" WANTED " FOR THE ZOO.
HE memoranda of the late Mr. A. D. Bartlett just published suggest a survey of the old Reports of the iety, and their annual lists of animals in the Gardens. here are some whose absence from the collection is not ily explained ; but a comparison of these records, running ack to 1836, with that of the creatures in the Gardens to-day a rough guide both to the permanent difficulties in the ay of procuring certain animals, and to the increasing arcity of others.
The three continents of the Old World, and the most ntly discovered of the New, Australasia, contain the eater number of the creatures whose absence from the Zoo most regrettable. America, both North and South, is °roughly well represented. The " big-horn " sheep, the claky Mountain goat, and the musk ox are not shown in the ardens, but they could be procured if needed, and the two though interesting from their place as links between her species, are not striking either in habit or appearance. torn the grizzly bear to the beaver or the puma of the ahem plains, the American mammals can be studied to vantage at the Zoo. In the African list the gaps are serious, and mark a real loss to the ordinary visitor who desires to see with his own eyes the models of size, grace, or power exhibited in these unfamiliar animal forms. In Africa, where the antelopes occupy the place of deer in the other continents, and far sur- pass them in variety of form, there are two which in size, though not in shape, correspond with the giants of the deer tribe in America and Europe. Taking the eland, of which the Society has always owned a small herd, as the equivalent of the moose,we have in Africa the great koodoo, which matches the wapiti stag. In the opinion of many, this huge antelope is a finer creature even than the wapiti. It stands as much as 5 ft. at the shoulder. Its carriage and poise are commanding, and the horns, thick and massive, form a spiral, as if they had been wound round a straight core some 4 ft. long. One killed by Mr. F. C. Mons had horns 5 ft. 4 in. long, measured in a straight line. The koodoo is the common trophy of African hunters, but none ever finds its way to the Zoo, to rival the giraffe in beauty and surpass it in elegance. The lesser koodoo, a. dwarf species, is commonly seen there ; but the writer cannot discover any entry of the arrival of the great koodoo, either recently or in the old registers. The gemsbok is also absent from the list of antelopes. Otherwise known as the oryx, it is one of the most beautiful of all the Southern antelopes. Its straight horns and light-cream colour are believed to have suggested the heraldic "unicorn." This is now a far rarer animal than the koodoo. The white rhinoceros never was exhibited in the Gardens, and, if any survive, it is too late to hope to see one in England. But there is no reason why the other and sole surviving African rhinoceros, the two-horned black species, of whose hide the Arab shields are made, should not be obtained and exhibited. It is still common in the Soudan, and is nowhere more plentiful than on the Upper Atbara. Another and most beautiful creature never seen at the Zoo is Grevey's zebra. Mr. Walter Rothschild has one stuffed at Tring, which is at least one- third larger than the common Burchell's zebra. It is the size of a good cob, and very powerfully built. The lesser hippo- potamus would also be a prize of another kind. It is a small species, akin to one whose bones have been found in such numbers in Sicily that they were exported in shiploads to make lamp- black and manure. The Siberian hippopotamus, as it is some- times called, also inhabits some of the tributaries of the Congo. According to Captain Hind, it is about the length of a Jersey cow. One was brought to this country, but died soon after. It is hoped that specimens of this pocket edition of the " hippo " will be obtained shortly, as at least two enter- prising collectors have announced their intention of capturing one. The latest news of the animal is from the Lualaba River, where it was seen in 1896. Individually ugly, but collectively most interesting, are the various tribes of African baboons. These are very poorly represented at the Zoo, and one species was only lately obtained (by Mr. A. E. Pease) for the Natural History Museum. He shot two at a considerable distance across a ravine. At the fall of the second, which was wounded, a whole company of these dangerous creatures rose up from the rough ground and charged for where he was standing. Fortunately the ravine delayed them, and he got back to camp without an encounter. At Amsterdam the big baboons made a very interesting addition to the Gardens. Six or eight live in one house, with an indoor and outdoor compartment. There they grow to a great size, and their cleverness and strength are shown to much advantage in their outdoor life. On the line near Kimberley one of these baboons has been trained to work the signals.
The birds and mammals of India are always in evidence at the Zoo. Friendly native gentlemen, as well as officials, constantly augment the collection. But there is one species which never appears in the Gardens, though we believe it was once kept there. The absence of the dhole, or red hunting dog, of whose courage Mr. Kipling has written in the "Jungle Book," is a real loss to the interest of modern visitors. It would be most interesting to compare it with the hunting dog of South Siberia, which probably was the same as that once found in the Taurus Mountains, and perhaps in Europe. The spotted Cape hunting dog (Canis lyecion) is in the Amsterdam collection, and has, we think, been kept in London more than once. The great Siberian tiger is still unseen here, and till a good specimen arrives no one in this country will quite realise the
possibilities" of tiger growth and magnificence. The wild camel of the Gobi Desert we shall probably never obtain. But we have not even a specimen of the fast Arabian camel. When the annual camel race from the Sahara is held at Biskra an effort should be made to purchase one of the splendid white " Mehari" camels, the finest in the East.
By far the most interesting of European animals are the aurochs, or European bison, and the wolf. The former is the largest and the latter the object of more legend and fear than any other. We have not a single European wolf left, and no European bison. The great Russian wolf, which died some years ago, was the largest ever remembered in a menagerie, and gave some idea of what a terror a male wolf could be to poor peasants in the ages before firearms. In Holland the wolves are a very important " exhibit " in the menageries, and it is a pity that a representative collection of European, Arctic, Indian, and Central Asian wolves is not made in this country. Of the smaller mammals, more of the tiger-cats, including the beautiful clouded tiger, the favourite animal of Sir Stam- ford Raffles, might be obtained, and would be a great addition to the collection ; the martin, sable, and wolverine are also interesting, and the two former are beautiful. The mink, "fisher," and Canadian otter are also absent.
The public seems to have lost interest in what excited for some time unmeasured curiosity,—the wonderful marsupial fauna of Australia. Several of these are unlikely to be seen in this country again, among them the "Tasmanian wolf," and possibly the duckbill ; but as there is to be a national park of Australia, some of the rarer creatures may be reared there in sufficient numbers for export. It is not to be expected that the collection of birds should be as complete as that of mammals. The number of birds is so great, and the opportunities of keeping them in good health so few, that the success of the menagerie in this department is somewhat remarkable. One very striking bird must be noted as want- ing to complete the raptorial series at the Zoo. This is the harpy eagle of Central and Southern America. It is the bird which the Incas used to train to catch deer for them for sport, while the mere commercial hunter used trained pumas. From this account it is evident that there was once no great difficulty in obtaining these birds. At the present time, though nothing can have occurred to reduce their numbers in the tropical forest, they are very seldom obtained alive, and even a skin costs a large sum of money. Though they have some points which indicate that they are not true eagles, there is no doubt from the evidence of the skins collected in museums that they are among the most formidable of all birds. The circumference of the leg jest above the talons is, even in the dried skins, larger than that of any eagle. The diffi- culty which stands in the way of procuring them is their invisi- bility, living, as they do, entirely on and above the tops of the lofty and impervious trees. A naturalist who spent some years lately in the district in which they are found never beheld a harpy eagle during his sojourn in the forests. They have, notwithstanding, been occasionally procured for the .Zoo. In that successful, and, as we hope, growing, depart- ment of the menagerie, the insect house, it may be suggested that the most important of all the insects of the tropical -world should be shown. The functions of the white ant in the economy of Nature are far greater even than those of the earthworm, and its methods are astonishing. It would be necessary to contrive some means of illuminating the nest, as they always work, if possible, in the dark.
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