but I never was present at a more interesting sale than that held at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, when the whole collection of animals belonging to that establishment was brought to the hammer.^

It was a dull misty morning when I entered the gardens, some few minutes after the sale had commenced, and they looked the very picture of wretchedness. The model of Sebastopol, whose cannon once thundered simultaneously with the cannon of its prototype far away in the Crimea, was now silent; the wooden Zouave and the wooden Guardsman, wearied with the long siege, were standing at anything but “ ’tendon’—all was ruin and desolation.

Not far from Sebastopol the auction was going on the head of Mr. Stevens, the auctioneer, forming a centre round which the crowd was collected. “ Eight shillings for a wax-billf and two cut-throat sparrows.^ Yours, sir,” were the first words that met my ears.

sir.“ A paradise grackle§—nine shillings—thank you, The next lot—a red and yellow macaw. No. There is some mistake—a yellow and blue macaw. What shall we say for this fine bird, gentlemen? Three pounds have a bargain, sir. A sulphur- five—you

The sale took place in the month of November 1856. t Estrilda.

| Amadina fasciata.

§ Common Indian house-maina, Acridothercs tristis, strangely named Paradisea tristis by Linnaeus.

;

sir;crested cockatoo—two guineas— mind your fingers, that lot is spiteful. The next lot—an armadillo—what shall I say for the armadillo, gentlemen? Ten shill-that’s more like its value. Aings?—thirty?—yes, go.pair of flying squirrels—one pound—cheap as things Now for the snakes.” There were only five snakes for sale, and these consisted of one boa and four pythons the former came from South America, all of the latter from India. The boa was bought for five guineas, the others at prices varying from two to four pounds.

The sale was a peripatetic one, and the auctioneer, having descended from his chair, we all followed a man, who carried the chair in one hand and rang a bell with

the other. During the walk from place to place I had time to look about me at the company. There were about three hundred people present, who consisted:—firstly, of a deputation from the Regent’ s Park Gardens; then several professional animal dealers, from Liverpool and large continental cities, among whom was Mr. Jamrach, of Ratcliff Highway, before mentioned, one of the largest animal dealers in the world; then proprietors of shows, both great and small, from the Messrs. Wombwell and Maunder to your scantily clad man who owns the penny show, and who has just bought the smallest and the cheapest of the large serpents, to be shown to gaping villagers at country fairs; lastly, many who, like

myself, came to "earn the value of an elephant or a lion. We, crowd of naturalists, therefore, the bellman slowing

us the place, halted in front of the aviary.

The first lot was two Indian falcons, which fetched two pounds ten shillings each. Then a pair of white (or rather whity-brown) storks—they sold for sixteen shillings. A black stork (being, as another black bird well known to schoolboys was formerly supposed to be, a rare bird) brought two pounds six shillings. Then followed lot fifty-seven, a pelican, a very amiable, or else a very hungry bird, for he kept jabbering with his great bill at the numerous gloves held out to him, and endeavouring to swallow them. Here a spirited competition began, and the bird was at length knocked down for eighteen guineas. In Egypt my friend Captain Cunninghame, late 2nd Life Guards, informs me he lately bought a much finer bird for two shillings, which makes me think seriously of speculating in pelicans. The reason why a pelican sells well is, that he is a good show-bird, and a good attractor of pennies. The poor bird is probably at this time shut up in some small cage, inside a house upon wheels, never again to behold his native wilderness, or, according to the showman, his master, pluck blood from his breast to feed his young ones/* A very common exhibition in travelling

The stone slopes on the roof of Winchester Cathedral show the bird performing the operation. The origin of the idea is, I

menageries, where they have one or two pelicans, is to put a bucket containing fish at one end of the show, and then to allow the hungry pelicans to make a rush at the bucket from the other end; this is what is called “ a Chinese goose race.” Next came the monkeys. Great was the rush to the monkey-house, which was speedily filled, but as speedily emptied again; for Mr. Stevens wisely took up his position outside, under cover of the wooden guns of one of the Sebastopol batteries. But though the folks were so anxious to see the monkeys, they did not seem equally anxious to buy; for the biddings were few and far between. The first lot was a Rhesus monkey fine name for an ugly creature.(common in Bengal)—a He was sold for twelve shillings, as also were two more of the same species. Then followed divers sorts of monkeys rejoicing in various names, such as “ bonnet,’ “ green,” “ sooty,” ce macaque,” &c.; but none of them fetched more than ten shillings each; and one of the

believe, that the tip of the pelican’s bill is red or orange colour, and when he is arranging his breast-feathers, a person ignorant of natural history might suppose that he was bleeding himself. Since this was written, my friend Mr. Blyth has suggested to me a more probable origin for the old story of the pelican feeding its young with blood from its own breast. In the breeding season, several of the species of pelican have a large and glistening pale orange, (deepening occasionally to ferruginous or rusty) patch upon the breast, which sometimes has conspicuously the appearance of a faded blood-stain, for which it might thus have been mistaken.

