Read Ebook: The zoological gardens of Europe their history and chief features by Peel C V A Charles Victor Alexander

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STRIPED HYAENA, LONDON 194

GARDEN AND LAKE, CLIFTON 199

THE BEAR PITS, MANCHESTER 203

THE LAKE, DUBLIN 225

LION CUBS FROM SOMALILAND, DUBLIN 230

CARL HAGENBECK 233

THE

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS OF EUROPE

JARDIN DES PLANTES, PARIS: DIRECTOR, PROFESSOR MILNE EDWARDS

This Garden, the father of Zoological Gardens, is the oldest of the Zoological Gardens of Europe.

Many of the greatest naturalists have been connected with the Jardin des Plantes, and have studied within its gates.

A museum of natural history was established, and eleven professors appointed in mineralogy, botany, two courses of zoology, human and animal anatomy, geology, chemistry, etc. A library was formed in the museum. On the death of the Duc d'Orleans in 1660, Colbert bought for the library the celebrated paintings of flowers on vellum by Robert.

Bernardin de Saint-Pierre was the next Director. In 1794 the large and valuable collection of the Palais de Versailles was offered to the Jardin des Plantes, and accepted on its behalf by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. This collection contained five specimens which had never been seen in Paris before--namely, a quagga, now unhappily extinct, a hartebeest, a crested pigeon from the Isle of Banga, an Indian rhinoceros and a lion from Senegal, which latter had as a companion a dog, with which it lived on terms of the greatest friendship. The remainder of the collection at Versailles had been pillaged by the mob in the French Revolution.

In 1796 the Jardin des Plantes received a letter from Captain Baudin asking for a ship and men to convey to France a rich collection of animals and plants which he had gathered together in the island of Trinidad. A vessel was sent out, and, after being shipwrecked on the Canaries, the collection was finally brought home the next year. It was augmented by a collection of birds made by M. le Vaillant in Africa, and a collection brought back from La Guiana by M. Bragton. The Emperor Napoleon added several animals which he bought in England, and among which were a pair of tigers, two lynx, a mandril, a leopard, a hyaena, and a handsome panther, or hunting leopard, besides several birds and plants.

M. Fourcroi, who now made his appearance, collected for the institution animals, birds, precious stones, plants and books from all parts of the world. The collection of minerals of M. Warisse was bought, and 150,000 books were added to the library. The Emperor Napoleon during his wanderings never forgot the museum, and sent back to it fossil-fish from Verona and specimens of rock from the island of Corsica. M. Lesneeur, the painter and historian, and M. Peron brought back from the South 100,000 specimens of animals, large and small, representing many species. They brought home a zebra and a monkey for the Empress Jos?phine and plants without number. About this time M. Cuvier, the celebrated naturalist, made his appearance; M. Geoffroy arrived from Lisbon with new animals; M. Michamx brought specimens from the forests of America; and M. Marcel de Serres brought from Italy and Germany all sorts of minerals.

Great progress was made in the Jardin des Plantes until 1815, when there came a climax in France. Then commenced a series of miseries and an almost incredible history of disaster. Cossacks, Russians, Germans, and Italians filled Paris, and brought ruin and devastation with them; but, happily, of all the monuments of Paris, the only one which was not insulted was the Jardin des Plantes. The Garden was respected; it was neutral territory, where all sides came to seek rest from war.

In 1820 M. Milbert made large collections of natural history specimens and minerals in America for the Jardin des Plantes. In 1829 M. Victor Jacquemont appeared, and made a name for himself in natural history, but died when quite a young man in the island of Salsette.

In 1841 the Garden contained a zoological museum, a museum of comparative anatomy, a botanical museum, a geological museum and a museum of minerals. Besides a library containing 28,000 books devoted to travel and to physical and natural sciences, such as natural history, botany, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, comparative anatomy, human anatomy and zoology, there were memoirs of learned societies and a collection of paintings on vellum. This library was founded in June, 1793.

In 1841 M. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was Professor of Zoology, M. Brouguiart Professor of Botany, M. Serres Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, and M. de Mirbel Professor of Agriculture.

During the Siege of Paris in 1870 the Garden suffered terribly. Nearly a hundred shells fell within its boundaries; most of the glass-houses were battered to ruins, and a great number of the animals were, by the direction of the authorities, handed over to the butchers, killed and sold at fabulous prices. Lion, bear, giraffe and hippopotamus flesh realized 25 francs per pound during the last few months, and was very difficult to obtain even at that price.

