POSSIBLE PETS 
285 
baby one, but she was not tame.” The lovely snow 
leopard, which came to the Zoo in 1894, was a 
lady’s pet. It had always been fed upon cooked 
meat, and was perfectly tame. The writer has patted 
it as it lay in its box in the Lion House, and it 
merely looked up exactly like a sleepy grey Angora 
cat. Yet this was a full-grown leopard, in perfect 
condition and health, living in the next cage to one 
of the black variety, which was almost the wildest 
creature in the menagerie. 
Those who possess an aviary may be interested to 
hear that at the Zoo, blackcaps, whitethroats, garden- 
warblers, and nightingales, all birds of passage, are 
living in excellent health through the winter ; and one 
nightingale was singing on December 29, but the 
song, though very beautiful, was not a true nightin- 
gale’s note, but largely borrowed from that of the 
bulbul in the next aviary, the bird being a young one, 
caught in the autumn. It is evident, from the experi- 
ment at the Zoo, that our summer warblers may be 
kept as pets ; but the bird of all others suited for the 
aviary, but neglected as a rule in England, is the 
bulbul. The Persian variety has the finest song, but 
the Indian is an even prettier bird, and sings ex- 
quisitely. In appearance, the bulbuls are not unlike 
the Bohemian waxwing, with a black conical top-knot, 
cinnamon-coloured backs, red-and-white or yellow-and- 
white cheeks, and white breasts, with some bright 
colour near the tail. The note is most liquid and 
beautiful, and the bird has a pretty habit of varying 
