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FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



and for the introduction and acclimatization of subjects of the 

 animal kingdom. By the charter, granted March 27, 1829, 

 Henry, Marquis of Lansdowne, George, Lord Auckland, 

 Charles Baring Wall, Joseph Sabine, and Nicholas Aylward 

 Vigors, Esqs., were created the first fellows. These gentle- 

 men were empowered to admit such other persons to be 

 fellows, honorary members, foreign members, and corres- 

 ponding members as they might think fit, and to appoint 

 twenty-one of the fellows to be the council, which should 

 manage the entire affairs of the Society and elect members 

 thereof until the 29th of May following ; at which time and 

 annually thereafter the Society should hold a meeting, and 

 by ballot remove five of this council, and elect five others in 

 their place, being fellows of the Society, who, with those 

 remaining, should constitute the council for the ensuing year. 

 It will thus be seen that every year five of the council are 

 voted out, and five others elected in their stead, thus retain- 

 ing a large proportion of managers acquainted with the work- 

 ings of the organization. 



By the by-laws fellows are required to pay twenty-five 

 dollars initiation fee and fifteen dollars per annum, or one 

 hundred and fifty dollars at once in lieu of such dues. An- 

 nual subscribers pay , the same amount yearly, but no initia- 

 tion fee, and they are not permitted to vote at elections. 

 Ladies are admitted as fellows upon the same terms and 

 with the same privileges ; with the addition, however, that 

 they are allowed to vote by proxy. 



Fellows have personal admission to the Gardens, with 

 two companions, daily, and receive orders, to be signed by 

 them, admitting two persons on each Saturday and Sundav 

 in the year. They are also entitled to twenty free tickets 

 of admission. Sundays are set apart specially for fellow- 

 and their friends, the general public not being admitted. 



The Society has business and scientific meetings — the lat- 

 ter monthly— and these are very largely attended and of the 

 most interesting character. New and remarkable subjects 

 of zoology are exhibited, papers and communications on an- 

 imal physiology and zoology are read, and animated discus- 

 sions carried on. An abstract of the proceedings is regu- 

 larly forwarded to the scientific journals and newspapers. 

 The Society also publishes a large variety of zoological mat- 

 ter, which is furnished to fellows at one-fourth less than the 

 price to strangers. Every addition to the collection of the 

 Society has its picture taken upon its entrance, and very 

 handsome colored plates of those which are rare or curious 

 are inserted in these publications. The sales from this 

 source realized last year over thirty-seven hundred dollars. 

 In 1871 the income of the Society was $123,101, of which 

 $69,000 were from admissions to the Gardens, $9507 from 

 Garden sales and rent of refreshment rooms, $3750 from the 

 Society's publications, and $39,415 from dues of fellows and 

 annual subscribers. The expenses for the same year were 

 $106,840, the principal items being— salaries, wages and 

 pensions, $21,790; cost and carriage of animals, $10,560; 

 provisions, $20,430; menagerie expenses, $10,480; Garden 

 expenses, $3465. The annual income has so much exceeded 

 the expenses during the last ten years that the Society has 

 been able to devote over two hundred and thirty thousand 

 dollars of such surplus to the permanent embellishment of 

 its Gardens, and still retain some fifty thousand dollars as a 

 reserve fund. 



In the collection of the Society are 590 quadrupeds, 1227 

 birds and 255 reptiles— altogether 2072. The quantity and 

 various kinds of food— the knowledge of the tastes and ne- 



cessities of the animals— the temperature, ventilation, habi- 

 tations and so on of such a large assortment of different 

 species — necessitate the employment of trained and skilful 

 servants and scientific officers. It has been seen that the 

 provisions and menagerie expenses alone exceed $30,000, 

 and it must be remembered that the most difficult part, 

 the brain-work, the knowledge— without which the whole 

 would be a failure — is furnished the Society by its council 

 entirely free. 



The collection of living animals is the finest in existence, 

 and is daily increasing. Scattered everywhere are its cor- 

 responding members, keeping it advised of every opportu- 

 nity to augment its stores. Its agents have penetrated and 

 are still exploring the desert and the jungle, braving the 

 heats of the equator, and the terrible winters of the ice-bound 

 regions of the globe, to furnish every possible link in the 

 grand procession of organized life. 



A large proportion of the most wonderful and valuable 

 part of the collection has been presented by crowned heads 

 and governors of different countries, British consuls, other 

 zoological societies, British naval and military officers sta- 

 tioned in foreign ports and posts, Englishmen of wealth and 

 travelers. The donations to the Society for the year 1872 

 would alone be sufficient to establish a Garden at Fairmount 

 Park which would be the finest in America. They amounted 

 to over five hundred in number, and include almost every 

 description of animal, from a tiger to a monkey, and from 

 an imperial eagle to a humming bird. With our present 

 connection by rail and steamer with the East and West In- 

 dies, and other distant regions, let it only be generally 

 known that a Zoological Garden now exists in Philadelphia, 

 and it will receive contributions from all parts of the world. 

 The Philadelphia society has already had numerous offers of 

 animals, birds and reptiles, and the promise of any number 

 for the mere cost of transportation. The officers of the 

 Smithsonian Institution at Washington have expressed their 

 willingness and desire to hand over to any proper associa- 

 tion the many curious animals constantly offered it. The 

 societies of Europe, many of whose managers have been in 

 communication with the one started here, are extremely 

 anxious that a collection of American animals, birds, rep- 

 tiles and fishes shall be made. It will be wholly unique, 

 and will attract zoologists from every part of the world, 

 permitting them, for the first time, to study the habits of 

 many new species. This continent has a wealth of subjects 

 of the animal kingdom as yet almost unexplored. The birds 

 are absolutely innumerable, and the immense rivers pro- 

 duce fishes of the most marvelous character and but little 

 known. In the Berlin Garden, rapidly becoming a rival 

 to the one in London, one of the greatest attractions, if not 

 the chief, is the American beaver ; an assemblage of a num- 

 ber of these on the banks of the Schuylkill, giving an op- 

 portunity of witnessing their astonishing sagacity, would of 

 itself be an attractive exhibition. 



The Zoological Society of Philadelphia was incorporated 

 by Act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, approved March 

 21, 1859. The site selected at that time, and approved by 

 City Councils, was five acres of the extreme south eastern 

 corner of the then Park, consisting of Sedgeley and Lemon 

 Hill, and containing about two hundred acres. A meeting 

 of certain prominent and influential citizens interested in 

 the subject was held, and the matter carefully discussed. 

 At subsequent meetings a constitution and by-laws were 



