Mr. J. Petherick on the Hippopotamus and Balseniceps. 137 



might not have terminated so favourably. A piece of the navel- 

 string, 15 inches long, was still dangling to its body, and did not 

 detach itself for several days afterwards ; from which I inferred that 

 the time since its birth could not have extended over a day or two. 



The unexpected but welcome guest was reared on milk, and in its 

 absence with meal and water, being treated with all the attention we 

 could bestow on it, and is now, judging from its thriving condition, 

 as grateful as its owner for the hospitality it is enjoying at your 

 splendid Gardens in the Regent's Park. 



So large a sheet of water as the " Bahr il Gazal " will naturally 

 attract great numbers of the feathered tribe ; and it was in this lake 

 that I first made the acquaintance of a very handsome Stork (Myc- 

 teria senegalensis) and the Balceniceps. 



Of both these rare birds I was fortunate enough to procure living 

 specimens ; the former of which, with numerous rare animals, such 

 as the Elephant, Rhinoceros, two species of Ant-Bears, a rare Mon- 

 key, and I believe a new species of Antelope, unfortunately died 

 during the long and arduous journey from Central Africa through 

 Egypt to the Mediterranean. 



The skin of the Stork, however, has been preserved, with a few 

 other skins of birds, a remnant of a large collection made between 

 the 5th and 15th degrees of N. latitude, but unfortunately lost in 

 the Upper Nile cataracts of Nubia. The few skins alluded to as 

 having been saved have been examined by your obliging Secretary, 

 Mr. Sclater, to whom I am indebted for many acts of kindness since 

 my return to England*. 



Two living specimens of Balceniceps out of six shipped at Khartoum 

 (but perhaps out of a score partially reared, the first, as you are well 

 aware, imported into Europe) have, almost against hope, survived the 

 apparently insurmountable difficulties of the trying journey across 

 nearly one-half the continent of Africa, and are at length, I am proud 

 to say, safely housed in your commodious Gardens. 



The Balceniceps , although found only in or near water, is but 

 rarely seen on the banks of the Nile, and then only during a short 

 period of the year, when the interior is dried up, in the summer, 

 during the short hot season preceding the rains. 



It prefers the natural tanks and morasses of the interior, where 



* Mr. Petherick's skins are in a condition which renders their specific deter- 

 mination rather difficult. The most noticeable are, — 



Halia'etus vocifer, juv. Pyocephalus Meyeri, Riipp. 



Halcyon semiccerulea (Gm.) ? Lcernodon Vieilloti. 



Coracias abyssinica (Linn.). leucocephalus, De Fil. 



Merops cegyptius ? (Edicnemus qffinis, Riipp. ? 



Bucorax abyssinicus. Cursorius, sp. ? 



Lanius macrocercus, De Fil. Falcinellus igneus. 



Prionops cristalus, Riipp. Ardeola bubulcus. 



Laniarius chrysogaster, Sw. Nycticorax europeeus. 



erythrogaster, Riipp. ? Anastomus lamelligerus. 



Lamprotomis purpuroptera, Riipp. Mycteria senegalensis. 



Notauges superbus, Riipp. Parra africana. 



Coitus senegalensis ? Plectropterus Ruppellii, Sclater. 



Schizorhis zonura, Riipp. Sterna (2 sp.). 



—(P. L. S.) 



