Chap. XV III- 



CHANGED CONDITIONS. 



139 



nevertheless, of the former species more than a dozen birds were 

 kept, as I am informed by Mr. Crawfurd, in a park at Penang, 

 under a perfectly well-adapted climate, but never once bred. The 

 Columha miyratoria in its native country. North America, invariably 

 lays two eggs, but in Lord Derby's menagerie never more than 

 one. The same fact has been observed with the C. Uucocephala.*'^ 



Gallinaceous birds of many genera likewise show an eminent 

 capacity for breeding under captivity. This is particularly the case 

 with pheasants, yet our English sjDecies seldom lays more than ten 

 eggs in confinement ; whilst from eighteen to twenty is the usual 

 number in the wild state.^^ With the GrallinaceaB, as with all other 

 orders, there are marked and inexplicable exceptions in regard to 

 the fertility of certain species and genera under confinement. 

 Although many trials have been made with the common partridge, 

 it has rarely bred, even when reared in large aviaries ; and the hen 

 will never hat<5h her own eggs.*^ The American trite of Guaus 

 or Cracidse are tamed with remarkable ease, but are very shy 

 breeders in this country;^ but with care various species were 

 formerly made to breed rather freely in Holland.^^ Birds of this 

 tribe are often kept in a perfectly tamed condition in their native 

 country by the Indians, but they never breed.^^ It might have been 

 expected that grouse from their habits of life would not have bred in 

 captivity, more especially as they are said soon to languish and 

 die.^ But many cases are recorded of their breeding : the caper- 

 cailzie (Tetrao urogallus) has bred in the Zoological Gardens; it 

 breeds without much dilficulty when confined in Norway, and in 

 Russia five successiA^e generations have been reared : Tetrao tdrix 

 has likewise bred in Norway ; T. scoticus in Ireland ; T. umbeUus at 

 Lord Derby's; and T. cupido in North America. 



It is scarcely possible to imagine a greater change in habits than 

 that which the members of the ostrich family must sulfer, when 

 cooped up in small enclosures under a temperate climate, after 

 freely roaming over desert and tropical plains or entangled forests ; 



*' Audubon, * American Ornith- 

 ology,' vol. V. pp. 552, 557. 



** Moubray on Poultry, 7th edit,, 

 p. 133. 



*^ Temminck, ' Hist. Nat. Gen. des 

 Pigeons,' &c., 1813, torn. iii. pp. 288, 

 382; 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 

 vol xii., 1843, p. 453. Other species 

 of partridge have occasionally bred ; 

 as the red-legged (P. rubra), when 

 kept in a large court in France {see 

 'Journal de Physique,' torn. xxv. p. 

 294), and in the Zoological Gardens 

 in 1856. 



" Rev. E. S. Dixon, 'The Dove- 

 cote,' 1851, pp. 243-252. 



*' Temminck, ' Hist. Nat. Gen. des 

 Pigeons,' kc, torn. ii. pp. 456, 458 ; 

 torn. iii. pp. 2, 13, 47. 



*- Bates, 'The Naturalist on the 

 Amazons,' vol. i. p. 193 ; vol. ii. p. 

 112. 



S3 Temminck, ' Hist. Nat. Gen.,' &c., 

 torn. ii. p. 125. For Tetrao urogallus, 

 see L. Lloyd, 'Field Sports of North 

 of Europe,' vol. i. pp. 287, 314 ; and 

 ' Bull, de la Soc. d'Acclimat.,' torn, 

 vii., 1860, p. 600. For T. scoticns, 

 Thompson, 'Nat. Hist, of Ireland,' 

 vol. ii. 1850, p. 49. For T. cupido. 

 ' Boston Journal of Nat. Hist.,' vol. 

 iii. p. 199. 



