The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-24
no longer sees him driving around and

no longer sees him driving around and about Tring.
 Birds however. may be said to be MT. Rothschild's favorite pets, and at Tring Park can be seen a wonderful collection of these from all parts of the world. Not only does he employ agents to find birds worthy tn be added to his collec- ton, but he also searches for them him. self among the dealers of London. Nearly every day when business takes him to the city. MT. Rothschild is to be seen about midday strolling through Leadenball Market, carefully exanin- ing the various birds exhibited in the hope of finding some rare specimens to add to his collection. It is extremely doubtful if the salesmen recognize in the quiet, bearded gentleman who po- litely inquiries the price of certain bird member of the Rothschild fami- ly. But they do recognize that he does know something about birds if they at tempt to fix an exorbitant price, think ing that 1t will be paid on account of ignorance of the true value. Like the majority of people, Mir. Rothschild hates to be done although at the same time he is quite willing to pay handsomely for any unique bird or ami nal which is brought under his notice, as dealers from whom he has purchas- ed from time to time are well aware.
 Perhaps the most valuable feature of MT. Rothschild's "zoo'' is the superb collection of insects. These are kept in big mahogany cabinets, each of which cost e60 and contains interchangeable drawers. A staff of curators is con- stantly employed in arranging the in sects and making room for additions. The value of this collection is estimated at $ f15,000. In this particular branch Of his hobby Mr. Rothschild has been greatly assisted by his younger broth er the Hon. Charles Rothschild, who is very much interested in entomology. Charles Rothsehild's $ pet hobby is that of collecting fleas, and at the Tring Park museum are to be seen cabinets containing over 10000 specimens of the uncomfortable insects" of all forms and sizes, gathered from nearly every corner of the world. Every mammal and bird is said to have a particular kind of a flea, and very many have several different kinds. The eat flea, for instance, is different from the dog flea. and the dog flea from the spar row flea, and each in turn is different from the Pulley irritans." the scien- tists pet name for the flea which is such a source of trouble to human be- ings. This collection of fleas is proba- bly the most complete of it's kind but there is one flea missing which Charles Rothschild most covets, and that is the flea of the Arctic fox.
 Only two perfect specimens are known to exist in collections, and with view to finding a third MT. Roths- child two years ago commissioned the captain of the Forget Me- Not, an Arc tic traveller, to hunt for the specimens. But the captain evidently returned flea- less, for in August last MT. Rothschild offered a reward of 91,000 for an Arc tic fox f1ea-a reward which the writer believes has yet to be earned. The f1eas at Tring Park, like the other in mates of the zoo" have been collected through agents, and whenever an ex- petition is about to start for pgotrac- ted journey through a foreign land. MT. Rothschild usually engages one of the party to collect specimens of the in- sects from any species of mammal or bird encountered. He supplies phials, chloroform and labels, and the speci-
 mems reach Firing labelled with the 1 name of the creature on which they
 were found. They are then classified,
 hermticaily sealed and packed away in their proper cases.
 Although MT. Walter Rothschild does not take q very active interest in poli- tics, he is an extremely popular man in the House of Commons. He is one of those quiet, kindly, unassumng men with whom it is real pleasure to talk.
 He is capital conversat tionalist, es- pecially when talking of his great hob
 by. or to a man who, like himself,
 takes keen delight in the recreations
 of shooting and hunting.