ZOO NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2172, 10 June 1914, Page 4

ZOO NOTES.

A PENGUIN'S LOCOMOTION THE SICK LIONESS RECENT BIG GUN FIRING

(By John Crowes, President oi' the ■ Wellington Zoological Society.)

A few weeks ago 1 discussed, with two gentlemen, iho modes ef tho loco- 1 motion of penguins. B'ist tlifiii. I had not seen a king penguin in water. A fow days ago, huwevorj I had tho pleasufo of seeing the king pengwid in thoZoo oxoroising hliji.self ©11 ;iiid in tho water, and if ho had known what I wanted to see he ceroid not have gives a nioro satisfactory demonstration. When I saiv him at ijrst lie seemed to ho swimming as a. duck swims. At. this I wondered, because when, softft years ago, I. saw a crested peapim voyaging he rolled from ®id.e t.fl sido, and p«idled with bis usiiig his two wings alternately, ivow my yontig friends know that 1 contimiftlly adviso tliem to observe very accurately, study very patiently, and lif? very citreful ii; drawing inferences. They will how 53® iu my own statement on iliustration «f tlio importanca?; af tho sulvieo I give. 'While I was watching the king penguin lie increased tlio -rat-6 at; which'he was travelling, .and dM it by rolling and paddling just 0.5 the crestw.l. pMi.gnm paddled. From what i hiivo -scan thfe.ro X infer that vvhon' tho pcEguins ■ Wajltto voyage at .any otlier than it very slow rate, they gii'o iiie impiitifs by using their wings as paddh-s. The King j:enguin also sottled fer uw>. onotlisr' mattor. I had bceft told that pewgtti.ns when swimmiiig Iseep their Wifes submerged, except tliat they hold ibci-r heads and nefite above thft_ water. I doubted that when I heard it. Kow I disbelieve it. The king penguin when swimming kept his body an the water, just as' a duck does. Bui while I was watching him a big- black swan approached and threatened te attack. Tho penguin allowed tlie at-taeliing party to come nearly wjchtii striking; distance?, and then, with, tho agility of ft 'penguin, the most expwt diver of all birds, disappeared, ' and flew through tho water underneath the surface, as a bird flios through the air. When the penguin imagined that lie had. got beyond iho limitof danger, he put up Ms howl and neck .and surveyed tlm sitwati-on, I presume that pictures o.f {jsnguina that had: been . frightened, disappeared for awhile, and then risca to tnksj their bearings, have given rise to tho suggestion that penguins swim with only their heads and ne&ks abovo walet. ,Since tig days when I, on t-iro sea near tto coast of Cornwall, ussd ts> try ia shboi shags that we couldn't hit 4 I have not saeu the sub-aqueous modo (i-f dcfencß nwro successfully Miietised than it was by the king peng»in when ho was attacked by tho swan. For getting away fi&m an enemy, and thus pi-otocttog ItscM, the penguin a3 a subniarino that caft" voyage a long distance without 1 com.itt|; to tho surfneo of tho water, liiis perhaps no .equal in the. world of birds. -.•

Who Put Crabs Into Stai/epots? Generally editors- alul printers treat my caligrapliy Very respoc-fi't-iil.y, for, al« though it may nois bo very picturesque, jt is considered plain. My J&o Noteui; in The Dohinios have generally been wejt printed. 1n...a very few instances words fiavo been .ito~s.jpe'tt,_ brj. ti:<i iiijisfokes havO been- comparatively unimporfc-ttnt, d-ircsct attention to a liHstakertliatjvappyar-v'd thrcs tiiri.es jii ni.y last'bdtichofiwtßs, i wanted: to toll that the meit tliat catch crustaceans (crabs and lobsters-) catch tli-eiu in comparatively. small pots, mado of willows, transfdr'.theni from these to large starepots, and store the crustaeesns m these, which are sunk and. kept at the bottom of tho sea until their on ncrs arc ready to take them up and send tl«-in to i market. Somo person., by three- times suta stituting a V for a ; ii r made a stove-pot of my store-pat. We do not tiiid stoves or stove-pots sit the bottom of the sea.

