THE LION HOUSE AT THE ZOO 
63 
either side of which the bears are kept, was built for 
the accommodation of the lions and tigers. The cages 
do not strike us as particularly roomy or comfortable 
now, but at that time they were looked upon as un- 
usually spacious, and the unfortunate carnivora, which 
had been boxed up in stuffy rooms and narrow cages, 
soon felt the benefit of the change. The African 
leopards, which were emaciated and sickly before 
their removal, became plump and sleek in a fortnight, 
and the appetite of all materially increased. The most 
convincing proof of this gratifying change was that 
a tigress, feeling hungry in the night, killed a tiger, 
and a puma did the same, and partly devoured its 
mate. The Society took the hint, and increased their 
rations, and for some time the new method of lion- 
culture answered well. 
The rough-and-ready expedient of exposing the 
great cats to all the changes of an English climate had 
a greater measure of success than might have been 
expected. One is apt to forget that though the tropics 
are the main home of the tiger and the leopard, both 
wander far into the northern mountains, and that the 
former, if brought originally from Turkestan or 
China, can stand an English winter as well as the 
Chinese monkeys. During the year after the removal 
of the animals to their new house there was not a 
single death, and the system promised so well that 
artificial heat was for a time discontinued, both in the 
Monkey House and the Giraffe House, except that 
given by open fires. That the health of all the 
