HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
injured the hind so badly that she either died from 
the effects of the injury or had to be destroyed. 
Fortunately such instances have been rare in the 
Pretoria Zoological Gardens; but here, again, my 
former assertion holds good, viz., that one has to 
know the nature of each individual animal. Some 
years ago we had a Sambur Deer Stag' so vicious 
that he had to be destroyed. At present the Gar- 
dens contain three stags of this species, and they 
are the most sociable of animals. This applies to 
Red Deer and Rusa Deer Stags as well. 
With reference to the Antelope, I have found 
Bushbuck and "Wildebeest the most pugnacious of 
animals in captivity, but even amongst these ani- 
mals an occasional ram will be quiet and friendly. 
We had several bull Wildebeests and ram Bush- 
bucks which injured several females in succession, 
so that they had to be left without mates, but at 
present the collection contains males of both 
species that live amicably with their mates. The 
first Lechwe ram we possessed was an absolute 
terror, and had to be shut up* in his night-house 
before the camp could be swept, but the animal at 
present in the collection takes no notice of any 
one going into his camp, or merely moves further 
away from the intruder. The same applies to two 
Eland bulls that we had, the vicious one of which 
is now dead, but the quiet animal is still in the 
collection. In captivity, an animal will sometimes, 
if given a fair opportunity, revert to its usual 
habits when in the wild state, as, for instance, 
several of the Deer, and more particularly the 
Lechwe Antelope. These animals were formerly 
in camps, which admitted of the egress of the 
young ones. The latter would go out of the 
camp after their morning drink and lie hidden in 
some hedge or flower bed in the vicinity until 
sunset, when the time for the evening meal came 
round, and then the little one Avould return to its 
mother. 
In 1910 we possessed a pair of Gemsbuck, 
which were ultimately the proud parents of two 
young ones in 1911 and 1912. All these buck were 
tame and quiet, the ram to such an extent, that 
he preferred standing up to his attendants to giv- 
ing way. He eventually became dangerous. All 
these died or were sold, and a fresh stock obtained 
from the Kalahari. This second lot of three, 
although hand-reared like the first, never became 
quite tame, and remained so shy and wild that 
when nearly full grown they came to grief by gett- 
ing a fright and dashing into the iron fence of 
their camp, badly injuring themselves. 
Zebras. — Zebras are just as subject to indi- 
vidual variation of temperament as the other ani- 
mals mentioned. Some are easily tamed, and can 
be ridden and driven without fear or risk. Others 
again are vicious, and kick and bite without provo- 
cation- They are thus with their own kind as 
well as vrith the human race. We have at present 
two Zebra mares of two distinct species, which 
will not tolerate another animal of their own kind 
in either of their paddocks, not even of the opposite 
sex, biting - and kicking with anything but friendly 
intentions. On the whole, though, Zebras are, 
both in the wild state and in captivity, sociable 
animals, loving company. 
To> finish up, let me quote a paragraph from 
Carl Hagenbeck's book, "Beasts and Men," 
which puts into a nutshell much of what I have 
tried to make clear in the foregoing' pages : 
"There is no universal rule for the treat- 
ment of wild animals. Even individuals of 
the same species, so great is their variability 
of temperament, have to be managed according 
to the particular circumstances of each case. 
The peculiarity is found, as my narrative has 
already shown, among Elephants. It exists, in 
a greater or- less degree, among" all animals, 
and is a feature in his profession which no suc- 
cessful trainer can overlook. Moreover, it is 
difficult to> forsee how animals will behave under 
any given circumstances, for they are swayed 
almost completely by the impulses of the 
moment, and it frequently happens that an oc- 
currence to us apparently trifling will cause a 
perfectly quiet and well-behaved animal to be- 
come almost mad with terror." 
THE BRISTOL ZOOLOGICAL 
GARDENS SOCIETY. 
THE YEAR'S WORK. 
The annual meeting of proprietors was held 
at the Gardens, Clifton, Dr. A. J. Harrison 
(Treasurer) presiding over a representative* atten- 
dance. 
The Chairman, in presenting his usual re- 
sume of the work of the society for the year, 
reminded those presesnt that that was the 81st 
anniversary of the society, so it might be claimed 
that it had reached a respectable age. Last year 
it was noted that elms were in flower in the mid- 
dle of January; this year, up to now, there was 
hardly a sign of blossom, and whatever rapid 
growths might take place when a warm change 
came, there could be no early spring now. They 
had had some ice skating at the Gardens, which 
should benefit their next year's accounts. In old 
days the receipts from this winter pastime had 
been as much as ^lOO 1 a week. The year's tak- 
ings at the gates totalled ^,'2:,757, the largest 
recorded, the next best being ^1,99'7, in 1904. 
Fetes accounts showed .£503', the lowest figure, 
but practically there had been no fetes. Refresh- 
ments yielded ^2,367, the largest ever received,. 
