1908.] ON GEORGE THE FOURTH'S GIRAFFE. 403 



4. On certain Errors with reference to George the Fourth^s 

 Giraffe. By Henry ScHERREisr, F.Z.S. 



[Received April 27, 1908.] 



For more than seventy years the duration of life in captivity 

 of the Giraffe presented to Geoi-ge TV. by the Pacha of Egypt 

 has been considerably understated. The error undoubtedly 

 originated in one of the Society's publications, and consequently 

 has been widely copied. The following appears to be the earliest 

 of the erroneous statements, and the source of all the rest : — 



" In the j^ear 1827 a female specimen in bad condition arrived at Windsor as 

 a present to H.M. George IV. from the Pacha of Eg3'pt. This individual, after 

 lingering a few months, died, and its mounted skin and skeleton adorn the museum 

 of the Society " *. 



This was repeated in the next List, the last of the series, 

 published in 1844, whence it was copied into D. W. Mitchell's 

 Guide, which appeared in 1852, with this addition : — " The 

 animal died partly from bad management and partly from 

 infirmity of constitution." In the edition of 1858 the supposed 

 contributory causes are omitted, the statement being : — " It 

 lived, however, only a few months at Windsor." This was 

 repeated in the first edition of Dr. Sclater's Guide, published 

 in 1859, and onwa,rds in each successive publication down to 

 the fifth edition of the Official Guide. It also occurs in a 

 paper by Mr. Lydekker, F.R.S.f, on " Old Pictures of Giraffes 

 and Zebras," in which it is stated that "the animal survived 

 but a short time at Windsor," Dr. Graham's Renshaw J being 

 quoted as the authority. 



As a matter of fact, the animal lived at Windsor for two years 

 and two months ; and the evidence as to the dates of its arrival 

 and death is here set out. At the end of 1826 the Giraffe was 

 sent from Cairo to Malta, where it was kept over the winter. In 

 May 1827 it was shipped in the ' Penelope' for London, with two 

 Egyptian cows, in charge of two Arab keepers and an interpreter. 

 The.se wei-e landed at the Duchy of Lancaster Wharf, Waterloo 

 Bridge, on the evening of Satm-day, August 11th,- 1827 ; and on 

 Monday morning Cross took the Giraffe to Windsor in one of 

 Richardson's caravans. The King " hastened to inspect his 

 extraordinary acquisition, and was greatly pleased with the care 

 which had been taken to bi-ing it to his presence in fine order "§. 

 The animal was referred to by the author of ' The Menageries' || 

 (i. p. 343) as still living in June 1829 ; and in an article published 

 in 1833, under the editorial supervision of Owen- — if, indeed, it 

 was not written by him, — it was said to "have increased eighteen 



* ' List of Animals in the Gardens,' p. 35 (1837). 

 t P. Z. S. 1904, ii. p. 339. 

 X 'Natural History Essays' (p. 105, 1904). 

 § ' Literary Gazette,' Aug. 25, 1827, p. 554. 

 II ' Library of Entertaining Knowledge.' 



