A JANUARY DAY AT REGENTS PARK. 21 



creature uneasily deambulating its narrow den, with 

 its head close to the bars, and its paws slipping over 

 the smooth wet boards, as does a monkey in a box to 

 the same animal in a spacious apartment, or a caged 

 squirrel to a scuggy in his native woods. 



Both species of camel the dromedary and the 

 double -humped camel of Bactria were quite at their 

 ease about the weather. The former animal was stand- 

 ing partially in its shed, with its long neck and meek- 

 looking head peering out at the landscape, while the 

 latter was quietly walking about its enclosure, though 

 the ground must have been very uncomfortable to its 

 feet, and the water in its trough had been frozen so 

 hard that the attendant had been obliged to break the 

 ice, in order to allow the animal to drink. 



The coypu rat seemed rather unwilling to face the 

 cold, though attracted by a large carrot that the keeper 

 had placed within its den. This odd, blunt-nosed, 

 orange-toothed quadruped only emerged at intervals, 

 ate a piece of carrot, and then returned to its warm 

 home. I remarked that the mice are very fond of the 

 coypu's house, and run in and out of the straw with 

 amusing impudence. The creature evidently dislikes 

 the ice, trying in vain to get its usual bath, and feeling 

 sadly disappointed at finding itself arrested by the icy 

 covering of its little pool. The reader is hereby ad- 

 vised to pull up a little tuft of grass by the roots, and 

 place it in the coypu's cage, for he cannot fail to be 

 amused by the clever and systematic manner in which 



