LIFE AT THE ZOO.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1713, 2 April 1913, Page 3

LIFE AT THE ZOO.

HUMOUR IN THE LION'S DEN. LITTLE RICHARD SHOWS OFF. "MUCH POETRY IN THE HYENA" (By J. Creives, President of the Welling1. ton 'I. ological Societj'.) ; "Oh! Mr. '.Crowes, I am glad to see you. I read your letter in The Dominion this morning, and I derived a great deal of pleasure from it." There wns music in that spontaneous expression as it camo from the heart of an officer of the Newtown Museum into my rather unmusical eai's. To praise the 200 so as to give ■pleasure to an officer of the Museum is .wuvk worth doing. • The officers, of the Museuni should praiso the Zoo, and the officers of the Zoo should praise the Museum. In each there is much worth uraising. "Good day, Mr. Crevts. I have come up to see the noble lioness, whose stately, fcearing you so eulogised in Thb Dominion*: yesterday / morning," e-aid an ol<l friend' when he acoosted mo . in tho park last Sunday afternoon. , ■ ■. "Well," I : said, as I pointed to the lioness, "there she is, moving before you,. Where did you ever see more quiet grace and natural dignity than you see now?";; "Well," said, he, "I must say the. lioness is a beautiful animal, and she is worthy of all ;you have said about her.''.;!. "People are/ talking about what you; wrote about Maud and Little Richard,", said a gentleuihn when I was in the park a few days 4g0.. Now, seeing that people' are .reading my "Notes" and verifying, them and (studying them, I offer ,a few more for consideration. Maud arid ,Richard. • : Little Maud is now strong and muLrather precocious.. When I first saw: iier I .-.thought she seemed rather weakly,, but -all signs of feebleness have disappear-' ed,- and-now sho is a beauty. Wnen I last saw her she was trying to pull flesh: from a bone, just as her mother feeds. ■ Little Richard, now. that ho comes out; into tho light, shows a coat that lias, not only spots, but spot rings like the rings of a. leopard, almost ail over it. Richard is a humorous youth, and his mother knows it. Whe.i I last saw him. he .climbed up the ■ tree trunk that is. fixed , aslope in the lions' exercise yard.s\s he climbed-he looked as though say-: ing; "Aint v I a wonderful lad?" His' mother, wickedly caught his tail in her mouth and gently jerked him back. Then, ho 'made'a'more desperate .'effort as! though determined to go to the top. But his-mother opened her great'. mouth,: caught the little desperado, by the hind' leg, and pulled him. Both of themthoroughly ;cujoyed ( the i fim. "Isn't 'Zoo a very ' interesting. 'place' for children ?" says sorao .venerable friend as soon as he can speak, after laughing, himself almost io convulsions iu tho crowd. .Aye, I say—looking at.:the crowd,! 'composed of about 382 adults to'lß/children—aye, a Zoo is a, .wonderfully interesting place! to every .child of .71) years of age and under. , , The Hyena. - ' •' • :I have. written of . the stately bearing of Mary, ,tho No|W', by way of Contrast, a? few words 'must-lie given about the ungainly gait of-tho hjena. I spell hyena''without -an "a" .before the. "e," becaiise.tho. ; ''a".'and'"e" should-be joined in :on<> letter, and I don't liko to see them in'tho name when they are separate. A diphthong doe.s not seem out of place in , tho name'-of tho • hyena, foiv : the animal itself is ix kind of .diphthong, like two different 1 half-letters joined in one; but tlao halves muSt not be separated; Naturalists do not hesitate to say "tho lion is a cat," nor do tliey feel any difficulty in classifying tho.'woif withc'doesj-but a hyena s stem's to be si kind of m'phthoni having the. forequnrters of a dog and the' -hind-parts of a cat. There is much that is worthy of notice; I- may say much poetry,.in .the.hyena. -In the early-days ■of ; Australiin,"'poetry'Mr. Ban-oil-Field! wrote n poem on "Tho Kangaroo." Later Mr. "Slatlen.-ignored it. Then Mr. Dykes Campbell raised a discussion upon whether Field's fioem was really a ■ poem worthy of note. After that Mr. Sladen published it in'an appendix, in his "Century of Australian Song.". I will not pose as a critic of critics, but will say that Mr. Field's poem, though, rather crude and rugeed for' a poem of note, suggests to me (I)'that there was poetry ill Mr.'Field; (2) that though' the poem lias many faults it yields several happy poetic hints; (3) that in such diphthongal animals as. tho giraffe of camelopard, tho kangaroo, and the hyena, there are-beam-ing subjects for a great poem ready to inspire some coming genius. Mr. Field ; is not tho only poet who has failed to comprehend the possibilities that are. in tliese animals. Tho hyena in the Zoo is not . owned by the Wellington City Corporation, ho is only a casual lodger at present. 1 Artists, poets, and other members bf the family of genius, should therefore hurry up to see him. And he is «'ell worth seeing by all ordinary people, rhe -weakness of tne-hindquarters of « Jiy-ena makes :him i very' ungainly, au<l his nocturnal habits give to 'him a sleepy appearance, in tho daytime, but he has a strong head, carrying jaws which perhaps -tor splitting shin-bones are unequalled; and when he is roused his eyes flash and the coarse liairs on his neck and shoulderSjfiy up liko tho quills of a porcupine or. the bristles of an infuriated boar. Lamentation and Hope. Early. in last week, when tho sun was shilling, and Wellington, in one of lifer calmer moods, was the envy of the world, youthful hearts wero beating high with hope at Newtown. Juvenile zoologists ■W®,' -playing their - annual.-gams r of -.-pj-e-Pk M 'l K f or miniature bazaar; in ai<l- of the,, Zoological Society's animal fund, and prospective, buyers were coming iv" lew 'promises of purchases were swelling- in the ' bud,' a"'joyful day lor last Saturday was longingly hoped ■ c. i Ut 'i a ' as ''. wben on- Friday, night and Saturday- morning '. our -Wellington winds .roared liko , melodious .thunder, Until i visitors fronr the land of Boreas wondered unto what the Borca New Zealandiasis, or whatever that' magnificent force, that, on Friday night,'-shook-'iis fjo' tremendously,- meteorologically,- -is would grow, hope in tho youthful workers dwindled to wwso than nothingness. But now, with "Nil despci-andum" glcviming en their banners, our.faithful friends are up again; and 1 venture to predict that on their banners, our faithful friends aro Ought to have, throughout tho Dominion, a thousand of annually, Treasurer Castlo will next Monday, or before, receivo to-, wards his tiger fund almost, if not quite, twenty, shillings. Ostriches. Aro tho ostriches in the Wellington Zoo full-grown P Havo they Teached maturity? How long must wo wait before wo expect young ones from them? These questions have .been repeatedly put to inc. 1 must, therefore, offer a few words about ostriches. Tho African ostrich, now that there is no livo inoa in the world. repi'e- : sents tho largest birds thnt live. When maturo they have prodigious strength. I once saw a rhea, our American friends' apology for an ostrich, kick another rhea. The kick delivered seems to mo to havo been tho most forceful and emphatic order to "Get back" that I have over seen. But I presume that an African ostrich would, although it is the only two-toed bird in tho world, and has only two toes to tho American's three, could, using the back pai't of its foot, as it would in a fight, knock tho American out of time. Strango that a bird so strong and forceful should havo such an uncertain heart, and dio so easily, and suddenly, as too many ostriches do. But the fact that the ostrich is a great and mighty bird remains. Now, I. am not an authority on ostriches; but I think the leaders of my notes may safely believe that although the female may lay a few eggs oven beforo .she reaches three years of age, yet thcro will be nn strong young ostriches from oui- present stock before tliey reach tho ago of four years. At present they are not much over -two. From what .1 have heard, and what I have read," a male ostrich is not mature until he is lour years of age. A femalo may mature in a few months less. African ostriches aro becoming more and more interesting, therefore every person should study ostrichcs. : A i'ew tUvsugo f read t.b»t the Londun /.oological hociet.v had obtained for I he J .oji. [ dou Zoa seme Afritan ostriches, that had

