Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1895 — CONGRESSMAN'S OWL. [ARTICLE]

CONGRESSMAN'S OWL.

A Friend Sends Him One for • Mocking Bird. “Did you ever hear about the Brazilian mocking bird that Congress-man-elect John P. Tracy, of the Springfield (Mo.) district once owned?” asked Jack Carr at the Planters recently. “No? Well, I’ll tell you about it. I was in Springfield and was going to Texas, and Tracy asked me to get a Texas mocking bird and send it to him. He said his wife had long wished for one, and he thought I could get it for him. I promised to do my best. "The so-called Texas mocking bird is larger than the northern product and has a long scissors-like tail with a large white spot on each division of it. It is much easier to domesticate than the native of the Northern States, and its tones when it sings are more mellow. When I struck Paris, Tex., I went to see a friend of mine who had, I knew, several fine specimens. I told him what I wanted, and he showed me several birds and then asked me which one 1 wanted. I told him I wanted the largest one he had. He took me into a rear room and said he would show me a Brazilian bird that beat the Texan all to pieces. Then he brought out a cage in which was the largest owl I ever saw. Every feather on its body was pure white, and when stretched out its wings measured over two and a half feet from tip to tip. I saw the joke and at once decided to send it—the owl—to Tracy. “ I boxed the bird up and took it to the express office .Then I decorated the box with all sorts of bottle labels, hieroglyphics of different kinds and other mysterious symbols and sent it to Tracy. He paid sl3 or $4 express charges on it—you know it takes double charges to send live stock by express—and took the box home. “Well, he made the best of it and kept the bird, and in time became much attached to it. He had a ball and chain attached to its leg so that it could not fly . It could walk easily, however, and for a long time the owl had the freedom of Tracy’s house and yard. “One night the bird grew thirsty and hopped on to the edge of a barrel that stood under a spout at a corner of the house. He lost his balance and fell in and the ball followed.He tried to get out but could not fly with the ball attached to his leg, so he was drowned. The Congressman has not yet secured a genuine Texas mocking bird.”