This Garden, which runs close by the side of the Seine bank, is open free to the public. It is somewhat of a bewildering place to find one's way about in. Its collection of animals is very fine, and contains two or three especially good things. There are some pretty spots in it, and plenty of trees and shade. A fine lion house of no less than twenty-two cages contains a good collection of the big cats and bears, a number of the latter coming from Tonquin. Besides these bears, there are others in old but well-built bear-pits in another part of the Garden. Again, we find a pair of hartebeests, so seldom seen in captivity. Deer and antelopes, sheep and goats, are very well represented in the Jardin des Plantes.

I was busily engaged in taking photographs, when I was pounced upon by the inevitable gendarme, and was obliged to 'box up' in front of a large and sympathizing crowd. The elephant house contained three Indian elephants and one African, which is the largest to be found in captivity. Unfortunately, he has only stumps of tusks, and is, in consequence, not half such an imposing animal as the magnificent African elephant at Berlin. There was quite a number of zebras, including a mountain zebra with a foal, born in the Gardens, and a hybrid between a zebra and a kiang . There was a good collection of swine, including a Red River hog and an enormous European boar.

There were crowds of people in the Garden, and no wonder, for seldom is such a fine collection of animals to be seen without paying anything.

FOOTNOTES:

A hartebeest has lately been added to the London Zoo.

JARDIN D'ACCLIMATATION, PARIS: DIRECTOR, M. A. PORTE

After the preparatory plans had been made by M. Davioud, the resident architect of the city, and approved of by the council of thirty-four of the principal shareholders, the work was begun in July, 1859. The arrangement of the work, under the surveillance of a committee chosen by the members of the council of administration, was entrusted to Mr. D. W. Mitchell, the Secretary of the Zoological Society, London, who had come to offer his services for the creation of the new undertaking. On the sudden death of Mr. Mitchell in November, 1859, the committee took upon themselves the management of the work.

In fifteen months the work was finished. On August 1, 1860, Dr. Rufz de Lavison, late President of the General Council of the Martinique, was appointed Director of the Garden, whilst M. Albert Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, the joint Director, busied himself with the hygiene and propagation of the animals. On October 6, 1860, the Emperor inaugurated the new institution in person, and a few days later the public were admitted.

In 1865 Dr. Rufz de Lavison died, and M. Albert Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was made Director of the Garden.

When the Siege of Paris became imminent, the majority of the animals were deposited in the Zoological Gardens at Brussels; others were confined at Antwerp. The rare birds were sent to Tours; some to M. Barnsby, Director of the Botanical Garden in that city; others to M. Corn?ly van Heemstra, owner of the Ch?teau de Beaujardin. During this sad time an enormous amount of work was done, the animals being transported as quickly as possible. On September 4, 1870, this evacuation began, but it was brought to a stop five days later, as the trains then ceased to run. On the other hand, M. Milne Edwards graciously offered to take into the Jardin des Plantes part of the collection of animals, on condition that they were provided with sufficient food. From that moment, and during the whole of the siege, the Garden, situated as it was outside the fortifications, went well through the sad and sudden changes of fortune.

The famine which ere long besieged the city then demanded the sacrifice of all the animals. One can imagine what it cost the keepers, who were so attached to the animals they fed, to have to kill the two elephants, Castor and Pollux, the beautiful antelopes, the camels, etc. Nevertheless, when peace came, the animals which returned from the places where they had been deposited were still numerous enough to restock the Garden and put a little life into the place so long deserted.

The collection had scarcely been reinstalled in the Garden when the insurrection of the Commonwealth broke out. This time the Jardin d'Acclimatation was in the very middle of the tempest, and for nearly two months bullets and shells fell night and day in its very midst. The officials remained faithful to their posts, and hid themselves in cellars, from which they emerged when they were able during moments of calm--too short, alas!--to attend to the wants of the animals and plants. In this way, from time to time, they ran the greatest danger. The gate-keeper, Decker, was killed by a bursting shell; the gardener, Loubrieam, succumbed to wounds which he had received; Lemoire, one of the keepers of the animals, and Lombard, the carpenter, were wounded. Troops of regulars and bands of insurgents frequently met in the very heart of the Garden, which was furrowed by trenches and defensive works. The volunteers of the Seine and Oise and the federates fought two serious engagements in it. A number of animals were struck by the bullets, the fences and battlements being pierced by them.

The Jardin d'Acclimatation was very greatly disturbed by this terrible crisis, and people doubted whether it would ever recover itself.

