REMINISCENCES FROM THE MELBOURNE ZOO. 
115 
from a catching box. Ultimately a derrick had to be used, and Mr. 
Wilkie had to swing out into space on the roof of the box, and be 
lowered into the pit with the bear. He then raised the door and 
released the animal, and was hauled up again in the same undignified 
fashion, just in time for the opening of the gates for the sightseers, who 
little dreamed how narrowly they had escaped all the sensation they 
would have wanted for a month. 
CHAMPION BOXERS. 
The two great white Polar bears are a source of endless amusement 
at the Zoo, especially when they are in sporting mood. The best time 
to see them is in the early morning when they are in their bath together. 
They are like two mischievous boys in the tricks they play on each other, 
and in their boxing matches they are so interesting that if they could 
be taught to do it when required, instead of only when they feel inclined, 
they would make a fortune for the Zoological Society. These matches 
always take place in the water. After a good bout they will go 
swimming round and round the pond, apparently taking no notice of 
each other, but in reality each is watching for an opportunity of catch- 
ing the other off guard, in order to spring upon its back and send it to 
the bottom of the water. When one has succeeded in doing this, the 
under dog is held down much longer than it wants to stay there, and 
when at last its desperate struggles have freed it, it rises to the surface 
quite prepared to resume boxing, and this time a fair amount of temper 
gives additional zest to the rounds, because the victim of the practical 
joke wants to get even with the victor. But their quarrels are not very 
serious, because Mr. Polar-Bear has made himself head of a well- 
regulated household, and unlike Mr. Hippo, or Mr. Caudle, he has kept 
his wife well in hand from the earliest of their married days. She is 
a properly obedient wife, with perhaps a little of Mrs. Hardcastle’s 
resentment stirring her occasionally, but no more than that lady’s spirit 
for rebellion against self-constituted authority. Especially at meal 
times does Mr. Polar-Bear give her to understand that he does not believe 
in woman’s rights. They exactly reverse the order of things obtain- 
ing at the Hippos’ ponds. Here Mr. Polar-Bear, with all the dignity 
beseeming a hyphenated gentleman, leisurely examines the food given to 
them, selects and eats the choicest, and when he has finished all he 
wants, he magnanimously leaves the rest for his waiting wife. She, 
all meekness, takes what is left and is appropriately thankful, while he 
