Country Life THE NEW ZOO.
The opening of the Whipsnade Zoo this week is a wonderful Whitsuntide present to the public. The place is as good almost as a National Park. It has all the qualities desired in such a park : a splendid view over characteristic country ; an ample space of wood and down, where grow trees and flowers most characteristic of that part of England which we fondly and appropriately call the Home Counties ; a bird sanctuary where the home birds hob-nob with the foreign. The warblers arc singing there divinely at this moment. It is isolated, but admirably near a thick population. It will serve as a place of real recreation for busy people on Saturdays and Sundays, when the parent Zoo is most crowded or least approachable. Visitors just at present will be wise to expect a feast of native rather than exotic attractions. They may listen to the willow-warbler, see a mist of bluebells under the oaks and oversee half a dozen counties. These cannot disappoint ; but those who expect wild and wonderful Hagenbeck quarters for many strange animals, appearing to be free in the wild, will not realize expectations. They must remember that Whipsnade has yet to grow into the ideal that prompted it. The more elaborate quarters have yet to be dug and planted and camouflaged with tree and shrub.
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