REMINISCENCES FROM THE MELBOURNE ZOO. 
121 
contested inch by inch as well. Great streams of perspiration rolled 
down the desperate man’s face as he called for the help that was cruelly 
withheld by the interested spectators. At last the bear reached that fatal 
region where his fangs could wreak such dire mischief, and, giving him- 
self up for lost, Sandy flung himself on the ground in one last vague hope 
of being able to shield his throat. As soon as he fell, the poor little koala 
knew himself baulked of a high and secure shelter, and he sprang off to 
look for something better. When Sandy recovered, and discovered the 
unhallowed joy of his mates, he changed his tattered clothes for more 
respectable ones, suffered his countless scratches in silence — and preserved 
silence until he himself was so old a settler that he could grow reminiscent 
for the benefit of brither Scots who, newly arrived, were hungry for 
stories of the early days of pioneers. 
THE GAPE BARREN GOOSE 
A TERROR FOR HIS SIZE. 
The Cape Barren goose is the beauty of the goose family. His delicate 
dove-grey plumage, with the faint black peacock’s eye in the wing feathers 
and the black tail, are set off to perfection by the strange sulphur-yellow 
shield that surmounts his short black beak. His coral pink legs show 
up to advantage his curiously blackened feet that look as if he had just 
been accidentally bogged in a tar-barrel. He looks so excessively mild 
that the greatest coward might summon up enough courage to say “Boo !” 
to him; but his looks belie him — indeed, this is an excellent instance of 
the utter unreliability of outward appearances. He is afraid of nothing, 
and it is said that at one time or other he has tackled every animal in 
the gardens excepting the lions and tigers. Not a great deal was known 
about the fighting propensities of this bird when the first one came to the 
gardens, and so it was decided to put him into the large lake next to the 
hippopotamuses’ compounds, because it was known that he liked the 
water and they thought he would make a highly ornamental addition to 
the flock of ducks, geese, and swans already there. The first thing he did 
was to take possession of the large island in the centre. Previous to his 
coming, the male white swan had been overlord of the isles and the birds, 
but the Cape Barren goose quickly disputed his claim to this proud title, 
and at once proceeded to demonstrate that an Australian native must be. 
