WHITE ELEPHANT, an elephant af fected with albinism. Such animals, always rare. are highly esteemed by some Eastern potentates and are considered sacred in Siam, where the animal has become a national symbol, lea that Siam is called •the land of the white elephant,' and one of the highest decorations conferred by its rulers is that of the Order of the White Elephant. A specimen purchased by the late P. T. Barnum from King Theebaw, of Burma. was brought to the United States in 1884 It stood seven feet and a half high and the face, ears, front of trunk, fore feet and part of breast were of a light ash color. Fig uratively, a present which does one much more harm than good, or more generally any nominal advantage which has this effect. It is reported that when in old times the ruler of Siam de sired to ruin any one, he made him a present of a white elephant. The sacred elephant has an enormous appetite, and, being sacred, it would be a crime to let it die, so that the gift generally entailed ruin on the recipient.
one of the numerous small insectivorous birds of the New Zealand region, called blight-birds locally, because they feed so largely upon the plant-lice which tor ment garden plants and orchard trees. They belong to the genus Zoskrops, which is vari ously classified by ornithologists, but seems most nearly related to the titmice. Other species are scattered elsewhere throughout the Old World tropics. All are neatly but not gaudily dressed have in most cases a con spicuous ring of white feathers around the eye and build pretty nests. The genus is in teresting, further, from the fact that many of its species are confined to small islands, ap parently affording examples of the effect of isolation (q.v.).