THE WELLINGTON ZOO.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2211, 25 July 1914, Page 6

THE WELLINGTON ZOO.

THE AQUARIUM.

WONDERFUL BIRDS COMING;

INTERESTING PREDICTION.

AND AN APPEAL TO THE

PUBLIC,

(By John Crewes, President of the Wei-

lington Zbologicaf Society.,

The Aquarium in.-the graunds of the Wellington Zoo , is nearly ready for the fish and the otlier animals that may be expected to appear in it sooii. Sixteen tanks are in position, the rock-work connected with them is almost finished, the road in front of-.the rookeries lias been widened, metalledj and asphalted, and the water for the tanks is ready to flow in. To Councillor Frost and the Hon. F. M. B. Fislier, M.P., who are very favourable to our Zoo, it should be gratifying to know that popular interest in Zoos and aquariums is not an ephemeral feeling. "T.P.'s "Weekly" tells us that ten years ago tho number of visitors to the London Zoo was 700,000, .but that last year it was 1,115,000.: Ten years ago the gate money of that Zoo was £17,000; but last year •it was £28,000. I notice, also, that ,a few months ago Mr. P. Chalmers Alitchell, the secretary of the Zoological Society of London, expressed the wish that some day a rich man would give to his society £20,000; to' provide a worthy aquarium in connection with the London Zoo. More than 60 years ago the first public Zoo that was established in England was opened in, the- London Zoological Gardens. Since then a great many public aquariums, some of them much larger than tho London Zoo aquarium, have been opened in England. The fact, then, that Mr. Chalmers Mitchell, a learned zoologist, interested in all departments of zoology, would like to see £20,000 spent on an aquarium for Regent's Park, indicates that Nature study by means of Zoos and aquariums is becoming as popular/as it ■is i important, arid may be made a rational Trind of recreation that shall deepen with the discoveries of science and extend with the spread of education.

A Natural incubator; Leach speaks of brush turkeys as "these marvellous birds," and he tells iis that "Australia is the wonderland of the scientist and of the Naturelover. ,f Well, we can.concede all that. The land of tlie Monotremata, or mammals that lay eggs: the marsupials, or mammals that carry their in pouches,'and the Mega'podiidae, or birds that lay eggs, construct a.natural incubator,- and hatch their young without sitting on the eggs, must be regarded as a, wonderful museum of living ounosities. Wβ have in our Zoo a'fine pair of red kangaroos. These by rearing two young ones at short intervals in one year have proved themselves good show animals, both from a general and;an educational point of view. Of the Monotremata we have no representative in the Zoo, but I'think that both - the platypus and the Echidna' are repre-> sented in the Newtown Museum. iJBt the Megapodiidae wo have long had one hen-in the Zoo, but although Mr. Lang- , ridge has told mo that t.Vlald an eggsome time ago, we, having no male bird of her species, have not iiad an oppor» tunity to watch the wonderful process by which the young of the brush turkey are'liatched.. The hen bird was in' ,the ■Zoo' before my society was formed. Many inquiries have since been made to try to get a mate for her. : Now lam told tliat a pair of brush turkeys can be obtained. Of course they meat bo got. The marvels of brush turkey incubators have been seen in London and in Melbourne.. We must try whether in-our climate the wonder-working Megapodiidae will do what only Australia birds, and only a very few species of thuau, have ever attempted to do. When Mr. Harian, M.P., was epeaking in the hewtown pleasant Sunday afternoon meeting he told the people that he thought that ministers of religion should, from the. pulpit tell their hearers more about the wonderful'works of the great Creator as seen in Nature. • The congregation applauded that. Well,- brush turkeys are wonderful and must be regarded as wonderful creatures. We must purchase'the pair we have for a long time been wanting, but the exchequer of my society is low at present. We urgently need £10, for our animal fund. Generally when I have asked the readers of my notes to help us to .purchase notable animals a good response has resulted. I now ask every person interested in the work of my society to send along a donation to the society s treasurer, Mr. John Castle, chemist, Riddifoia Street, Newtown. Send £10 -or £5 or £1 or one shilling, only send something to aid the. treasurer. ' .

