The Portland daily press., 1898-02-02

pen on the ground floor of the South
street establishment
AS Mr.. Burns gave a little soaked grain
to the infant rhinoceros, he fearIessly in
serted his hand in its capacious mouth,
but as he and the visitor PASSED from the
pen. a l1ttls further to the rear of tt 9
room, he called, "Look out don't get
700 near and savage snarl from be-
hind the iron bars OF nearby cage
showed that the warning was not with
| out cause. This cage aud the one ad-
joining. contained two black panthers
ABOUT three years of age, which formed
part OF consignment from Inuia. Fellow .
passengers with them on the voyage We're
a lot Of monkeys, including fine specl-
men OF the Sumatra ape, and number
Oh plfds, among which were couple OF
oassowarles. In the pen with tho latter
iiau Deen placed a decidedly rare Dlfn,
the great white crane of Al er "a. rms
crane flies very far to the nor~l and 1t Is
| ulIncult to capture one alive Mr.. burns
remarked that the one in his possession
and the one in the Central Park menag-
erie were the only specimens In captivlty
that he knew Of
The wild-heast trade is said to be big
ger business in New York now than ever
| before, which is a natural consequence OF
the growth of the country, 1.-THE Inuitlpll-
cation of geological gardens and the In
| crease In the number Of travelling clrcuses
with menagerie attachments. Various
causes have operated to reduce prices,
however, and times have greatly changed
since Sl0,0 900 could be obtained for an
elephant and lion could be SOLD LOT
u, 600. Now lions are not imported at
all. They breed well in captivity, ana
| nearly every circus has young lions to
sell. The effects of cage life and Inland
in breeding are not favorable to the race,
though, and the specimens born in cap
| tivity are inferior in strength and appear
ance to their wild kindred. Tigers are
scarcer and are still imported. Monkeys
are Imported in large numbers. as they
| ing that he did not think more than
| twenty had ever been bred in the whole
country For elephants, he said. thore
was always ..gooda demand, but at
| great discount from the old prices, be-
cause 80 many were imported. A year go
he had seven small elephants in stock at
one time. The price of a good elephant
| now ranges from 81, 800 10 $500, the
latter being the very highest, despite the
fact that only two have ever been bred
here. One of these was born at the old
winter headquarters of Barnum's circus
at Bridgeport. Conn. and the other in
Cooper & Bailey's London show, then in
Philadelphia. The latter baby elephant
proved to be fortune In itself becoming
lllO kISnu lChtltIO wv LClo CAAiDltAOki.
Rhinoceroses are scarce and valuable,
Mr.. Bailey of Barnum q Bailey recently
paying $3.50 for full-grown one in
England. There are now. it is said, only
two of full growth in this country, one
being in the Philadelphia Geological
Garden and the other, the African one.
in Central Park, for which $1,000 was
paid.
Snakes Of various kinds are largely
imported by Mr. Burns from Africa, In
dia, and South America, and he some
times has in his place of business as
many as 500 or 600 at once, averaging
about ten feet in length. The biggest
come from India, and last year he had
some pythons thirty feet long. Many of
the smaller ones are sold to the snake
charmers" of circuses ard dime museums
| while the most enormous specimens are
commonly taken for exhibition in circus
| side shows The importation of parrots
and other tropical birds is also an impor-
| tant feature of the same dealers trade.
| Of parrots alone he handles thousands
| in year. chiefly Mexican, with some
| from South America, but very lew from
| Africa, as the African parrots though
| fine birds and excellent takers when
m atured, are so delicate in their climate
that many die on the dea ler's hands soon
after arrival here.
| There are five floors in the South street
establishment. and at some seasons of the
year all are filled with representatives OF
the animal kingdom from most parts of
the world, while some OF the larger
beasts, as elephants, are kept III a place
at Ridgewood, l.. l. This is the dull
| time of year at the store, the active
season beginning in March and lasting
| into September. The proprietor, in ad-
dition to his importing and domestic
| trade, does a considerable export business
hr,Cn A nrin amir, 1c
chiefly of the deer kin1, such as elk,
moose. and caribou, which are purchased
both by dealers and the owners of private
parks in Europe. Time was when the
American buffalo would have figured
largely in such exports but it is now SO
scarce that o young COW is worth 81 COO
and bull about one-half as much.
William Gross, the Liverpool wild ami
NAL dealer, is quoted as saying in a recent
interview: "When l commenced business
some thirty years ago. could have as
many OF those magnificent animals, the
American bison, sdelivered at 90 pounds
head in Liverpool as | cared to buy, and
now one cannot be bought for 1 so pounds.
An attempt is icing made in Lincoln
shire to breed them i'll captivity; it may
succee d; but they have never Eeen bred
successfully in the London Gardens, and
in all likelihood this magnificent animal
will become extinct. SThat is what is hap
pening, or has happened, to all the larger
game of..America. Australia is'following
rapidly in the footstepssof.the states
In connection with the foregoing, some
remarks of the late Capt. Mayne Reid,
in his Hunters Feast illustrate the
danger of prophecy. After speaking of
the enormous numbers of the butfaloes
and also of the immense slaughter of
them, he denies that either they or the
Indians are in danger of extinction, and
says: "The ,prairies are wide-vast ex-
panses of that singular formation must
remain in their primitive wilderness. at
least for ages, and there will still be
safe range for the buffalo,
FOR WEAK MEN WITH NERVOUS
DERTTTTY