CURIOUS PETS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8034, 22 January 1906, Page 3

CURIOUS PETS.

A rniuo of information, Micgisl p.u and stories about v.iiio'i.s •:nniits un.uii by Mr Itichaid Bell, of Jiith tin, :;, Dumfriesshire, will be loun ! :n li. j cons of his private menagerie, Pots, and other Memories ..I Country Lito ' (1/ondon : W. liheiiwi od i.nu Sons). Had ho eared <o i,. vote in re time to the form ol its pres-juxaiiun, this record would have o. ..ii more attractive, for as it stands it is twi.ii disjointed and discursive. Icud1 c ud many ol the facts aud experiences given are q we new; and incidentally it throws w-uie liglit on the amusing relations opiw«ii owners of private menageries in J'.ngland and Scotland. Tlioir commjn :u----teresls, odd exchanges, and .cry visual" taking of risks for tiieuii>ei-,"'.s u.d their neighbours with "doubtful''' bpteimens are set out with amazing frankness. Mr Bell lias so many stories ti.at, we may fairly quote some sauipkas, while many of his observations of the wiiac birds and mammals of Kugtind a,id Scotland suggest that, carefully jus liivj have been studied, there is uit/ie to learn.

Among his menagerie pets the mcst interesting seem to have been the emus, lemurs, large snakes, deer, foxes, anU certain birds in the aviaries. The emus liud and hatched edicts regularly; aim though the pair cast £2O ,u IBi4, Mr Beli sold thirty-one young ones at an average of from £t> to £iu a pair, ami eleven years later sold the nrst pair ior £lt). In addition, the eggs not used lor hatching were sold, so the emu larm was quite u good investment. lue female had nothing to do but to lay the eggs. -The cock bird, not the hen, passed into the curious physical state oy which birds for a time are transformed into hatching automatons, iiat what an automaton: Jj'or sixty days it crawls to my face to lick it. f treqiicntly take a python to bed; but at piiseut sue is timid, and if she cannot hud my feet, crawte out of the bed and curls herself on the floor. ... 1 do not myself believe that any python or boa is savage. But they are dreadfully timid, especially from the ill-treatment they received when first caught, and the misery and terror they euuuie on llie voyage. There is another tiling. They never touched food or water, though both were set near it. iet alter tins long fast it at once took over the little birds wnen hatched, and looked alter thein most carefully as they grazed hue goslings. This may not have been dmieult; but it is surprising that it has tiie strength to lead them about. Tins long last may be commended to students of the life ol salmon in fresh water.

The ring-tailed lemur, a common pet in India and Madagascar, bus kept, not in the menagerie, out in the house, auu was as charming as the " .Madagascar cas" usually is, though it died liom an accident. Mr Bell's experiences in keeping the large snakes, notably pythons and boas, are interesting, especially tue notes on the .vonderiul ijuiciuicis of the boas stroke. Describing an instance when a boa killed a rabmt, he says:— " It struck the rabbit icitn a motion as quick as the crack of a whip. Tins stroke, and the subsequent working round the body of the rabbit, were su rapidly pertormed that tho cyo could scarcely follow tho movements." Or Mann, an enthusiastic lover of snakes, shows that the larger lauds may have no eyelids, and on being suddenly uncovered and dragged form to the light, suiter from the glare very acutely. It is best, therefore, to hide their heads in your hand, or under your coat. Handle them often, and give them water, pressing their heads gently into it. I feed my boas frequently lrom nij python a guinea-pig the prey escaped', and the python took in the whole ol my hand instead. Ue soon discovered his mistako, and was greatly distressed, rubbed his head against iny hand, and scorned to fear some sort of punishment. Sinco that time I have had great diiii- ' culty in persuading him to cat unless 1 ■nurse hiin or take him to bed, when he i will lie the whole night with his ]■,.„:, in my hand." If sometimes new traits of characiei, such as these unsuspected emotions and susceptibilities in the constrictor snakes, reward the keeper of a strange pet, it must bo admitted that as a rule experience is light, and that creatures which have been failures in the past do not reward further experiment. Such, for instance, are alligators, wolves (for keeping which there is a craai just at present), male deer, and bears, which are stpid and always dangerous. There are several country houses where bears are now kept, while escaped wolves and jackais have done much mischief both in Northumberland and in Kent; and at no great distance o time a. whole litter of youn prairie wolves were sold to turn out as fox cubs in Essex I One Irish Peer kept a tamo bear because it was his crest, and subsequently obtained another when he sold the first representative of the family "totem" to Mr Bell. Another bear, a cub, was sent as a present from Canada to a etationmaster at Longholm. Not knowing what to do with it, he kindlylet it go in a wood near. Nothing further was heard of it. But tho story accounts for unwelcome visitations like '■ that of the Allandale wolf.

Endless pleasure may bo obtained from a well-constructed, carefully managed aviary, especially if the inmates are tlio brightly coloured small birds of the sub-tropical countries. They will need about one-third of a man's time to manage and keep them clean and well; but the return in beauty, movement, and unfamiliar habits is great. Most aviaries are far too large and lofty for small biicls, and large birds are unsatisfactory inmates as a rule, though not always. Birds arc most sociable creatures, and the extent of their amiability is only fully seen in an aviary or flying cage. In the New York Zoo, for instance, the pelicans play with a small specks of duck 03 picking them up in their pouches, "chucking" them into the air, and catohing them again. Mr Bell's aviary presented quite as pretty an evidence of mutual confidence among birds. A pair of Java sparrows lived in a compartment with a " blooding heart pigeon." TIIO latter fell in love with them, and at night always cuddled a sparrow under each wing. When seen by tlio light of a lantern, the pigeon seemed to he cuddling two bahics, one under each wing, from which the cheerful countenances of tlio little sparrow* looked with blinking eyes. Part of the pleasure of keeping as pets animals not generally choven fur that purpose is the chanco wliiah it gives of getting o'l terms of ac<|i;'..i.".anoo, and sometimes of friendship, v:th minds as yet untried, the calib.o of which vt alc.iost unknown, i'lie .vns el' thought of a dog, or even ol • 11 it tor or a tame snoiv''!eopnr.l, are by this time i'-iimlia' enough. Hut. there i* a pien.-i u novelty in establishing close: re! ;..i .us with the mind of a tamo boa-unistiico" which becomes a ci>ii!iik'iilia.l Iriencl. or watching tho daily life of birds seldom kept under close observation, si c 1 as emiw, or of Mini" foreign 1 [■''"ins, ol which the jorhoa and pr.nrc do' 4 arc though never a certainly, 'jl .ii ; cwrint£ mime curious nvnt.il i|ii.il,!v "■ less familial- beasts which is 1 'vvi.ul for lunch ti-oi'blo and anxiety 111 tec,ing them, or of observing bain's s.'.d ways of life shown by them 11 ronhiedin «i fairly natural environment wb.ch have not beou recorded boicee.