THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 129 



The monkey house replaced, on another site, a building long 

 recognised as defective, and on this it was a vast improvement. 

 But the old house possessed one advantage not to be found 

 in the new one — open-air cages to which ready access might 

 be allowed to the animals at the will of the keeper. Many of 

 the baboons and hardier monkeys are now kept in the open 

 but in the matter of an outdoor annexe the monkey house 

 in Regent's Park is, for the time being, behind Manchester 

 and Clifton. The erection of a row of cattle sheds enabled 

 the authorities to exhibit the collection of bovine animals in 

 a connected series. 



The whale pond or porpoise basin, afterwards used for sea- 

 lions, was built this year. A beluga, or white whale, had lived 

 for two years in a tank in the Aquarial Garden, Boston, U.S.A., 

 and this seems to have inspired the idea of providing accommo- 

 dation for cetaceans in Regent's Park. 



In the spring of 1865 the Council were able to announce 

 that after the long and severe winter the deaths in the 

 monkey house had been very few, and the greater number of 

 the animals remained in excellent health. The cost of the 

 house and laying out this western corner of the South Garden, 

 making it one of the best-arranged and most attractive por- 

 tions of the grounds, was very little short of £5,000. Railings 

 and gates were put at the main entrance, the paddock of the 

 antelope house was securely fenced, and the first dissecting 

 room built. In the North Garden the beaver pond was made, 

 and the sheds, close by, erected for the smaller deer. 



The old eagle aviary in the centre of the Garden was pulled 

 down and the site added to the lawn in 1866. With the material 

 and some from the outside cages of the old monkey house the 

 existing eagle aviary was constructed on the site of the last- 

 named building. The rest of the wire work was utilised for the 

 vultures' cages in the walk leading to the right from the south 

 entrance. Wolf's famous water-colour drawings were exhibited 

 in the upper part of the old Museum building, which had been 

 fitted up for that purpose. 



In 1867 sheds for rodents were added to the north end of 

 those used for the swine ; and in the North Garden the walk 

 eading from the kangaroo sheds over the tunnel to the parrot 

 J 



