Half - Holidays at the Zoo. By Charles Morley and Hulda Friederichs.
(G. Routledge and Sons.)—These sketches of the various inmates of, the Zoo, from the "king of beasts," if we may still give this title to the lion, down to the lizards and eels, are very amusing. The ways of these creatures have been watched by a careful observer, who is both humorous and sympathetic. Some, alas ! of the favourites of the Zoo-going public have passed away. Toby,' the sea-lion, is gone. He, to be sure, had a fairly long lease of life. But there are others. Sally,' the most accom- plished and affectionate of chimpanzees, of whom it may be said, in the words of Tacitus, "Breves et infausti populi Romani amores." The illustrations, reproduced from photographs, are numerous and good. We have chapters about what we may call "Branch Zoos,"—Jamrach's, for instance, and Herr Hegenberg's. The Herr has had some curious experiences. He was once getting some alligators out of a box and tumbled into the middle of them, —there were eight ! " I bounced up again like an india-rubber ball." It is heartrending to be told that the mild-looking giraffe is one of the fiercest things in creation. It seems very likely that he will join the great auk and the dodo before very long. Herr Hegenberg's statement dates some time back, for he uses the expression, "Now that the Italians have taken Kassala ; " even then the giraffe was the rarest of creatures. Certainly it would soon cease to exist if the Soudan were open to British sportsmen.—The contents of this volume are divided between two others, Pleasant Hours at ths Zoo and Afternoons at the Zoo.
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