G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 249 



aware of the extent to which the supply of wild-fowl and 

 game has been reduced this applying more especially, per- 

 haps, to ducks and geese, of which but a small percentage 

 are now found compared with their numbers twenty years 

 ago. 2 A, February 24, 1872, 136. 



A SWIMMING HEN. 



A writer in The Field states the very curious fact that a 

 hen, after hatching out two ducklings from eggs placed un- 

 der her for that purpose, and attempting in vain to induce 

 them to come out from the water to which they had imme- 

 diately betaken themselves, herself swam in after them, and, 

 pushing them before her, actually forced them to the land. 

 19 A,May 7 1872*25. 



KING PENGUIN'S IN THE ZOOIOGICAL GAKDENS. 



Among: the late interesting additions to the Zoological 

 Gardens of London is a specimen of the king penguin of the 

 Falkland Islands. Animals of this class are rarely seen alive 

 in Europe, and this specimen shares the interest which anoth- 

 er species of the penguin family, previously received, had 

 been in the habit of exciting. 12 A, January 11, 1872,210. 



NEW ZEALAND DUCK. 



A duck found in the interior of New Zealand is said to 

 differ from other ducks in not exhibiting any solicitude for 

 the safety of its young. Captain Hutton, an eminent nat- 

 uralist, thinks that this supports the Darwinian theory, as 

 the ducks belong to a genus peculiar to New Zealand, where 

 there were no destructive animals previous to the arrival of 

 man, and in which genus, therefore, instinctive fear has not 

 been developed ; indeed, the absence of fear is said to be a 

 peculiar characteristic of the animals of New Zealand. 12 

 A, January 11,1872,216. 



EJECTION OF YOUNG BIRDS FROM NESTS BY YOUNG CUCKOOS. 



The fact has long been known that the English cuckoo 

 lays its eggs in the nests of other brids to be hatched out, 

 and that the parasite occupies the nest to the exclusion of 

 the rightful owners. A communication by Dr. Jenner to the 

 Royal Society of London gave the first record of this exclu- 



L2 



