The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-19 00:00:00

IBER

New Arrivals at the Zoological Gardens.

The following interesting letter from the pen of Mr Frank
Buckland appears in the Times :—" Those who are unfor-
tunately obliged to stay in London at this time of year may
possibly like to know that many additions have recently
been made to the Zoological Gardens, Regent's-park, Mr
Thompson, the head keeper, not long since took out with
him to India a consignment of fallow dear, American rheas,
pheasants, peafowl, Californian quails, various kinds of
ducks, &c , and landed them at Calcutta without a single
death. He has lately returned from Calcutta, bringing
back with equal success a large number of rare and valu-
able anirnsls, which are presented to the Zoological Society
by the Baboo Rajenda Mullick, Mr A. Grote, and Mr W.
Dunn. A list of these Mr Bartlett, the resident superin-
tendent, has given me ; they are three fine specimens of
young rhinoceros, one rhinoceros hornbill, two concave
casqued hornbills, green-necked peafowl from Burmah,
sundry very hanasome Indian pheasants, besides other
smaller birds, and two very large tortoises. One rhinoceros
has been sent to the Dublin Zoological Society, the other
two are in perfect health and condition, though the original
rhinoceros is somewhat jealous of the attentions the illus-
trious strangers receive from visitors. The height of the
male rhinoceros is 4 fret 3 itches, of the female 4 feet; the
the length of the male 9 feet 8 inches, of the female 9 feet
4i inches; the girth of each being about 8 feet. One of the
tortoises is a gigantic specimen, its weight being about 1501 b,
and its girth 6:t. It seems very active and lively this warm
weather. The large hornbills, which are placed close to the
pelicans, are magnificent birds, and well worthy observation.
Besides these Indian creatures the visitors should examine
the little chamois, which has lately been born in the gar-
dens; it is about the size and shape of a small kid, and,
although so young, is nearly as active as its mother. in
the curious house which the beaver has constructed for it-
self Mr Bartlett informs me that the mother has laid up
a nest of young, one of which came out for the first time
into the pond on Saturday last ; another having died in the
nest some days ago, the parents brought it out and laid it on
the bank. I had hoped to have been able to report that the
new pond contained a very large sturgeon, for on Tuesday
last Mr. H. J. B. Hancock and Mr. Bartlett, learning that
a fine specimen of this fish was tethered in the river Severn
at Tewkesbury, went down to fetch it ; with much
culry and labour they succeeded in bringing it alive as far
as Paddington, where it unfortunately died, and vas, I re-
gret to say, transferred to Mr Groves's shop s.t Charing-
cross, and not to the comfortable pond, where we had hoped
it would have lived many months. The, weight of this
splendid fish was 2251 b., and it measure?, no leas than 8 feet
9 inches in length. I found that it contained an enormous
mass of roe (such as is manufactured into caviare by the
Russians), which weighed 421 b., and which, as a calcula-
tion showed, contained no less than 1,881,600 eggs. The
visitors should not forget to examine the young salmon and
trout which were hatched last year in the gardens, the
salmon averaging 5 inches, and the great lake trout no less
than 8 inches in length. They are perfect beauties, and it
is quite a treat to look at them."