ZOOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 
HIPPOPOTAMUS. 
Ghizeh Gardens, Egypt. 
THE GHIZEH ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
HE Ghizeh Zoological Gardens are a de- 
light to the lover of beauty as well as to the 
zoologist. Captain Stanley S. Flower, the 
Director, deserves the greatest credit for having 
brought order out of chaos, and with the able 
help of his assistant, Mr. Nicoll, is building up 
a most valuable and interesting collection of 
African animals. It would be well if a similar 
segregation of the indigenous fauna could be 
made in all zoological gardens, as it possesses 
a peculiar interest both for tourists and natives, 
more than the usual heterogeneous assemblages. 
The Ghizeh Gardens cover an area of about 
fifty acres and were once part of an old palace 
garden. ‘The beautiful mosaic walks and rustic 
bridges bear witness to this former use. A 
unique and enviable feature is the absence of all 
provision for cold weather. The cages of the 
birds and monkeys are open and _ portable. 
This makes it possible to remove an infected 
cage and replace it at once by a fresh one. 
The vegetation is luxuriant and the animal 
and bird exhibits are so arranged that one 
comes upon them unexpectedly, this one partly 
concealed by a grove of plane trees, another 
aviary shaded by a mass of purple Bougain- 
villia. 
Every pond and marsh near Cairo is dotted 
with ducks, but one can rarely get near enough 
to identify them before they are up and away 
when still far out of gun-shot. They circle 
around and around and finally set out toward 
the city itself. If we go to the Zoological Gar- 
dens we shall discover their haven of refuge. 
On a lake only a few acres in extent are literal- 
ly thousands of ducks. The majority are 
shovellers, paired and in full plumage, with a 
lesser number of green-winged teal and a few 
score of pintails. They sleep or preen their 
plumage or come for a bit of bread almost with- 
in arm’s reach, but as twilight falls they will 
betake themselves to the marshes outside, 
changing in character from the tamest of ducks 
to the wildest of water-fowl. 
So dry is the climate that the small bird 
cages are cleaned only about once a year, a few 
daily scrapes with a stick through the wire re- 
moving completely all vestiges of food or other 
debris. 
