166 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Tigers, Leopards, Indian Cats, Bears, Swine and Porcupines, 

 but in 1747 a young Rhinoceros from Bengal was exhibited alive 

 there. 



The first recorded Zoological Gardens in the New World were 

 those of King Nezahualcoyotl, the " Hungry Fox " (born about 

 1403, died about 1475) at his capital of Tezcuco, on the east side 

 of the lake, in Mexico. Prescott, ' History of the Conquest of 

 Mexico' (edition of 1878, p. 85) mentions these Gardens as con- 

 taining basins of water " well stocked with fish of various kinds, 

 aviaries with birds glowing in all the gaudy plumage of the 

 tropics," and also states that "many birds and animals which 

 could not be obtained alive were represented in gold and silver." 



In the following century there were two such Gardens in 

 America : Iztapalapan and Mexico itself. On the 7th of November 

 1519 Hernando Cortes entered Iztapalapan, then governed by 

 Cuitlahua (Montezuma's brother), and saw its celebrated gar- 

 dens in their prime. Prescott, p. 261, mentions the " aviary, 

 filled with numerous kinds of birds, remarkable in this region 

 both for brilliancy of plumage and of song," and also the basin 

 " with different sorts of fish." 



Montezuma II., Emperor of Mexico (born about 1479, elected 

 King 1502, died 1520), appears to have maintained large Zoolo- 

 gical Gardens at his capital (see Prescott, pp. 286, 287). There 

 were extensive gardens " filled with fragrant shrubs and flowers, 

 and especially with medicinal plants." Among the buildings 

 "was an immense aviary, in which birds of splendid plumage 

 were assembled from all parts of the empire. . . . Three hundred 

 attendants had charge of this aviary, who made themselves 

 acquainted with the appropriate food of its inmates, oftentimes 

 procured at great cost, and in the moulting season were carefnl 

 to collect the beautiful plumage, which, with its many-coloured 

 tints, furnished the materials for the Aztec painter." 



" A separate building was reserved for the fierce birds of 

 prey." For the feeding of which Prescott (p. 286) says that five 

 hundred turkeys were allowed per day ; but from Oviedo's 

 original account in Spanish, in Prescott's Appendix (p. 679) it 

 appears that these five hundred birds were the daily rations of 

 not only the fifty "Eagles," but also of the carnivorous mam- 

 mals and of the great Snakes, as bulky as a man's leg. 



