ZOO NOTES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 280, 15 August 1918, Page 9

ZOO NOTES

THE ZOO LIONS AND COUNCILLOR .(' • FROST. (By John Crowes, ex-President of the Wellington Zoological Society.). To the promoters of the Zoo it is highly gratifying to seo the young men in khaki that visit this charming institution before they leave their native land lor outside- cities and foreign battlefields; and I nm always pleased when I notice the appreciation expressed by the interested visitors. It is satisfactory also to feel sure that, wherover they go, no exhibitors will bo able to show to them a letter exhibition of lions than is now on view in the Wellington Zoo. "King Dick," the pioneer lion there, lias the most beautiful head carried by a lion m captivity to-day: Briton, the young lion kindly lent by Mr. Boyd, the proprietor of.the Onehunga Zoo, has a head that is stronger and coarser, and the shaggy hair with which he is exuberantly furnished ennobles him.with grandeur suggestive of prodigious strength; voung George combining much of the beauty, of his.grandfather. "King Dick," with u good pronortion of more massive , grandeur from "Briton," promises to become another handsome animal; Mnrv, the consort of "Kins Dick," • is a lovely lioness whose temper would shine to shame most of.the tempers of human mothers;" Maud," Queen Mary's daughter, has,; by proving herself « danshter worthy of .her mother, merited the honest praise a lioness)could win; and the two youngest lions in the Zoo give no cause to their relations. Tho .•boys of New Zealand may. wherever they go, carry with them the imnression that the world could not beat New Zealand in.a show of lions. And hero I may express Hie.hnne that Councillor frost wil] keep this show un to its present point j of excellency. To him especially, onr ' thanks are due for what, he has done to provide this superb -.exhibition; and I whole-heartedly do thank him, A't the B°rne timp T would imnress unon bim that I, and those for whom I write, depend largely upon him to save the Zoo for us; and I add that to-ennble him to do so he should promptly give attention to the advice that Councillor Castle and I tender him.

In the deoth of winter most of the -beautiful birds in tho Wellington Zoo are adorned in splendours that seem somewhat incongruous. "When deciduous frees are bare, and some. evergreaW a.Te ,dull, the drakes, of tho..duck peniis and the males of the pheasant robe themselves with brilliance that is. charming. Historic.Joseoh. with his coat.of-many-colours; and Solomon arrayed in all his glory, would have -shrunk; from comparison .of llieir enrgeous robes ■ with the glory of the birds that fill the heart of.' Councillor Frost with joyous pride and. delight all the connoisseurs of beauty that admire "ihem. Especially I commend the show of hybrid pheasints to he seen in the Zoo at present. The ducksI have commended., manv times, anil have never been blamed for commending them.' '