696 ROME FRIVATE 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 pigmy 

 cattle (a very recent addition), sheep from Iceland and St. Kilda, emus, 

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

 domestic stock that would break the heart of a census enumerator. 

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

 the King. I assisted (in the French sense of the word) from the security 

 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 specially 

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

 none, I trow, will tind better quarters. Vaynol has no museum, for 

 the Squire likes his animals alive; but there is a bijou menagerie, from 

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

 has optional outdoor playing grounds, reached by way 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 usually 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 syndicate investment, be 

 conducted on economic lines that promise a return on capita] sunk in 

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

 kept up solely for the comfort of the animals and the pleasure of the 

 owner in seeing them happy 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. 



