3 i4 ANIMAL ACCLIMATIZATION 



Africa, when the large fauna roamed there in unbroken 

 numbers, and with little fear of man. The coup cTseil 

 in parts of the park where the animals gather thickest 

 is so striking that the mind descends reluctantly to the 

 identification of the species, or to details of dates, origin, 

 and management. From one position, looking up a 

 long green slope towards the Abbey, there could be 

 seen at the time of the writer's last visit between two 

 and three hundred animals, both birds and beasts, 

 feeding or sleeping within sight of the immediate front 

 of the spectator. These varied in species from cranes, 

 storks, and almost every known species of swan, to 

 wapiti stags, antelopes, and zebras, walking, sitting, 

 galloping, feeding, or sleeping. For quite half a mile 

 up the slope the white swans and other wild fowl were 

 dotted among the deer and other ruminants, presenting 

 a strange and most attractive example of the real 

 * paradise ' which animals will make for themselves 

 when only the ' good beasts ' are selected to live 

 together. The creatures in this animal Arcadia were 

 grouped nearly as follows. In the foreground was a 

 large pool, circular, with clayey banks, one of a chain 

 of ponds of all sizes, from that of a fishpond to a large 

 lake which lies lower in the park. On and around 

 this pool were many species of swans, and eight of 

 foreign geese ; but the greater number of these were 

 scattered, as we have said, over some hundred acres of 



