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Dr. E. Hopkinson,



A VISIT TO THE ZOO EIGHTY YEARS AGO.


By Dr. E. Hopkinson.


Let us commence with “ the finest collection of Parrots ever

assembled. Open your eyes and shut your ears—was there ever

such an assemblage of rainbow colours—was there ever such a dis¬

tracting din ! We should have thought it indescribable, had not

Aristophanes in a chorus of ‘ The Birds ’ hit it off to a nicety :


“ Torotorotorotorotorotinx !


Kickabaw ! Kickabaw !


Torotorotorotoliox!


“ Mark that elegant Parrakeet with pure golden plumage. It

is a variety of Palceornis torquatus which is placed beside it.

Observe it on the hand of its favourite keeper, expressing its fond¬

ness by a thousand winning ways. It is formed to be the delicice of

some beauty. Its delicate shape and hue would well grace her fair

hand, and the murmuring caresses of its coral beak would be better

lavished on her sweet lip than our worthy friend’s bristly chin.”


Might not this have been written yesterday, and not, as is

really the case, in 1836 ? For it is taken from an article on the

Zoological Society and its Gardens in ‘ The Quarterly Review ’ for

June of that year, which has for its titular raison d'etre the first

published List of the Animals in the Gardens and the Proceedings

and Transactions for 1836. The writer, from the amount of space

he devotes to birds and the special interest he appears to take in

them, one likes to think of as a “ birdy ” man himself. After a typical

Quarterly prelude of some pages, thickly set with classical and his¬

torical allusion, on zoology from the times of the Caesars, or rather

what stood for zoology then, up to the then quite recent foundation

of the establishment, he asks us to accompany him and “ take a

cursory view ” of the Gardens. He commences on “ the terrace

commanding one of the finest suburban views to be anywhere seen ”

where he pauses to enjoy “ ‘ the sweet south ’ wafted over the flowery

bank musical with bees, whose hum is mingled with the distant roar

of the great city.”


In this particular paragraph the extract may no doubt show

its age, for views’ epithet is hardly a fir one to-day, as NAY. 17 can



