The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-16

ditlons of semi -domestcation, when plenty of space is allowed for roaming. The lobster, with which the commission
 has obtained such notable success, is a
 wild animal Nobody yet has succeeded | Tn tanning a lobster, so as to induce 1t
 to come and perch upon his finger. Nevertheless, this unamiable crusta- 1 cean has been bred in immense num- l bers, and consigned to the vasty deep, | which is tis chosen home. The word
 "vasty," it may be remarked, is hardly l modern English, but to get on without
 it would be practically out of the ques- ton.
 Now, one matter that will be called
 to the attention of the United States
 Pisicultural and Avicultural Commis-
 sion as that government bureau will
 probably be styled in future, has rela-
 tion to the demestication of birds that bear feathers valuable in the milliner5 ] trade. Hitherto this branch of com
 merce has been obliged to rely upon the l wild supply-Which is very much as if vegetables were to be collected from
 accidental patches in the forests. There ! IS no reason for such a condition of af-
 fairs Already the ostrich is being bred
 in confinement for it's plumes, which are plucked at suitable intervals. Why
 should not the same thing be done with ! birds-of- paradise, and with other spe- cies useful to fashion? Indeed, the pro- duct of importing birds of paradise 1 from New Guinea and other isles in that nelghborhood, with this purpose in view, has been definitely broached. It
 may even be practicable by proper 1 breeding, to improve the much-prized plumage of certain wild birds. The Japanese have cultivated the tail-feath- CTS of variety of rooster until they
 have attained a length of fifteen feet,
 thus affording an illustration of what
 patience and systematic propagation
 may accomplish.
 If the United States Fish Commits sion becomes also a bird commission. an important feature of it's work will be to
 shut out from this country undesirable
 birds The English sparrow, now such
 nuisance, would never have been in-
 troduced into the United States if gov ernment experts had possessed authori-
 ty to exclude it. Persons ignorant of it's
 true character brought it from Europe with the notion that it would gobble in- sects, whereas it is primarily seed
 eater-not to mention it's hostility to more desirable feathered creatures As a result it has become pest. and oth- CT well-meaning persons have recently
 imported lot of English starlngs to destroy it. Unfortunately, this star ling is to all intents and purposes like our own objectionable crow -blackbird, and has tho e hab of bo egg and young of smaller birds of all sorts.
 Ornithologists consider it most impor- tant that congress should regulate th,s business of bird importation, so as to forbid the bringing of any feathered immigrants into the country without consent of the Department of Agricul- ture, or of the Fish and Bird Commis- sion. Some department or bureau ought to have authority to prevent n- discretions of this kind. As the law now stands, anybody is at liberty to fetch into the United States any bird or other animal no matter how dangerous. The mongoose, which has wrought such destruction in Jamaica and the Hawaii an Islands, might be introduced. or mayhap the English rabbit which has WG.I-HlSu leuucSu AuSIFdlld 10 tnn con- 1 dition of desert
 A few years ago there was introduced into Oregon the Chinese, commonly | called the "Mongolian,' pheasant. It ! was expected to breed rapidly and to i, prove desirable game bird. In these respects, as must be owned it has sur | passed expectations. Unfortunately. it | has found it's chosen adopted habitat in | grain fields, and it's destruction of the e1 grain has been so serious that the law forbdding the killing of the bird has | been repealed. This pheasant is much | like the English pheasant but hand | somer. It has a white ring around it's neck, and it's colors are beautifully me- tallic.
 One mistake made by American im- porters of game birds has been the mo- ton that birds of migratory habits could be naturalized in the United states. Great sums have been spent in trying to establish the European quail In this country, thousands of them be- ing turned loose in New England; but. when the season of migration came they have flown away-whither nobody knows. It is imagined that they have flown out into the Atlantic, and have there been lost. The migrating habit of course is inherited through thou sands of generations, and birds obey it as an instinct. These European quail were accustomed to pass over the Medi- terranean into Africa when winter came Thinking that they were cross Ing that inland sea on their aerial voy- age from the western continent. they were drowned in the ocean-Correspon Hence of the Boston Transcript
 BLACK LEOPARD IN LONDON.
 leopard can never change it's spots, it is trl1a hlIf it nn, ro,,,o4i..... l.