The Municipal Council and the Ville de Paris happily understood what an interest the Garden had been, and would not allow such an establishment to disappear. They came to the succour of the shareholders by generously voting an annual subscription of 60,000 francs for three years; moreover, the Soci?t? d'Acclimatation gave a sum of 35,000 francs and all the animals which it possessed. M. Saint-Hilaire, whose activity and energy had increased in spite of obstacles, received anxious inquiries and marks of sympathy from numerous donors, which hastened the reconstruction of the devastated collections. His Majesty the King of Italy offered two African elephants to replace the two killed during the siege; the venerable M. Westerman, the Director of the Garden at Amsterdam, M. Jacques Vekemans, the learned and sympathetic Director of the Garden at Antwerp, and all the zoological gardens in England and in Belgium added their generous gifts, and contributed largely towards the reinstallation of this beautiful Garden, which had been so cruelly tried. Numerous improvements were voted by the council to suit the requirements of the animals and to please the public. New sheds were built for the goats and sheep, enclosures made for breeding ducks, and a new stable and large dog-kennels were constructed, which were opened shortly afterwards; the dairy service was organized both in the Garden and in the centre of Paris. Depots, where pure milk could be bought, were established at Chevet's and at the Palais Royal. A building for the fattening of poultry for the table was given over to a clever breeder of the department of Allier, who brought the whole of his stock-in-trade to the Garden. Animals were lent by several members of the society. In one of the outbuildings of the conservatory a library was opened, where visitors could find natural history works to interest them. Discussions began again, on two days a week--Thursdays and Sundays; concerts, under the direction of M. Mayeur, were held in the afternoons on one of the lawns in the Garden.

At last a new era of prosperity had opened in the Jardin d'Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne. From the time it was opened to the year 1873 more than 200,000 people had signified by their presence the just popularity which the Garden had acquired.

Besides the Garden in the Bois de Boulogne, the Soci?t? d'Acclimatation has other establishments under its control--one at Hy?res, one at Chilly-Mazarin, near Paris, one at Pr? Catalan, and another at Marseilles, in the South of France.

The Succursale at Hy?res is set apart for the cultivation of plants, palms, and trees from hot climates, and these always command a ready sale in Paris for the ornamentation of parks and houses. At Pr? Catalan, in well-kept houses, are to be found sixty dairy cows, which are to be seen in summer grazing in the paddocks and fields of the Bois de Boulogne.

At Chilly-Mazarin, on a plot of ground some acres in extent, an overflow establishment was instituted in 1891. Here are to be found dog-kennels, cow-houses, stables, pheasantries, poultry-houses and agricultural products. At Marseilles the Society has another Zoological Garden, in which imported animals rest and get acclimatized before being sent up to Paris.

The Jardin d'Acclimatation is situated in that part of the Bois de Boulogne which extends between the Porte des Sablons and the Porte de Madrid, and runs along the Boulevard Maillot. The principal entrance is in the east, near the Porte des Sablons; a second entrance is to be found in the extreme west, near the Porte de Madrid. You can reach it either by the Central Railway, getting out at Neuilly Station or at the Avenue de l'Imperatrice, or by the Courbevoie and Suresnes omnibuses, or, of course, by cab. On concert days there is a special service of omnibuses.

Two prominent stone-and-brick buildings will direct the visitor. After having passed the turnstile, you find in front of you a large carriage-drive, which goes right round the Garden, and from this principal artery the whole network of walks and paths runs through the Garden leading to the different sheds and houses. The visitor finds on his immediate left a large conservatory or winter garden, which shelters from the rigour of winter a beautiful and important collection of plants and trees, which would not live in a low temperature.

Almost in front of this large conservatory you see a building, which is intended for the mechanical fattening of fowls . Here is to be seen on a big scale M. Martin's system. The fowls are placed in a huge circular cylinder, three metres high and turning on a pivot, which allows the man to cram all the fowls in this fattening apparatus without changing his position. A car on an elevating rail allows the man easily to reach those birds placed on the highest part of the apparatus, for, by turning a handle, the car rises or descends in front of the boxes. Holding them by the head, he introduces an indiarubber tube into their beaks, and forces the food down their throats by pressing with his foot a pedal, which starts a machine worked by a piston. The play of this pedal is regulated by a dial-plate, which shows the operator the amount of food introduced. This varies according to the strength of the bird to be fattened, and also to its state of fatness. In eighteen days a fowl will go up to more than double its weight, and will be perhaps a pound more at the finish. M. Martin, the inventor of this ingenious system, which allows a man by himself to cram 400 fowls in an hour, had already used it in the department of Allier, at Cusset, near Vichy, and his products, under the name of 'Phoenix fowls,' have acquired notoriety. He then asked the Society of the Jardin d'Acclimatation to allow him to construct at his own expense in the Garden a model of his fattening establishment, which he started at his own risk. Visitors can now procure at this establishment fat fowls all ready for the table.

