New-York tribune., 1900-08-19
AN ENGLISH "PARADISB."
INNUMERABLE SPECIES OF ANIMALS ON
THE DUKE OF BEDFORD's ESTATE
From The London News.

THE DUKE OF BEDFORD'S ESTATE
From The London News
paradise" is the technical term for a pre-
serve in which attempts are made with more
less success to accIimatiZe foreign birds and ami
mails The three most successful paradises in
England Haggerstone Castle, near Beale :,
Leonardslee, in Sussex, and Woburn Abbey.
Leonardslee provides the nearest approach to
perfectly wild conditions. and the innumerable
foreign species-the big red kangaroOs. the wall
abies, the mOuion, or wild sheep; the prairie
dogs, the PatagOnian CAVES and countless other
species-give the landscape a very Un-English
appearance A writer in The Quarterly Re
view" thus describes a vista on the Duke OF
BedfOrd's estate at WOburn Abbey:
There, in a single picture. axis deer. japanese
deer, Peking deer. red deer, Caucasian red deer,
Virginian deer, and a mouhOn sheep may be
seen grazing quietly together; while the pOT-
traits Of many other stays and bucks show 70
what health and VigOr the animals attain in
this UNIQUE paradise But no photograph could
ever do justice to the general effect of the
herds there gathered together. Probably moth
ing like it could be seen anywhere nearer than
the Athi plains in our East African PrOtec-
torate, where the great fauna Of Africa still
wander and feed in herds of hundreds Of in
dlv-duals, all at peace with one another ana
not greatly scared by man In the centre OF
the scene lies the big gray palace. set among
rolling waves Of park, studded with ancient
trees Under the trees, out on the open
lawns and glades all along the sky line.
and round the pools, gaze the fallow
bucks and does, japanese stays, red deer,
and hybrid fawns and stags- Among them
stalk gigantic wapit lords and masters OF the
mixed, multitude Under the chestnut trees IS
a herd Of black and white yaks with their
calves with thar and other wild sheep, and close
10 the drive Is a small herd of Zebras, with 4
foal two much at their ease as II they
were commOuers' ponies on Matley Heath IN
the New Forest.
The variety Of strange birds is Just as great.
Chiefly remarkable are the brilliant Reeves
pheasant and the Australian brush turkey
one of the most useful functions Of para
disc" is TO preserve moribund species which
once fOurished IN this country The beaver,
for instance is busy with his marvellous feats
of engineering and architecture IN the brook
at LeonardsIee. though II is probably elght
hundred years since beaver made a "eir on
d British stream Says the writer IN The
Quarterly:
If beavers are to flourish on a river they must
have a constant depth of water IN which 10 dive
and to cover the entrance to their lodges" even
IL the surface is frozen thick with ice As few
small rivers or brooks have a constant flow. DuI
are sometimes shallow, sometimes IN HOOD m
beavers make a weir 20 keep up d neao OF water
How serious are the difficulties OF building ana
maintaining such weir every engineer knows.
The phenomenal cleverness and industry OF
beavers are devoted to this end. This Is not the
place to give details Of their log rolling paths,
canals wood cutting and weir making; Dut,
apart from the two former processes, Nhlch men
were not needed in their home ar Leonardsleei
all the mechanical skill Of beavers may there
be seen to admiration Ihey soon mace ana
ave eyer since maintained large Weir cut
ting down all the unprotected trees, except
some large beeches and big pines, ana using al
the branches large and small, for building with
They left one tree. small oak, to support what
was TO be the centre Of the Weir soon long,
deep pool was formed above the weir, flooding
the ad jacent banks and submerSlng the bases or
several large trees which the beavers had begun
to cut one a large beech. they rooted up, when
the water had moistened the earth below. In
order to cut down another, around which their
pool had formed deep water, they built q plat
form and then sat on that and gnawed the tree-
Later they cut down the supporting oak, prob
ably knowing that the dam was strong enough
without 1t, and began new weir DeloW-