i 9 o DAINTIES OF ANIMAL DIET 



African antelopes and giraffes. All of the former, from 

 the big roan antelopes to the miniature gazelles, ' dote ' 

 on onions, and regard them as the greatest delicacy 

 which can be offered for their acceptance. It is said by 

 trainers that if a horse once becomes fond of sugar he 

 can be taught any trick for the circus. Antelopes could 

 probably be trained in the same way by rewards of 

 onions. There is one drawback to their indulgence in 

 this dainty, which leads to some restriction of its use at 

 the Zoo. After an onion-breakfast the scent in the 

 antelope-house, usually redolent of odorous hay and 

 clover, is overpowering, and visitors who do not notice 

 the fragments of onion-tops upon the floor are inclined 

 to leave in haste, and class the antelopes among the 

 other evil-smelling beasts of the menagerie. For the 

 giraffes they were not only a bonne bouche, but also 

 a very wholesome change in their ordinary food, and 

 though the liking for the bulb is an acquired taste for 

 onions are not native to the South African veldt the 

 new giraffe is as fond of them as its predecessors. Deer 

 show no particular preference for onions ; on the other 

 hand, they prefer apples to any other dainty. In the 

 Highlands the wild deer have no chance of invading an 

 orchard ; but on Exmoor and on the Quantock Hills, 

 where they have now greatly increased in numbers, they 

 leave the hillsides and thick plantations and rob orchards 

 by moonlight. The stags thrust their horns among the 



