Show old world ite jan 10 1889 A curious phenomenon is being seen just now in the ii alie result f tho low thermometer thousands birds many of to alie resident leave winged their way Lond onwards within the last few days and dwellers in the southern western and northern suburbs have witnessed the unusual spectacle of itar liuga thrushes and aven tomtits tom tits contesting with the town for the crumbs and other bably tably refuse thrown out to alem by kindly servant girls it is a remarkable proof of llie soundness of in amongst alie feathered tribes that alio neighborhood of big bentres centres of industry with all their unpleasant concomitants of fog and smoke should be preferred at thin season of alie year for thero can be no doubt that the chance of existence during very cold weather for any variety of small birds is greater in a populous district than amongst frost hardened fields and meadow 8 the v meet with welcome reception and even the sparrows soon become reconciled to the invasion of their time honored privileges londoners Lon doners with all their faults have a keen appreciation of anything suggestive of the country they like to seo birds buttering lutt ering about their little gardens and when a stranger appears on the scene the supply of bread crumbs is sure to increase whether it is that the memory of hospitable treatment lingers one cannot tell but it is an indisputable fact that the annual emigration from country to town becomes more marked with every recurrence of severe weather another noe worthy feature in connection with bird life in london is the tremendous increase which has taken place during the ladt two years in the number of waterfowl water fowl in the parks formerly two or oliree pair of swans and a score or two of wild duck biad alie ornamental water in st james park all to themselves the wings of the wild duck were clipped to prevent them flying away and when the frost set in a space of water was kept clear of tor thero but in kotlier respects had to shift pretty much for then beaves all aliis is altered now trained devote their attention to the birds new varieties which are constantly being added and so successful have been breeding operations that the lake literally swarms with fowl moreover the birds are so well treated that it found no longer necessary to clip their wings with the result that at dozens of wild duck may be seen circling high overhead it is the tiling in regents park and on serpentine though in the latter the stretch of water is so large the number of waterfowl water fowl habited in it does not appear GO great as in smaller basin at tho back of alie guards the difficulty with tha arabs continues and although news is late arriving it is read with great interest word has been received at cairo tha effect eliat the fight in emin basha defeated the took in september it is learned further that the date of pashas surrender was on oct at lado the governor general shakim has issued a proclamation tho tribes in informs of tho line of policy which the government intends to follow in future iia assures the tribesmen that as have been told upon previous occasions alie government lias no intention whatever of asserting over them nor is there any wish impose taxes upon them all the government desires is to see various tribes living peaceably together and associating among themselves bring about the revival of trade the government is determined to shakim and if the dervishes venture to attack they will be driven off as before the government however would prefer to ere the tribesmen themselves expel the dervishes if they do so their action will havo full approval of the british government alie governor general in conclusion cl invites tho sheikhs of various tribes to visit him in in order that they might consult gether in regard to their future action if they accept liis invitation agree to act ag dinst alio the government will be to assist them by supplying with food and money the proclamation is expected to have a good effect A few days since alie royal palace at madrid w as alie acene of one those outrages which only madmen and advocates of political association are capable of committing while the queen was dressing for dinner she was alarmed by a loud report caused by the explosion of a bomb on the service staircase the infanta isabella with her attendants was entering alie palace just as tho explosion occurred but fortunately escaped from the account of alio affair telegraphed by a madrid correspondent there seems to be no doubt that the bomb consisted of a flask filled with explosive laid and that it was thrown on to the staircase either by a lunatic method in hid madness or by a political desperado the window of the staircase was smashed by the force of the explosion which caused a stampede of many of the members of the royal household to the queens chambers her majesty appears to have soon recovered from her fright and her first thoughts were for her children for whom she immediately sent she was subsequently by her ministers it is remarkable that the explosion have oc corred in a part of the palace which is guarded by soldiery alie guards declare eliat alie author of the outrage was unobserved by them alio occurrence though it has fortunately not resulted in any consequences will not conduce to alie relict of the proverbial uneasiness of crowned heads some interesting statistics have been compiled by the officials of the indian home department with reference to the number of presses and the various newspapers periodicals and books published la india in the year 1885 G tho year dealt with in the return there were boim pr cresea esea worked in india of these in the northwest north west and oude in bengal in alie british territory in bombay and 20 in the native elates in diadra 71 in the in burnach Burna ah 16 in the central provinces 0 in berar 4 in assam and 1 in the number 0 newspapers printed in english daring the bame year was as against in the previous year and of newspapers printed in the vernacular or as against in 1884 85 the punjab is not in the calculation as the returns do not alie Eng liali and the vernacular newspapers but give a total of ca for both by far the greater number of the vernacular newspapers are published in the bombay presidency which gup orts no less than the west provinces and conning next with 72 and bengal next with 54 in madras there are only 29 and in no newspaper either in english or in the vernacular is published the number of periodicals published in india excluding the punjab was of which were in english and in the vernacular in the punjab there were periodicals published publish ei during the year bombay is again at the head of the list of native periodicals with 83 while in madras 40 english periodicals were anc only 21 in the vernacular the number of books published in the vernacular was much larger than in 1834 5 when it was in 1855 6 the number was of which bengal contributed 2414 bombay 1885 the punjab 1527 the northwest provinces and oade 1201 and madras on the other hand the number of books printed in english has decreased as ajtai cst in alie previous year of these bengal contributed madras bombay the punjab and the northwest provinces and oude 39 each WARWICK |