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An Old Australian Bird-Lover,



great Carnivora, three Lions, three Tigers, two Jaguars, two Leopards,

a Puma, and a Black Panther. The Monkey House is well enough

filled, without containing anything of particular interest. Some

Lemurs, Skunks, Raccoons, Otters, and other small mammals occupy

numerous cages, both in and out of doors. Finally, the Zoo of

Cologne still possesses some big animals—a young Giraffe, a Hippo¬

potamus, an Asiatic Elephant, an Indian Tapir, and a grand two¬

horned Rhinoceros. In the same apartment one finds Zebras, some

Antelopes, and a Gnu (Catoblepas gorgon).


Let me add that all the animals are in excellent condition, and

appear very well fed. The establishment is well managed. To sum

up, the Zoological Garden of Cologne has scarcely suffered at all

from the war, and it is likely that it is the same with other German

Gardens.


It is not without bitterness that I have compared it with the

mournful ruins, the heaps of rubbish, the smashed trees, the twisted

iron-work and broken glass which represent to-day my poor garden

at Villers-Bretonneux, which was still flourishing less than a year

ago. I conclude that our public and private collections which have

been destroyed by the Germans ought to be reconstructed at their

expense.



BIRDS OF PARADISE.


By An Old Australian Bird-Lover.


The care of Birds of Paradise in an aviary has been, and

probably still is, regarded by many a bird-lover as a difficult problem.

They come from a country in the heart of the tropics reputed for its

deadly climate, and live in forests whose tree-tops, some 150 ft. high,

form an impenetrable screen against sunlight reaching the dense

undergrowth, in this way creating an atmosphere stifling in its heat

and vapour. It is therefore the more surprising that those species

of Birds of Paradise which have reached us here, such as the Six-

plumed, the Red, the King, the Superb, the Magnificent, and others

have with care so quickly and almost easily acclimatised themselves

to our changeable weather conditions. This year especially there



