258



H. S. Stokes—The Primley Zoo



greyish-white ground, heavily speckled with pale brown uneven spots.

Five young were hatched out on the 10th June. One egg was infertile,

and the other contained a dead chick. Three of the young ones were

picked up dead on 13th June. The remaining two were fully reared,

leaving the nest on 3rd July. They started to eat a couple of days after

leaving the nest, and were no bother to rear. The young were reared

on stock food, raw meat, mice, earthworms, and mealworms. Colour

of the young is identical with the parents, with the exception of the

beak, which is white.



THE PRIMLEY ZOO


By Captain H. S. Stokes


It will readily be conceded that the Mecca of all keepers and students

of birds in this country, whether members of our Society or not, is

Mr. Herbert Whitley’s Zoo at Primley, Paignton.


More than this, everyone who wanted to study living animals,

fish, reptiles, and plants, to see complete series of them, to know how

to keep them in splendid condition, and how best to get them to

reproduce themselves went to Paignton to learn from this great

and practical naturalist. It was a pleasure which many hundreds of

people looked forward to year by year, and which was the subject

of grateful comment all over the country.


And now this Zoo is closed to members of the Avicultural Society

and to the Public. And why ? Mr. Whitley naturally had to make

a charge for admission to help pay the extra expenses involved in

controlling the Public and in providing and keeping up spaces for them,

but he definitely refused to allow the Public to be mulcted by the

payment of entertainment tax for what he claimed was not an enter¬

tainment but an educational opportunity.


The local bench of Magistrates have twice declared the Zoo to be an

entertainment, and Mr. Whitley has suffered the indignity of being

fined substantial sums in the police court.



