696 SOME PRIVATE ZOOS. 



million of them. There are other dwellers in the park, however; and 

 there is room for them, seeing that the wall inclosing it runs a good 

 8 miles under its chevaux-de-frise of slate. There are Indian pigmj- 

 cattle (a ver}" recent addition), sheep from Iceland and St. Kilda, emus, 

 rheas, herons, wild roe, and an appalling abundance of game and 

 domestic stock that would ])reak the heart of a census enumerator. 

 Then, too, there are the wild hoar recenth^ presented by His Majesty 

 the King. I assisted (in the French sense of the word) from the securit}' 

 of a high wall in their liberation from the crates in which they had 

 traveled overnight; and they are now accommodated in an ideal pig- 

 gery — fourteen acres of dry and sloping woodland fenced in and over- 

 looking the carriage drive — which Mr. Assheton Smith had specialh' 

 constructed for their reception. Of all that disbanded Windsor herd, 

 none, I trow, will find better quarters. Va3Miol has no museum, for 

 the Squire likes his animals alive; l)ut there is a bijou menagerie, from 

 which the London Zoo might learn. The monkey house, for instance, 

 has optional outdoor plajnng grounds, reached by wa}' of trees and a 

 tunnel; while the golden and imperial eagles are able to stretch their 

 wings in large inclosures, and look very different from the pictures of 

 misery usualh^ presented by these great fowl in captivity. And this, 

 I take it, is the striking note of difference between the private and the 

 public zoo. The latter must always, whether it be the property of a 

 scientific society or whether it be run as a sjmdicate investment, be 

 conducted on economic lines that promise a return on capital sunk in 

 its construction and upkeep. The private zoo, on the other hand, is 

 kept up solel}^ for the comfort of the animals and the pleasure of the 

 owner in seeing them happ3^ and prosperous. There is no question of 

 restricted quarters, insufficient food, inadequate artificial heating or 

 ventilation. As much as possible is left to nature, and the rest is 

 very carefully adjusted in close imitation of her best conditions in 

 the lands from which these attractive strangers were originally 

 brought. 



