The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-06-26
The Carnivorium in an Uproar.
How the Animals i'm Ce-, A. ~.
haved I'm a aT,auhder-storm, IT,

haved IN ynritlder- storm,
"A Correspondent of Anew York paper
happened to be iu the Carnivorium at
Central Park Just as thunderstorm set
in, and it was very interesting to observe
the various ways in which the animals
were affected by it. For some time pre-
vious to the first flash of lightning, and
while the rain was falling, many Of the
wild beasts showed signs of restless
ness, nearly all of them turning their
heads towards the windows and gazing
out at The weather with an anxious ex-
preston on their faces. The birds in
the wired enclosures behaved according
to their several dispositions and in
stincts. Not one of the storks or her.
ons moved from the position in which
it stood-most of them with one leg
tucked up and their long necks sunk
down upon their scapulars. The storm
appeared to have neitherterror for them
nor JOY, though it is probable that the
sensation caused by the cool rain trick
ling down their backs must have been
rather agreeable than otherwise. On
the contrary, the pelicans were all alive.
plunglng in and out of their tank, flap
ping their wings in the clumsy, ungrace-
full manner peculiar to these birds, and
gaping with their wide beaks as if ex-
pecting that the rain might bring with
it the traditional shower of fishes an
nually imagined by barren reporters
upon the rural press. At the first fash
of lightning nearly all the savage beasts
that were lying down stood up and
walked about in their cages. An Asiatic
leopard, urged apparently by some in
stinct of the famine which sometimes
follows great commissions of nature,
took up in its teeth n large piece of raw
meat, and set to work furiously scratch
ing with it's paws in a corner of the
cage, MS if to dig a hole in which to
bury the precious morsel, At the first
growl of the distant thunder the lions
put their noses TO the floor and took up
the growl, which they probably imagined
to be n note of defiance from some dis
tnnt lion on his way to attack them.
invariably, when the lions roar, the lit
tie black wolf in his cage below chimes
i'll with his howls, making a din that
fully realizes ones idea of bowling
wilderness. With his snout elevated in
the air, and his mouth opened crooked
ly on one side, this persevering little
beast gave vent to a succession of Won
derful howls-howls with ragged edges
to them, and jerking staccato passages
and cadences which seemed predictive
of impending doom. For sheer noise,
without anything musical or sublime
about it, there is not q beast in the
carnivorium that can compare with this
small black wolf. The writer watched
the hyenas with close attention, expect.
ing to hear them laugh, as they some
times do when agitated or disturbed.
They did not laugh, however, thinking
perhaps that a thunderstorm is nc
laughing matter. When flash of light
ming came they threw their heads back
and looked intently at the sky, as if to
see whether it would open and send
some other kind of horrible beast to
chastise them for the sacreligious out
RACES committed by them eistwhile il
the cemeteries of their native Egypt.
All the lesser cats, including the pumas
and lynxes, showed many signs of DIS
turbance during the continuance of the
storm. Sometimes they would leap higl
up against the sides of their dens, one
or two of them falling on their backs
as they came down and lying there as j
stricken by the thunderbolt. Again
they would fasten their cleaning eyes
upon some rosy, succulent child in the
throng, and crouch as If for spring
but would Immediately return to thei
feverish walk up and down the Gag,
and their scrutiny of the weather with
out.
With the great sea-lion it was Joy
4,
perry creatures of the sea about til,
thunderbolt, from the wrath of whicl
they can escape by merely plungine
down in the bottom OF the tank anC
staying there? Before the rain cam,
on these animals were reposing upol
their platforms, one at either end of tn,
tank Immediately on the bursting o
the storm, however, they plunged sim
ultaneously into the water, rolling abou
III it with apparent glee, and passing
and repassing each other OF regular in
tervals, as if in kind OF dance; anC
one by no means devoid of grace either
in the lines and curves made by tn
poor, half-hnished creatures. Some
times they would contribute their pecu
liar harsh roar to the din of the carni
vorium, intensifying the thunder of tn
clouds and lions and the aggravatin!
howls of that irrepressible little blacl
wolf Next to the opossum, which
stupid little beast-lay coiled up fas
asleep through all the racket and up
, roar, the most imperturbable brute i
, the place was the Malayan tapir tina
has lately been added to the collection
, This tapir, while resembling the Soutl
American species in many respects
differs from it in several. 1t is mucl
} larger than any tapir heretofore exhib
tied here. The ordinary tapir, of tn
eastern and western hemispheres alike
is of uniform sooty-blGck color. Blu
this one is marked in 4 curious an
beautiful manner, its forepart and e2
= treme headquarters being of a gloss
: black, while little behind the shoulde
large patch Of white extends alon
the back nearly to the tail, and dow
the sides to line below the ribs, pre-
senting the exact appearanceo of saddle
cloth. The nose, or rudimentary pre-