customers wanted Mr. Stevens to give him an organ into the bargain. Another wanted his monkey-immediately,great savage Barbary ape—delivered which Mr. S. said he really could not undertake to do, but he would u be happy to receive the money for him on the spot.” Away we went again after the bell and the chair, to the opposite side of the gardens. Here, two jackals

shillings the two.were the first sold—twenty-four Then a pair of show animals again— porcupines—good eight pounds fifteen shillings. Then an Indian goat, one four-homed sheep, and one Indian sheep-—only two guineas the three; cheap, at that rate, even as mutton. Then followed a red nearly devoured my hind—(who catalogue while I was looking another way)—for two pounds ten shillings. Then followed the sale of six eagles, namely, two golden eagles, a wedge-tailed eagle, a sea eagle, and two from Chili. These sold at prices varying from two pounds to thirteen shillings; and the skins of some of this lot, if I mistake not, are by this time full of hay and tow, with glass eyes in their

heads. The next lot was a hybrid (between a zebra and wild ass): this spiteful brute sold for eight pounds. He was formerly the property of Lord Derby, and when brought up from his lordship’s sale, kicked the horse-box to pieces and did ten pounds’ worth of damage, so that he

was dear at any price. A fine ostrich sold for twenty-seven pounds, and a nylghau for nine pounds, both fair

prices. Then came the lions and tigers. The first, a fine tigress, sold for seventy-nine guineas—not her value-, the second, a very fine lion, for two hundred guineas. Just as the hammer was going down this noble brute stood upright in his den, and looking sternly at the

fine study for ancrowd gave a roar of indignation—a

artist. “ Next we will proceed to the elephant,” exclaimed Mr. S. The folding doors opened, and gently led by his keeper, the elephant came forth. Sad and demure the poor beast looked, never again to draw his cart full of happy, smiling children round the gravel walks, receiving biscuit contributions from his young em-ployers. “ Trot him out,” cried a bidder, as two hundred guineas were bid. u By your leave,” cries the keeper. The crowd cleared away, and the elephant made a sort of a mock trot. His price went up in the market immediately, and he was finally knocked down to Mr. Batty, the circus proprietor, for three hundred and twenty guineas.*

From one to eight elephants come over every year; the young ones are the most valuable, because thev eat less, and

After the elephant came the camels, male and female; being stupid, they looked stupid. Nevertheless, the male was knocked down for sixty-two pounds, the female for fifty pounds, to Mr. Edmonds, for his menagerie. Lastly, came the giraffe. It was supposed to be too cold for him to come out, and his house was not big enough to hold the good folks present, so that while he was pacing his stall in solitude, the figures two hundred and fifty pounds were put down opposite his name on the catalogue outside. He was u bought in,” I believe. This poor animal was soon afterwards taken to the docks, to be put on board ship, to be sent to the continent; while he was slung aloft in the tackle the ropes broke, and the unfortunate giraffe fell on the deck of the ship and fractured his spine. He fetched, however, the sum of twenty-five pounds as a dead beast.

Since the above was written, the Zoological Society has sustained a great loss by the death of two giraffes On Tuesday, November 6, 1866, at about 7.0 p.m., two keepers, Smallpiece and Mundy, ran to the superintendent’s office in the Gardens, crying out, “ The giraffe house is on fire.” My friend Dr. Murie, the anatomical prosector of the society, happened to be in the office; he immediately ran with the keepers to the giraffe house.

can be more easily trained. There is not now a large elephant in England. A good tusker is worth 1000/., and fifty buyers for certain; a dead elephant is worth 20/. any day.

He found it filled with a volume of smoke, so dense that it was impossible to see anything. The two keepers having arrived a minute or two before Dr. Murie, had opened the windows, which he most judiciously ordered to be immediately closed to prevent the draught. They then proceeded to throw water on the burning straw, and going into the stable in the most plucky manner along with Scott, the keeper of the

elands, trampled out the flames as well as they could.

As the smoke cleared off a little, they found two giraffes, mother and child, stretched on the ground motionless. They hauled them out as quickly as possible into the yard, but alas! found them pulseless and not breathing. They then re-entered the stable and quenched the fire. The other two giraffes would most probably have fallen victims to the fire, had not the doors of their stable been wisely thrown open and the animals turned into the yard immediately the fire was discovered. They were, when first discovered, breathing badly and stoeping their heads, but otherwise they were not seriously affected. The larger one of the two caught a bad cold, of which it, alas! soon

afterwards died. The origin of the fire is a matter of mystery. It was confined to the eastward of the three compartments of the giraffe house. The straw, from some unknown cause, became lighted, and the flames must shortly have

spread over the floor of the stable. It is supposed that a match must, in some way, have got mixed with the litter, and that one of the animals, in walking about trod upon it, and set it on fire. The walls were blistered about six or eight feet high, and it is a mercy that the

Page 11 of 46