been procured by Hie kindness of Mr. Minchen, in Australia. African ostvjehes are now so protected in Africa that- the London Zoological Society turns to Australia when it wants to "get African ostriches. In tile-light of that we perceive , how fortunate tho Wellington Zoological Society was in getting Mr. I?. A. Wright to prevail on the lion. Mr. Massey and the Pukekohe Ostrich Farm Company, to supply the ostriches wc wanted for our Zoo. 1 recently read that no ostrich can now hotaken from the Cape. 1 don't know the number of tame ostriches on the African farms at present. An English paper tells- us that it. was reported that in I'JO 1- no fewer than 470,38111] -of ostrich feathers were exported, representing a value of jC1,055,985, and that the number of birds on the farms was nearly 358,000. Who Will Help? Some of my friends think that the work of tho. Zoological Society is easy, that we havo just to blow a whistle and call for animals and (the right representatives will come, iu pairs, or sevens, as . animals went up to. Noah and his Ark. Now it would be easyl to fill Newtown Park with animals, if we were -willing, and the City Council would consent for us, to promiscuously collect the surplus stock of other' Zoos., which could be obtained at low prices. But suitable animals for a select Zoo do not readily come,at our call. Wo have to search tho world for them, and employ, friends who. are competent to select and examine them for us. Tho Zoological Society presents to-Wellington City animals such as would be welcomed in the best zoos in tho world. Who will give, or who will help us to get a new satin bird, a pair of brush turkeys, a pair of American summer ducks, a. pair of lady Amherst pheasants, a pair of Reeves pheasants, and half a dozen New Zealand pigeons? Flamingoes. ■ The society jis still trying to get three flamingoes- Mr. Minchen, tho director of the Adelaide Zoo, is kindly assisting. Another gentleman who is captain of a vessel trading between India and Australia is sympathetically co-oper- ; ttting in tho movement, and he will persist until he does get them. Beavers. Mr. Langridg'e, the curator of Wellington Zoo, has a friend who is connected with a : zoological park at Vancouver. Wo havo applied to him for assistance to get a pair of beavers. Lately lie wrote telling ius that beavers wero scarce over then: just now' but lie thought-lie could get a I pair at a price mentioned. Mr. Lang-ridge-has asked , him to get the pair, and the society will pay for the beavers and the costs of bringing them. ■