On entering this Garden my camera, for the second time during my tour of the Continental Zoos, was wrested from me, in spite of my pleadings in the very best German I could muster.
Passing some pheasant pens, the lion house is first encountered, containing, amongst other animals, three baby lions and two baby Himalayan bears. A second house of carnivorous animals contained more lions, two caracals, some pumas, some small cats, and hyænas, including a specimen of the brown hyæna, rarely seen in zoological collections.
A remarkably fine elephant house contained a large African elephant, two Indian elephants, two black-and-white tapirs from Sumatra (the first I had seen in captivity), and two hippopotami together in a huge tank. But the animal for which this Garden is justly famous is the huge black-faced ape, known as the gorilla from West Africa, the only known specimen in captivity in the world. Curiously enough, this priceless animal was purchased from England. What a pity it did not find its way into our London Zoo! Since writing the above, Herr Carl Hagenbeck of Hamburg informs me that he is expecting a young gorilla, which has been caught for him in West Africa. The ape is housed in a large and lofty cage with glass front in the monkey house. I should say it was quite young, and not yet half grown. It was not particularly lively on the occasion of my visit, but spent its time in picking its nose and staring at the huge crowd.
There was an amusing chimpanzee in the next cage, and close by some large baboons. The exterior of this monkey house is very prettily built and decorated. The next house of importance is the antelope house, containing brindled gnus, water-buck, nylgai, zebras, camels, asses, and Shetland ponies. In the centre of the Garden, as usual, there was a band-stand surrounded by countless seats, not far from a restaurant. Here a good band played all the afternoon, and the crowd round it was large. There were the usual sheds for American buffaloes (I wish I had counted how many of these animals I have now seen in captivity), yaks, and zebus.
DUCK-POND, BRESLAU.
There was a large collection of bears in a castle, and a great number of wild sheep and goat pens. In a little house I noticed a litter of six pretty little foxes. There were some large duck-ponds, and several deer sheds and paddocks. Here I noticed (May 20) a sambur deer and a Sumatran sambur (Servus equinus), just out of the velvet—the first I have seen this year. There was a large bird-of-prey house, effectively backed with rockery, containing some remarkable birds, notably the bateleur eagle from Africa, the handsome Brazilian Œnops urubitinga, Sarcorhamphus papa from tropical South America, Vultur occipitalis, Aquila nævia, Buteo buteo, Grys indicus, and many others. This fine aviary was given in 1898 by Robert Cuno.
Another really beautiful house was the tropical small-birds’ house with glass roof, the centre of the hall being filled with plants, ferns, flowers, palms, and some lovely orchids. The cages contained many rare and gorgeously coloured birds from the tropics. Spermestes mirabilis, a little gem from Australia, took my fancy, and there were hundreds of brilliant paroquets and parrots.
Taken all round, this Garden has a remarkably fine collection of animals and birds, and should rank about sixth among the Gardens in Europe.