ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
117 
ming about, as happy as if they were off on a holiday, 
instead of at home, doing’ the same things every minute 
of their lives. 
A solemn brown bear performed a clumsy dance for 
them; they laughed delightedly and clapped their hands. 
Then we were taken to the snake house, and the little girls 
played with a handsome Texas snake. He was most 
friendly and I felt him hiss softly with pleasure as he 
coiled round the warm body of the smallest child. There 
were many snakes, all interesting each after his fashion. 
The keeper, a fearless man wise in the 
ways of serpents, brought a rattlesnake 
for me to touch, grasping his head firmly 
in his strong hand, so that I might feel 
the rattle,—a sound terrible to all living 
creatures, yet sweet as waters in a desert 
to his mate when he calls her! 
On our way to the monkey house we 
stopped to look at the strangest mammal 
imaginable, the Australian platypus,—■ 
the first one which had ever been brought 
to America alive. 
It was in the ■* 
water, and came 
near enough for 
me to touch its 
wet furry coat. 
This animal lives 
on a certain kind 
of worm which 
boys collect for 
him at a cost of 
“A SOLEMN BROWN BEAR” 
No doubt he was solemn, since Miss Keller 
seemed to sense mentally the things we do 
physically, and with about the same accuracy. 
Photographs by Elwin R. Sanborn. 
eight dollars per 
breakfast. Its 
nondescript ap¬ 
pearance suggests 
that it is one of 
nature’s dis- 
, ca'rded experi¬ 
ments. Or is it 
just a little joke? 
One has the same feeling about the bat 
with his wings and head like a mouse, 
the armadillo with a turtle-like cover¬ 
ing, the porcupine, so like a pin cushion, 
the anteater, a mammal with a bill, and 
the whale making believe he is a fish. 
Windy, the great Orang-utang, re¬ 
ceived us with rough cordiality. She 
held out two hairy hands to us, and 
after looking me over critically she 
climbed into "my lap and put her shaggy 
arms round my neck. The children were delighted, and 
danced about us with glee. All at once Windy caught 
sight of a rain coat hanging up in a corner, and she was 
after it like a shot. It was very amusing to watch her 
try to put the coat on. She struggled with it half an hour 
vainly. She pulled it over her head, tugging and twist¬ 
ing, but it never occurred to her to put her arms through 
the sleeves! At last she began to pant and scold 
furiously, tearing the coat to pieces in her wrath. Then 
she dropped it and dived under a table, obviously 
ashamed of her failure. However, when I took her hand 
and coaxed her to come with me, she smiled affably and 
marched beside me with heavy tread to face a camera, 
which she eyed suspiciously. But she submitted good- 
naturedly to the ordeal of being photographed. When 
we took leave of Windy, each one of the party shaking 
her two hands in turn, she smiled in a peculiar way. You 
know the kind of smile I mean, if you have ever watched 
