But to return to the Vienna Garden. Opposite to a duck-pond were some beautifully built aviaries; in fact, all the houses in this Garden are good. Crane and ostrich pens follow, and then more aviaries for smaller birds of great number and variety. The Garden is arranged in a circle round a central parrot-house. The visitor will be much struck by a particularly beautiful aviary for wading-birds, well arranged and well devised. There was plenty of grass, with tiny little houses dotted about, little trees to shelter under, and little rivulets to wade about in. The birds in it really looked happy, and I could have stood and watched them working and playing in this quaint spot for an hour. In a large and clean-looking house were three beautiful giraffes of the southern form, now so rare in collections. These animals had a spacious outside paddock. Close by were two Indian elephants in outside enclosures, and a young African tusker. The collection of bears was remarkably complete. It was amusing to watch the brown bears in their bath. In most Gardens the grizzlies and others are not provided with bathing-tanks, but are housed in pits or cages with drinking-water troughs only. This is somewhat unkind, for brown bears, and black ones, too, love the water as much as polars do; and on a hot day, if they have a tank, they will be found in it more often than not. Although this Garden is not large, it possesses a collection very complete in many species of animals, which are housed in the best-built and altogether the cleanest and best kept houses in any Zoological Garden in Europe. The animals, as a natural consequence, look well and happy, and many are bred in the Garden. CHAPTER XXXII ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN, BASLE: DIRECTOR, DR. HAGMAN In October, 1870, when the Basle Ornithological Society was founded, the institution of a Zoological Garden was taken into consideration. In January, 1873, an initiatory committee was called together to found one. The call quickly found numerous friends. On February 20, 1873, a Society was formed for the purpose, among others, of founding a Zoological Garden. In May of the same year the work was taken in hand. The first animals’ house, the restaurant, and the Director’s dwelling were built by local architects, and grounds were laid out. On July 3, 1874, the opening of the Garden took place. Like all similar institutions, in the first year of its existence the Garden had to contend with financial difficulties, and in 1876 the liberality of the whole of the inhabitants of the town was required to keep it going. All the many patrons and friends who from that time gave the Garden their generous support earned the warmest gratitude. The site of the Garden was the property of the public infirmary, and it was leased to the Society until 1891, when it was acquired by the State. By a grant made on September 5, 1891, this ground was given as a present to the Company for its sole use. * * * * *