Where Is Young George? • Many of my friends put that question; but it is not as simple as it seome. In a few years a lion wears two or'three bodies, in many respects unlike each other, and fitted to perform different sets of functions. But treat a lion kindly in his youth> and he will roinember you in his old age, 'however he may change bodies. I therefore do not profess to know what a lion is— I don't know what forms his bodies, or what it is that remembers. Science lias not got'much more than skin-deep into tho mysteAr of lions. When the weaver, and tho rememberer, yield their secrete up to tho metaphysicians and theol- : ogians, wo may get to spoak more confidently about the whereabouts , of young George. Meanwhile, we may hope to see his skin, clothing something-like his form, standing' as a memorial of tho lion, and reminding visitors, to the Newtown Museum of the .honour conferred upon Councillor Frost wheu the people of the metropolis of New Zealand, by popular vote, gave the name George to the first young lion ever born in Wellington. .'

A Great Prognostication. Mr. Chalmers Mitchell wished for £20,000. I wish that some person would give £500 to the City Council just now to buy the animals that are on offer.' Well, a great.suggestion has- been mooted, a 'great idea is growing, sonio spirited men aro moving, and I venture to predict that soon a great voluntary effort than has ever yet been made to provide animals for the Zoo will startle the people of Wellington into- extraordinary activity that will result in something that will bo deemed phenomenal. Sundays snd Zoo Notes. Lately I have not been free to write many Zoo notes on six <Tays of each week; but as ,1 hold that ono day of each seven should be devoted' to 'spiritual or intellectual improvement, rest, or recreation, and not to mere secular business or sport, I have allowed myself to be drawn to speak on our Zoo with our new public aquarium on Sundays; and t have studied the Zoo and written some Zoo notes. Three weeks ago I •attended a meeting of tho Nowtown Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Society, and spoke on our.aquarium. The largo congregation that I had tho : honour of addressing, included our Chief Citizen His Worship the Mayor, and accorded to .mo a very attentive and sympathetic hearing. On the next Sunday after that I' attended a tea meeting for strangers, and others provided by the Trinity Church Young 'Men's Bible Class. I expected to .be called to deliver a short epeech, but when t> good tea had .been enjoyed an informal conversation was

started, in which so many- interesting questions were put to me, and such a pleasant educative ' and profitable discugsionYo'.i Natural History and our Zoo took place that" the time for Church service arrived while we were conversing, .and my contemplated speech was not delivered. Laat Sunday I went to the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon meeting, and heard a gentleman who told us that on that day he preached in the morning, was adYlress%ig <ue in the afternoon, must hurry away to address a meeting of the Y.M.C.A., and after doing that must conduct the.service of a large mission meeting in a theatre. Then came the thought that as ho was doing so much that day, I ought to do something, and I resolved to go up to tho Zoo and prepare to write some Zoo Notes. The afternoon was showery, and the weatber was rather dismal, but at the entrance to the Zoo there stood, in overcoat and leggings, the ever-vigi-lant curator, Mr. Langridge. He talked about zebras, and pumas, and camels, and brush turkeys, until 1 wished that some rich man would come H along and promise to buy eomp of the interesting animals that have been offered to Mr. Langridge. While we were talking, wo walked up to one of the Zoo aviaries, and there, to my amazement, we struck a Minister of the Crown, a. live member of the Government of New Zealand. With him we talked about eea lions, and sea, elephants, and penguins, and Antarctic explorers, and aquariums, and newts, and Salamanders, and fish of several' kinds, and lobsters, anlS ducks, and ponds, and tanks, and the temperature of water, and the growth of plants, and other aquatic wonders, such: as our Minister of Marine likes to talk about, and Mr. Langridge i 3 always ready to keep well to the front. If, then, my notes are grave as well as gay, and are very irregular as ,well as diversified, it must be remembered that most of them are written on Sundays, and that the material for them comes to me through all sorts of minds, under multifarious conditions. and circum-. stances.