288



Mr. D. Seth-Smith,



upon me the desirability of my staying for a week or two in

Western Australia, where the fauna is of great interest, and

several species survive which have long since disappeared in the

older and more thickly populated States in the Eastern portion

of the Commonwealth. A most kind invitation to stay from the

Premier also reached me, and as I knew I should have no chance

of staying on my way homeward I decided to return to the ship

and make arrangements to proceed eastwards by the boat follow¬

ing a fortnight later. By this time we had reached the Zoo,

which occupies a charming situation at South Perth, overlooking

the beautiful Swan River. There was no time however to see much

of the Zoo that evening, but Mr. Ee Souef had a pair of delightful

little ponies put into a trap and hurriedly drove me round.


The Zoo was started in 1898, the idea originating with Dr.

Hackitt of Perth, who invited the late Mr. Le Souef of Melbourne

to come over and choose the site. It is formed on a bed of some

two hundred feet of whitfe sand, so the difficulties that the present

Director had to encounter can well be imagined. Fifteen acres

w 7 ere at first granted, and this has gradually been increased until

at present the area is about forty-seven acres. However this is

not all devoted to the animals, for with a small population the

only way to make the undertaking pay its way is to devote a

considerable amount of space, some five acres, to sports, especially

tennis and cricket. The houses for the animals are mostly of a

very light description which, in fact, is all that is needed in so-

warm a climate.


Carnivora and almost all of the monkeys succeed admir¬

ably and breed freely, but animals which naturally inhabit moist

districts, such as Swamp Deer and such like do not do well in

the dry climate of Western Australia.


There is one large octagonal aviary with open wire netting

all round, which is devoted to Parralceets and Doves. Here I

noticed Stanleys, Kings, Rock Pebblers, Cockatiels, Rosellas,

Many-colours, Redrumps and Bronze-wing Pigeons. Another

aviary of the same kind, but much smaller, contained a collec¬

tion of African Weavers of the commoner kinds. A small

enclosure containing a pond with an island in the centre, was

occupied by a pair of blue Porphyrios with several fluffy black



