THE DUKE OF BEDFORD'S MENAGERIE. 3G'3 



which are allowed to roam at large about the park, and appeared 

 to be on most excellent terms with the various herds of Deer. 

 Travellers in Africa tell us that the striped hide of these 

 animals — so conspicuous at close quarters — at a distance fades 

 completely away on background of the dry veldt. Hitherto one 

 had to take this statement on trust ; and it was a great pleasure 

 to see it actually verified at Woburn, where the parched grass 

 of a dry August not unfairly resembled an African plain. A 

 fourth Zebra is also included in the collection, but as this animal 

 runs up to all horses in sight, it is kept with some horses in an 

 enclosure. 



In another enclosure near by is a single example of the 

 Kiang or Wild Ass of Tibet, a species which has, I believe, only 

 once been exhibited in the Regent's Park Gardens, and that so 

 far back as 1859. The Kiang at Woburn, I am told, is possessed 

 of a very uncertain temper ; and it is for this reason that it is 

 not turned out in the park. This does not seem to be quite 

 in accord with what occurs in the wild state, for in Ladak herds 

 of Kiang will gallop in circles close round the traveller's pony, 

 and thus often spoil the chance of obtaining a shot at more 

 worthy game. 



Another animal of great interest is the small Wild Ox of 

 Celebes, known as the Anoa, of which there are two beautiful 

 examples, so tame as to allow themselves to be approached and 

 stroked. Very rarely is this Ox seen in menageries, only two 

 examples having been exhibited in our Zoological Gardens up to 

 the year 1883 — the date when the last complete list of the animals 

 there was published. It is somewhat remarkable to find species 

 hailing from such widely different regions as the elevated dry 

 plateau of Tibet— the habitat of the Kiang — and the moist tropical 

 island of Celebes, but nevertheless both seemed equally flourishing 

 in the Bedfordshire park. Indeed, I was informed that almost the 

 only large ruminants that do not flourish well there are most 

 kinds of Sheep, to which rocky upland ground seems essential 

 to good health. Most of the Goats seem, on the other hand, to 

 do well, and there are some Tahr (Hemitragus jemlaicus) in excel- 

 lent condition, while an Aoudad (Ovis tragelaphus) seemed equally 

 flourishing. 



The Bhural — which breed in the Regent's Park — were, how- 

 ever, decidedly in poor condition ; much the same might be said 



2 f 2 



