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The area of the Victoria Gardens is given by Murray 
(“ Handbook to India,” 8th Edition, 1911, p. 15) as 34 acres 
(13*75 hectares), but Mr. Mahaluxmivala informed me that 
the present area is about 50 acres (20*23 hectares). 
Besides the money for new works granted from time to 
time by the Municipality, this Zoological Garden has been 
fortunate in receiving several donations for building its 
cages; thus in 1890-1891 the Bombay Tramway Company 
gave 10,000 rupees for new cages for bears and parrots ; 
in 1891, Sir Dinshaw M. Petit, Bart., gave 1,500 rupees 
for an aviary ; in 1894, H.H. Basulkhanji Mohobatkhanji, 
hiawab of Junagadh, gave 2,500 rupees towards erecting a 
cage for the larger carnivora ; and in 1899, the Maharaja 
Takhatsingji, G.C.S.I., of Bhownagar, gave 4,000 rupees 
for housing the smaller carnivora. 
I visited the Victoria Gardens on April 12 and on June 
3, 5, and 6, 1913, and was much impressed by their prettiness 
and by the large number of very nice trees, many of the 
trees being labelled with their names. 
Large numbers of delightful little striped Palm- Squirrels, 
/Scinrus pahnanirn, live wild in the gardens, and also many 
birds, the most noticeable species being the Indian House- 
Crow, Corvus spleiidens, the Magpie-Robin, Copsichus 
sauJaris^ the Indian House- Sparrow, Passer domestlcus 
indiciis^ and the White-breasted Water-hen, Amaurornis 
phoenicurns. 
Noticeable features of these gardens are 
(i) The Lake, one of the very prettiest bits of gardening 
I have ever seen. The scheme of planting is most 
effective. Some groups of Screw Pines, Pandamis 
odoratissimus , are particularly picturesque. One 
corner of this lake is enclosed by wire netting to 
form a ‘‘ flying cage ” and contains represen- 
tatives of about twenty -flve species of birds. 
(ii) The Tebeldi, or Baobab Trees, Adansonia digitata. 
Although these Bombay specimens are small 
compared to the Tebeldis one is used to see in 
the Egyptian Sudan, nevertheless they are very 