Following on the right a large circular walk, you find, after the fattening establishment, sheds where all kinds of rural and agricultural objects are shown. Here the public can see buildings of every sort applicable to the farm: Swiss cottages made of cut wood, tents, wire-lattices, aviaries, chairs, tables, and garden-seats, elevators, garden-tools, guns and fishing tackle, porcelain and terra-cotta vases--in short, everything which tends to ornament parks and gardens, or to the culture of plants, or the raising of stock. On leaving the exhibition sheds, the first building which catches the eye is the monkey house, in front of the enclosure for storks and river-birds; then you come on the right to the pheasantry, the parrot aviary being attached to a little pheasantry, and on the other side of the way are the ostrich and large-bird enclosures. The large pheasantry follows these, then the upper pheasantry, and next the poultry house, an immense circular monolith building in Coignet mortar, in which there are also enclosures for different sorts of pigeons. On the left are the enclosures of the sheep and goats. After passing the duck-ponds you reach the kangaroo house, and on the left the cattle enclosures. Here the broad road round the Garden divides itself into two; to the right it leads to the Neuilly Gate and Saint James, to the left to the big stable, before which stands a spacious lawn, where the large ruminants graze during the day. Round this lawn the elephants and horses, with various carriages, carry visitors and children. Continuing to follow the big circular road, you find on the right, a little behind the stables, a collection of vines , the bee-house, the dairy, and the refreshment-room; to the left, the huts of the llamas and alpacas, the moufflon rock and the antelope house. Next, you visit the aquarium, situated on the right of the large circular road, and then the experimenting garden and the dog-kennels, which face the deer enclosures. Having returned to the big conservatory close by, you find another conservatory full of paroquets and small cage-birds from hot countries.

The middle of the Garden is cut by an artificial river, upon the banks of which are placed enclosures for geese, ducks, and water-birds. It forms in front of the lawn of the big conservatories a large lake covered with swans, flocks of ducks, some cormorants and seals.

The monkey house is an oblong building 15 metres long and 9 metres broad. The walls are covered with earthenware slabs. In front of the building is an immense cage, where the strongest of the monkeys can take the air and enjoy themselves on the beams and ropes, which take the place of the trees in their native forests, during the warmest hours of the day. On entering by doors which are arranged to keep out draughts, the interior of the monkey house is found to be a large hall, in which are placed four huge cages reaching almost to the ceiling, and which communicate with the exterior pleasure cage by means of large doors. Against the walls are placed little wooden cages, in which are put those delicate specimens which require special care.

Besides the quarters of the keeper, there is an infirmary for sick monkeys. Heat is supplied in winter by hot-water pipes running under the floor, which keep an even temperature without drying up the air.

On the west of the hall is an aquarium and a bird-gallery, which were opened to the public at the end of 1892.

To the right of the principal entrance is a room, built in 1887, for the sale of a great variety of vegetables and plants.

Continuing to the right, and passing the exhibition hall and the shooting and fishing museum, which have been described, we come to the new sale gallery, a large hall 30 metres long, in which are displayed more agricultural implements, carriages, harness, carts, iron rails, wooden fencing, and everything appertaining to the care of animals and plants--all to be sold at very reasonable prices. A catalogue can be obtained free of charge.

Communicating with the new sale hall is a parrot and small bird gallery. Passing the monkey house, we find large wooden constructions, holding the peacocks, the turkeys and fowls of many kinds, such as Houdans, Dorkings, etc. In this part of the Garden are to be found pretty little rustic buildings containing various birds. In one of them are to be seen the great horned owls which belonged to Gustav Dor?, the celebrated artist. In another little pavilion is a Norwegian hawk. In an enclosure bordering on the main walk is to be seen a beautiful collection of cranes from all parts of the world. In the same enclosure are the cassowaries, ostriches and the South American rheas, which latter frequently breed in the Garden.

The pheasantries, which contain more than twenty pens, are occupied by such varieties as the Amherst pheasant from Thibet, Elliot's pheasant from China, the Versicolor from Japan.

We now come to the great aviary, part of which holds the scarlet ibis and the rare stilts, and the other half contains peacocks and large game-birds. In front of the large aviary are the pens of the doves and partridges. Facing the pheasantries is a statue of Daubenton, by Jules Godin Daubenton, who died in Paris in 1880. It was to the efforts of this scientist that France owes the introduction of merino sheep. This beautiful statue is placed opposite the sheep pens, so that the gentleman can still have his eye on the Ty-ang or Chinese sheep, the grey sheep of Russia, and the Astrakan sheep, which furnishes such a beautiful fur. Not far from here is some rock work executed by M. Teiton, through which runs a little river. Every day at a fixed hour the cormorants are made to fish. The throat of this bird is encircled by a collar, which prevents it from swallowing the fish which it has caught at the bottom of the water. In China these birds are used extensively for fishing.

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