Illness of a FaMourlo, What is iho mutter with Mary? This, is a question that srveral persona have put to me within tho last fow days. Alary has been very dangerously iji Sr. Langridge, tiie Curator tlio '&.o, and his assistant have, botsveen them, ivaii.'lied her niglit and day. I. believe that the best advisers that -could Ijo consulted about her have professionally studied her case, diagp.oseot it, correctly,, iind prescribed for her the best possible- treatmont,' and that tlie hiiju'i.ri.es aijd good wishes that hatc been expressed about her, from that of the eager little j>>rf Who wanted l to know whether the afek lioness was wrapped up in a great big shawl, to tho good wi.sii.es expressed by several aged gentfenicn wiro b.ave stK>kon to me, and by several ladies who, if not aged, are not as young as they were many years ftgo, abtfiidantly prove that even a lioness that shows an excellent temper and gco<l.-iia.turedjy adapts herself to the circur.isf inices in which mic isplaced wins the affectionate regard' of » largo nuniber of human admirers. Jlauy people, old and young, feel that, to loss Mary would cause the sorrow of losing a faithful friend, That it is hoped that she may recover, I am stire that many of tho readers of my .notes will be glad to hear. In tho church porch oft Sunday, as in the street on Saturday, anxious inquirers were asking, "Mr. Cr-awcs, how is the lioness?" Councillor Frost has been a frequent visitor to satisfy himself that everything, that could bo done was being 4atte for the. patient. An officer high in tlio Govcninwnt service visited the (so and. held a eonsaltation with Mr. (jviinwU.. whoso prompt and careful attention and successful treatment merits higji praise. J'any people stood in front of Mr, Castle's shop on Saturday craning awt read the. latest bulletin about the- lioness. Aud the inter&St still costumes. The Big Guns and ttto Lioness. I know of no 'peopJft more lflyal to our King than tlio people of Wellington arc, nor do I know of any person in Wellingtoil mors loyal than I am, ■But this has not. prevented me from wishing that tire defence authorities of Now Zealand would, find a more- suitable placo to lire Royal salutes i'roi'a tiiatt tho vacant scatMHi shftost close to .several dwel'li.iig4ious«s,. and to tho 'Wcl-, lingtqn Zoo. i'ear after year the {{copers oi tho &o have had a my anxious time wTtilo alm&st close to the Zoo big guns have httiiged off « Itoyal saJute. I bolievo that- this year the uoiso of tho guns, and the concussion caused by tho firing of them, almost kitted our lioness, and injured seine of tho other animals iu tho Jsop. I have bec-w t-ohi that when the first gim wn« fired tho flamingo fell down as though dead. I know that in past years, wEmi the j*uns were fired, same oi' the deer, especially tho axis deer, wore greatly 'f'riglitcjiotf. 1 could easily imagine women and men, under certain conditions, ospccinily women, being deprived of hxisou, if not of life, .by the firing of a- Royal salute so closo to divcUingiwt's.ses os tlie Uoyal saluto at Xtnrfotw was fired from "on tlie King's Birthday, I haven't seen the lioness sitrw her illness began; I do not profess to know cxaetfy what she has bema siilferiiig from;. J 'believe ! that Mr. Quiiuipll diagnosed her caso correctly, and 1 have no ditubt- that ho is dealing with it properly, but | ;mi convinccd, by .what, I do know, that whatever tlifr beginning of tho illness was, tfaft firing of tlie guns so affected the lioiwss that she was verr nearly thrown into thft ja«s «f doai.b, Artd if Mary's sufferings sboiikl mm 'tlio New /.taSand Defcnco Department to soo,. as I. seem. to c,oc,, the danger of firiiiß Eoyaf salutes so closo to tao

abodes of liviiip heiugs, whether Zoo t'liimnls or hniiuu) beings, as tlie Kov.il salute at Nowtown was .tired last \V <>«- iicsdar, then Mary will have conferred another great benefit upon iier admirers, atid the promoters of the Jfloo will lie <t.Wo to point iv> another important illustration of tlie value of tlw %eo us an cdncatkiiial institution. I contend that firing big gmis in siirli a position is justWiaUo only in actual war{'art), iiml .is there are in Wellington a dozen places from which salutes could be iir -ii ivitlwi.it endangering tho Zoo or huma.ii bsings, a foyal stiwte should never again bo fired from sueh a positian as tire -saluto thai was fired i.n Wellington last Wednesday was fired from. Where cottdttious of hysteria are prosent in human beings or in Zoa ariinuils, ths tiring of big guns »i such ftti atmosphere and such wind as prevailed in Wellington «i the King's Birthday) and from such a position as tho Wellington salute was firwl .from, is very tkngoroiis, I am not raising any political <jue&>a». (JoveriiiMcnt after Ciiwornqjent fens fir«l from tho same spot, 1, ill the name of Mary, tll<& liwioss, ask the present Government to put mi end to an. evil that I am sure has hitherto bosu wrought from want of thought aitd not from v/aiit of heart.

Fareeaßts. Councillor Frost; tlw chairman of the o Committeeof the City Ctumcil, jjie Hon, F-. M. B. Msher, Attiiisto.r ot Suriwe, nttd Mr. Atertou, tlio City JS.ngweer, Were-at the tk few days a&>. 'l'hty kindly «a-.lle<! mo to their deliberations, From what- I Ware), and from what I know of the resolute thre.o when they are in earnest, 1 cOnfUte-ntty predict that tho aquarium m;i3' bo eXpfiefced to materialise in Newtown Park at an early date, Another resolute worker is working hard iu promoting the Zoo. Mr. Cast-fa is busy gottiing through flip- pro.® "A handy handbook and pro-gunio to Ihe Wellington Zon, with 'an appendix of hints to visitors to polling ton's Mus,euitis and Botanical Gardens " This is «at an official guide, not* is it author" ised by tins Wellington City Council, huts I thi.uk that people will admit that Mr, Cast,to and tnyseif know enough about the Zon to enalilo as to make our society's pro'gukhs fairly accurate, ,-uui to render mtr broelrtiro sts ifttflT'csting fis anything that tho City Council coiild n.t this stagy prpcfitco, I think that when, the City Council sea oar pamphlet tho council will heartily > congratulate my society on tho success of another effort, to promote tho Zoo and enable tho people of New Zo.iiai.vl to utilise? it. The Mnvphlot will, including advcrti-soinents, he about .sixty pages, awl will, J expect, have ill it a dozen Or mote goou nio tiiri/,5. Matty of tho readers of i.ny Zoo notes have emtgrntukted rno on my succsss ill forecasting ahoiit- the. winter.