15 



The Elephant Compound, built in front of the 

 Giraffe House, has been completed, and forms a 

 permanent and valuable addition to the resources 

 of the Gardens, as an enclosure for the use of 

 any of the large Pachyderms. 



During the course of the year, the Gardens 

 sustained a heavy loss in the death of the beauti- 

 ful Lioness, familiarl}'- called " Old Girl," by her 

 friends and admirers. She was born in the 

 Gardens, of South African stock, on the 8th 

 September, 1859, and died on the 7th October, 

 1875, after six weeks of prostration from chronic 

 bronchitis. During her long and honoured 

 career, she presented the Gardens with fifty-four 

 cubs, of which she actually reared fifty, losing- 

 only four. This is a feat unprecedented in the 

 history of Menageries and Gardens. She was a 

 Lioness of very high spirit, although very gentle, 

 and was admitted by judges to be the hand- 

 somest Lioness they had ever seen. It may be 

 added, that her offspring, not only added to the 

 attractions of the Gardens, but that the judicious 

 sale of a portion of them, brought £1,400, in 

 cash, for the benefit of the Society. The closing 

 weeks of her useful life, were marked by a touch- 

 ing incident worthy of being recorded. The 

 large Cats, or Carnivores, when in health, have no 

 objection to the presence of rats in their Cages, 

 on the contrary, they rather welcome them, as a 

 relief to the monotony of existence which con- 

 stitutes the chief trial of a wild animal in 



