Zoo Notes 
a name taken from the Dutch: bosch, wood 
or forest, and bok, goat. It will be observed 
that there is a great similarity in the 
markings of these closely-allied antelopes. 
a 
A VERY scarce species which has not been 
seen at the Zoo for over twelve 
years, and then for only a very 
short period, is the Bles-bok 
(Damatliscus albifrons). The present speci- 
Bles=Bok. 
WAGs 
THE BEAVER. 
39 
WHat an interesting study 1t would be, if 
space were only possible at the 
Perepean Zoo, to allow a small colony 
of Beavers (Castor fiber) to be 
kept. The engimeermg schemes by which 
these creatures dam a stream by nibbling a 
tree trunk round, not horizontally, but so as 
to slope or dip it in the direction in which 
they itend it to fall, is almost incredible, 
and it 1s recorded that so perfectly do these 
creatures do their work, that tracts of forest 
A seldom-seen inhabitant of the Zoo. 
men is exceptionally savage and dangerous, 
and was removed from the case in which it 
arrived from South Africa with the utmost 
ditticulty, and great caution had to be exer- 
cised by the keepers in getting clear of the 
animal. The way he charges with his 
sharp horns the partitions of his enclosure 
at the sight of the camera seems enough to 
break them, and is really alarming. 
have been submerged and destroyed by the 
action of beaver-dams. ‘The hind-feet are 
webbed, and one of the five toes has a double 
nail. The tail, which is used as a paddle, is 
flattened horizontally and covered with scales. 
Remains of the common beaver have been 
met with, among other localities, in this 
country in peat beds in Cambridgeshire and 
Kssex. 
