692 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



Breeding 



ZOOI.UGICAL GARDEN, CALCUTTA 

 olony of wild night herons, ei 



d snakebird 



THE CALCUTTA ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN. 

 Bij C. Wii-LiAM Beebe. 



THE Zoological Garden of Calcutta is situ- 

 ated in one of the suburbs of the city Alipur, 

 three or four miles from the main thorough- 

 fares. It is a Zoological Garden seen through 

 the small end of the field glass — complete, but 

 everything in miniature. As an example of 

 landscape gardening it probably has few equals 

 in the world. 



It dates from the year 1875, when the Gov- 

 ernment of Bengal granted about thirty-three 

 acres for this purpose. At present, although 

 under the nominal control of a 

 Committee, consisting of doctors 

 and civilians, it is practically a 

 government institution. 



From the Bengal Government 

 it receives an annual maintenance 

 grant of 20,000 rupees, while the 

 gate receipts furnish an addi- 

 tional 36,000 rupees. In Amer- 

 ican coinage these sums repre- 

 sent about $6,800 and .fl '2,000. 

 respectively. The amount of the 

 gate receipts seems all the more 

 remarkable when we learn that 

 the ordinary admission charge is 

 one anna, about ten cents. 



There are about thirty-four 

 installations, houses most o f 

 them are called, although many 

 are hardly deserving of more 

 than the title of sheds, kennels 



or shelters. But in this cli- 

 mate of perpetual summer, no 

 more is required. The more 

 pretentious installations have 

 each been presented by some 

 person interested in the G a r - 

 den, and each of these bears the 

 donor's name. For example, 

 we have the Abdul Ghuni 

 House for bears, the Murihida- 

 bad House for birds of para- 

 d i s e , and the Burdwan Raj 

 House for the larger carniv- 

 ores. 



During the few brief visits 

 to tliis interesting little Zoo- 

 logical Garden, which my 

 pheasant studiesj at the Mu- 

 seum allowed me to make, I 

 was able to note the more strik- 

 ing exhibits. 

 The Calcutta climate is such that few crea- 

 tures hailing from cold or desert regions will 

 long survive. If Himalayan jjheasants are 

 brought down at the beginning of November 

 they will live for a few months and then succumb 

 to the increasing heat. Although numerous orang- 

 utans, old and young, have been procured from 

 Singapore, all die from tuberculosis within a 

 short time, liaving contracted the disease before 

 they reach the country. The hoolock gibbon is 

 one of the prominent features of the Garden, 

 both from its strange "travelling ring" method 

 of progression back and forth across the roof 

 of its large cage, and its human hoots and howls 



1 AKK IN ZnniOGICAl. GARDEN, CALCUTTA. 



