domestic trade, does con
 siderable export business, sendin
 abroad American wild animals, chief
 of the deer kind, such as elk, moos
 and caribou, which are purchased bot
 by dealers and the owners of privat