68 
THE LION HOUSE AT THE ZOO 
of repose the luxurious languor of some petted house- 
dog, constantly rolling over on their backs, and stick- 
ing up their paws, with heads upon one side, and eyes 
half-opened. This pair of cubs was presented by the 
Maharanee of Odeypore in 1892. Both cubs, when 
called by the keeper, can be stroked and petted like 
cats. But no tiger which has yet lived in Regent’s 
Park has been so completely tamed as the fine northern 
tiger “ Warsaw” from Turkestan, which died last 
winter, after living in the Zoo since 1886. Taking 
into account the hardships endured by a wild animal 
in its transport from the distant steppes of Central 
Asia, across the Caspian Sea, thence by rail to the 
Euxine, and finally by ship to England, it is difficult 
to maintain the belief in the “ innate ferocity ” of the 
tiger after making the acquaintance of “ Warsaw.” 
The way in which this tiger found its way to the 
Zoo is typical of the unexpected means by which the 
menagerie is supplied with rare animals. Colonel 
Stafford, who had been engaged on the Afghan 
Boundary Commission in 1885, was returning by land 
through Central Asia, when he found the tiger, in a 
little cage, waiting at the terminus on the eastern side 
of the Caspian, and destined for some scientific gentle- 
man at Warsaw. As the northern tiger was almost 
unknown in England, and there seemed some delay in 
the arrival of the purchase-money, Colonel Stafford 
bought it for the Indian Government, who approved 
of his investment, and presented it to the Zoological 
Society. To get the tiger by the Russian Central 
