42 
ACCLIMATISATION OF ANIMALS. 
accomplish. He might be asked what was the use of accli¬ 
matising animals in this country ; had they not already the 
best animals that could be procured ? The answer was they 
might think they had the best, but good was the best till 
something superior was produced. Mr. Mitchell startled them 
with the astonishing fact that, since the Christian era, the only 
additions to their catalogue of domesticated animals had been 
four in number; viz., in 1524 , the turkey; in 1650 , the 
musk duck; in 1725 , the gold pheasant; in 1740 , the silver 
pheasant. There was an answer to the question of the 
Sceptic, who believed they had the best of everything; and if 
he were a gastronome, he appealed to that love of good 
feeding, which they all had more or less—(laughter)—and 
asked him if it were not for the acts of acclimatisation which 
took place in 1524 and 1725 , what would we have for dinner 
on Christmas-day to face the roast beef—(laughter)—and 
where would be the pheasants which he took so much pride in 
preserving in his coverts? The learned professor of the Accli¬ 
matisation Society in Paris told them that the world furnished 
no less than 140,000 animals, and out of this catalogue he 
(Mr. Buckland) would merely direct their attention to forty- 
three. He would begin with the eland, which was exceedingly 
good to eat, and which had been already introduced into this 
country. In the catalogue of the animals at Knowsley, when 
the late Earl of Derby died, in 1851 , there figured five elands 
—two males and three females, one of which had been born 
there. Herds of the noble antelope had been founded at 
Hawkstone by Viscount Hill; at Taymouth, by the Marquis 
of Breadalbane ; and at Tatton, by Lord Egerton ; and he 
had recently a communication from Lord Hill, who stated 
that he had been most successful in rearing and breeding 
this animal. He hoped that they would soon have the eland 
at their cattle shows and in their butchers’ shops. It had a 
sort of u gamey” taste—(laughter)—which rendered it better 
for eating than a fat cow. He was convinced that the mouths 
of those who had once tasted it would water for it. (Laughter.) 
He might also mention the leucory and the gnu. Antelopes 
were difficult things to rear, but it was recorded that the 
harnessed antelope breeds freely in confinement, as will most 
probably the boshbock. The springbock would live in their 
parks, and the koodoo might be also acclimatised. They had 
in England only three species of deer, but out of forty-three 
kinds of deer there was hardly one which would not adapt 
itself to their seasons. Thev might be obtained from 
Barbary, America, Persia, and other places. There was also 
a vacancy in the English parks for the kangaroo. Mr. 
