THE ZOO IN SPRING

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2880, 19 September 1916, Page 6

THE ZOO IN SPRING

MUSIC AND COLOUR

ELEPHANT GOES TO AMERICA (By Jolui Castle, Secretary of the Wellington Zoological Society.) In ;i few minutes tramcars run from tho hum and bustle of a busy city to the healthy freshness and emerald beauty of Noivtown Park. There the throstlo plays sweetest music on the most exquisitely perfect instrument that Nature has yet produced: canaries,' goldfinches, mules, chaffinches, and honey-eaters blend their sweetness in inoffable melodies; and budgeriggars. African finches, and several other species of wonderful musicians tune their marvellous lays. On a bright, fine morning recently, in a pen of fifty beautiful birds all in the ecstasy of health and the very pink of condition, about a score of glowing caliaries, forceful as young volcanoes, competed for the affections of the listening nymphs that judged their merits. Such eruptions, spluttcrings, flaming, flashing, thrilling, various and varying, mellifluent and multifarious musical competitions are not often hoard, as were pulsed from tho beautifully balanced, though excited, hearts of the participators in that avian, epithalaniium. tlnliko too many of tho musicians of the genus homo, the canary seems to know the way to tho spirit of the universe and the secret of its responsiveness. • AVhile listening to canaries wo never fall asleep wondering at the apparently aimless .wanderings and convolutions of transcendental, very highly classical, musicians. The Zoo in spring is a glorious place for people fainting for tho sweetness of rich natural symphonies. Superb Colouring. And for unmusical people who are not devoid of sympathy, although not attuned to symphony, Nature in tho Zoo appeals, in numerous forms of beauty, to tho oyes of genius. What more delightful than tho glorious lines i of golden or of castcllum pheasauts, or 1 tho superb colouring of the Mandarin ducks, or tho rich shading of the parrots' wings, or tlio splendid blending of the glossy splendours of the Yankee gobblers could be desired by tho most voluptuous votaries of optical enravishments. Admirers of marvellous mechanism also are amply provided for in tho Zoo. Tho exhibition given by the whito peacock on a recent Sunday afternoon amazed hundreds of admirers, as tlioy watched and studied and wondered and ejaoulated.' Tho displays given by ducks, and gobblers, and pheasants also in this glorious spring ,timo are charming. Lives there a man with heart so dead, He never to himsolf has said: I must go home and write'a cheque to bo sent to tho treasurer of the Wellington Zoological Society, to main- . .'tain and enrich tlio charms of this delectable institution, after' visiting the Zoo in spring. Weaving and Building. Weaver birds are weaving again; piping crows are building; canaries are nesting; one kangaroo has just left its mother's pouch, and another puts his head out when the weather is line; a.beaiutiful little whito goat lias just been born, and is already frolicsomely expressing the feeling that the Wellington Zoo is a very good place to bo born in. The Elephant. I wanted £'100 with which to purchase a female elephant for the Zoo, but the money was not forthcoming. Since I. appealed for the money I have been told that the elephant lias been taken to America. America always has been wide-awake; Now Zealand may awake some day. ■ Peacocks. One gentleman who reads "Zoo Notes" lias 'been tiding to get some peacocks for mo, but has not yet succeeded. He hopes that, if not successful in his effort to get birds, he will obtain some eggs, for which 1 shall be very thankful. But 1 want three adult nialo peacocks, immediately. Who will offer to give, or at what price will any person sell, one or three? Flowers. The "Wellington Rose and Carnation Socioty is greatly improving one part of the Newtown paradise, and tho Wellington City Council is' assisting and encouraging the society to a gratifying degree. Ornamental beds, well-turfed borders, and a largo porgula, or pergola, have been added to tho plot that was cultivated jointly by the said parties, with tho Wellington Zoological Society, last year; and climbing roses, standard roses, and many other roses, sweet and beautiful, may be expected to delight the eyes and regale the hearts of numerous visitors when ■summer unfolds her fragrant glories.