Some Baby Animals in the Philadelphia Gardens.

Otago Witness, Issue 1932, 30 November 1888, Page 35

Some Baby Animals in the Philadelphia Gardens.

In the buffalo pen is a' tiny bison, which darts around thepen with the erratic motions of an ill-balanced kite. The little fellow ia exceedingly ,- healthy, and his antics are the delight of hundreds of women and children, who crowd around the cage and watch him for hours.

The queerest infant that the superintendent has ever had charge of is a Mexican deer, which was born a few weeks ago. The little animal had no sooner opened its eyes than it wandered away, almost out of sight. oE its mother. The latter seemed to think the conduct of its offspring was not unusual, and, unlike most mothers, paid but little attention to her wandering child. The keepers were somewhat "puzzled, but soon learned that this was perfectly proper on the part of the baby, and that the babies of all well-beb.av.ed Mexican deer perform this unusual feat. The littto one strolls off hundreds of feet from the mother, and hides behind some rock or bush. At regular intervals the mother bleats for it, and the prodigal returns • to be fed.. „ Besides these cherished infants there are others. A baby kangaroo leaps merrily around, and looks like a pigmy alongside of its 7ft papa. A monkey only a few days old is the torment of all the other creatures- in the monkey-house. Its mission on earth seems Pto be to make all the staid old residents of 'tEe house miserable by its nev'eroeasing tricks. Among the recent arrivals is a serval, a tiger-like animal not much larger ttan a cat, but in which is concentrated all the cuteness, quickness, and ferocity of the animal kingdom. The Zoological Society secured one 10 years ago at a. great deal of labour, and expense ; 'T)ut the animal dieda few days after its arrival. . Ever since its demise the society has been endeavouring to obtain another one, but has 'only ju'st'succeeded. The serval hails from South Africa,- and several natives were killed in endeavouring to capture this one without maiming it. , A Persian gazelle, the picture of grace, is also among the new arrivals.

S. B. inquires whether the hawk can catch any- small bird, or if any of them are too quick for him 1 In the summer it is quite a common -thing in the country to see a hawk mobbed by a lot of swallows, who fly round him perfectly secure in" their knowledge that they are too swift on the wing for. him to be able to do them acy harm. It is said that in some parts of America fanners put up small wooden shelters in their farmyards to entice the swallows to build, as their presence secures the poultry from the attacks of hawks.

An Adopted Spaerow.— Two weeks ago I rescued a very young . sparrow fronu some boys, and, although there appeared little chance of its living, I put it into a small aviary where I "keep a f ew. ; common ; British birds, such as titmice and finohes, amongst them being a sparrow, nearly pure white. To my surprise, on t"he following day I found the young sparrow still.alive, and apparently quite at home, ananas" 1 knew it could not feed itself, the. fact of its living became a mystery; but about a' week ago; hearing some traugual noise, I went to see what waE the master, and then discovered the white bird, feeding .the young one, whose mouth was wide open, and .its wings .fluttering in usual fashion^— s. C., in the Held. .Hedg;£hoq& KiiitfkG Fowls— There is no doubt that tne hedgehog, when pressed for its natural food, will attack comparatively large animals. In the summer of 1887, which was exceptionally dry, and the in"se<Jt food of the hedgehog • consequently scarce, "two distinct and well-authenticated instances of a hedgehog having attacked, killed/ and partly eaten a full-grown hen came under my notice. . Unlike the true carnivore, the method of attack was not towards the head or throat; but towards the viscera. I may .alsp say that in'both cases the fowls were confined in coops, and I believe that if they had had only a fair amount of liberty they could easily have escaped from their clumsy enemy.— Andeew Pjbtde, Antwerp,