ZOO NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1801, 14 July 1913, Page 11

ZOO NOTES.

GOLDEN FLOWER BIRDS. LOOKING FOR A PAIR OF BEAVERS. [By John Crewes, President of the Wellington Zoological Society.] Many of tho names used by our ChinCS9 friends are flowery,' and some of them are exaggerative, but golden-flower fowl is not too glowing for the golden pheasant. The golden pheasant is a glorious bird. Readers of these notes will therefore be pleased' to learn that our good friend, Mr. Castle, lias been able to proeuro at a low cost three line young golden pheasants for the Zoo. Hybrids between Mongolian and English pheasants have bred freely in Newtown Park, and silver pheasants have increased so as to keep up a good supply there, but misfortune had reduced tne supply of golden glories to of which two were hens. Now there arb three pairs. The adult male bird is gorgeously arrayed in all the glory of his golden plumage. The young males have not yet put on gold, but they are beautifully promising, To watch such beautiful young birds changing from glory into glory, as they reach the courting stage, is very interesting. There will be some glorious colouring in tho golden pheasants' pens in the Newtown Zoo next season. But whore are. the young goldons? "People read tho Zoo notes in The Dominion," said a young lady a few weeks ago, "and rush up to the Zoo to see the things they have read about." Well, tho adult .birds are in tho iirst division, and the juveniles are in the second division, of the pleasantry, counting from the city end. The Elusive Little.Rail. Where and what is. that little rail— hypotaenidia philippinensis-rof which we read in Tub Dominion some weeks . ago ? This is a pertinent question which has recently excited much curiosity. • To it I can only answer that my good friend Mr. W. W. Smith, of New Plymouth, who is a member of the .Wellington Zoological Society, whon I put a question nbout this bird to him, directed my attention to the "supplementary" volumes of Bullets "Birds of New Zealand," Ami I, following Mr. Smith's exumplo, advise any questioner who would know more about the little elusive, evasive, hypotaenidia philippinensis to read the late Sir Walter Bufier's notes on rails. Then, as to where our littlo rail is I can say that it is in the enclosure in which the flamingoes and the mandarin ducks are, but, as the little embodiment of'shy agility is as modest as it is lively, very often only practised eyes can see it through the colour protection of tho privacy in which it likes to hide. Rhododendrons at the Zoo. Last year my society asked for dona.tions to purchase a few rhododendrons to ornament the grounds of the Zoo. Soon we were enabled 1 ' to purchase a dozen. These wero planted, and all of them grew. But, recently, the gallinutes fell in love with a few of them, and; to eavo these, the curator of tho Zoo shifted them from tho waders' aviary to other parts of the gardea However, lam glad to bo able to report that eleven; if not twelve, of the dozen beautiful rhododendrons with which my society ,-honoilired Arbor Day last year aro alive andi healthy to-day. A few more good plants of this delightfnl genus havo been promised for this year; and 1 would like to see these with an additional few planted on tho island in the front pond —the pornl in which most of the Zoo swimmers luxuriate. ' • The Tuatara. Can we save the tuatara? Will tho readers of my simple notes help to'save it? Tho tuatara is the most wonderful reptile in the world. Wild cats and eager - collectors havo driven i<t' to tho verge • of-extinction. . .Now the people of. New Zealand 6hould awake' to save'the tuatara and several other wonderful animals that are verging on annihilation. Acting on .a. suggestion offered by. my society, the Hon. Jas. Allen, when in England rocently, visited Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, Mr. Ogilvie Grant, and others', and obtained from them important information about what is being done to save the, fauna and other natural assets of other countries. Mr. Allen found that in England: a new "Society—the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves—had recently been formed. Of that society, in Decembor, 1912, the president was the Rt. Hon. J. W. Lowther, and in tho Council of Control were:—The Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Grey, Bt., K.G., M.P., tho Rt. Hon. L. V. Harcoirrt, M.P., Sir Francis Darwin, F.R.S., tho Hon. N. C. Rothschild, Sir Robert Hunter, K.C.8., Lord Lucas. Sir David Prain, F.R.S., tho Earl of Plymouth, Professor J. Bretland Farmer, F.R.S., Professor E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., Mr. W. R. Ogilvio Grant, tho Hon. F. R. Henley, and several other eminent . genflomen. Speaking of tho bow society, the London "Times'' 1 newspaper said:— 1 "Its governing body includes many names distinguished in public life, as well as in the study of natural history, and it may fairly be said that -it starts under the most promising auspices." Knowing what that society is doing, and what eminent naturalists in other parts of the world are doing, to save some of the most valuable of the natural assots of the nations, Mr. Allen is equipped aa no other ' Now Zealand Minister over has been for the important work whioh I, without disparaging tho Minister's efforts at raising loans or providing armaments, contend is as important, to men who have intellects and 'consciousness of human spiritual aspirations, as any work to which a Government could devoto attention. I am glad to know also that the Hon. Mr. Bell, the Minister for Internal' Affairs, is. warmly alive to tho preservation •of fauna question, and is devoting some of his splendid powers to it. During this week the two Ministers will receive a deputation from the Wellington Zoological Society, and from the interview considerable good may result. The Beavers. The Zoo in Newtown Park is owned by the Wellington City Corporation, and is administered by tho Wellington. City Council. Tho Wellington Zoological So-, ciety, with tho approval of a large number of the citizens of Wellington, and of friends in other parts of tho Dominion, and with money and other valuable as-, sistance given by numerous friends in New Zealand and in other parts of the world, obtains and presents to the city animals that the City Council and tho Zoological Society consider suitable foi tho Zoo. The society has thus been enabled to present tho brown bear, the leopard, tho mandarin ducks, the flamingoes, the satin, bower-bird, and 6ome other of tho most valuablo and beautiful exhibits in the Zoo. A year or two ago Mr. Massey, M.P., who has since becomo the Hon. Mr. Massey, Primo Minister of' New Zealand, enabled Mr. R. A. Wright .to procure for the society a magnificent pair of young ostriches, which aro becoming a valuablo and promising asset to tho city. Re., cently Mr. Minchin, of Adelaide, Mr. Le Souet, of Sydnoy, and Captain Maodonald, whoso boat trades between India, and Australia, enabled the society to present tho flamingoes and a pair of fine European cranes. Now a friend in Vancouver is trying to get a pail- of beavers for us. In fact, our beavers may unexpectedly be brought into Auckland, as the Indrabarah was into Wellington a few days ago. To prepare themselves to profit by studying the beavers, my juvenile friends and others should read a new book on "Beavers at Home," a book written by a man who lived among beavers, saw them, watched them, studied them, 'and has written about them, and published very interesting pictures of them. I congratulate Mr. BaiLlie, tho Chief Librarian of the Wellington Library, on having at such au opportune moment obtained for tho reference department of the Publio library in Wellington such an oicellent book.