190 Scientifie Reviems, 



was preserved by M. Bonpland for a eonsiderable time as a memorial of the cir- 

 cumstance. Ulloa had previously asserted that, in the colder parts of Peru, the 

 skin of the Condor was so closely covered with feathers that eight or ten balls 

 might be heard to strike it without penetrating its body. M. Humboldt's bird 

 did not die of its wounds until after an interval of half an hour. 



" The stories which have long been current, on the authority of credulous tra- 

 velleis, imputing to the Condor a propensity to carry off young children, and even 

 to attack men and women, appear to have originated solely in that common feel- 

 ing which delights in regarding mere possibilities in the light of positive facts. 

 M. Humboldt declares that he never heard of an instance in which a child was 

 (;^rrried off, although the children of the Indians who collect the snow on the 

 mountains for sale, are constantly left sleeping in the open air in the midst of 

 these birds, and offer of course a temptation which would be irresistible if not 

 counteracted by some peculiar instinct. With respect to the risk incurred by 

 men, while he confesses that two of these birds would be dangerous enemies for a 

 single man to encounter, he states that he has frequently approached them within 

 ten or twelve feet, as they sat three or four together perched upon the rocks, and 

 that they showed no disposition to attack him. The Indians of Quito, more- 

 over, unanimously assured him that men have nothing to apprehend from the 

 Condors. 



" When first taken captive they are sulky and timid ; but the latter feeling 

 socn wears off, and they become savage and dangerous. After a time, however, 

 they seem to become reconciled to captivity, which they bear tolerably well. The 

 fine male figure at the head of this article, which was purchased for the Society in 

 Holland, is as quiet and resigned as any of the other birds of prey in the Collec- 

 tion, and appears to have suftered little from his continued residence in a climate 

 so much more temperate than that from which he was originally brought." 



The gardens of the Zoological Society, as the prospectus remarks^ 

 have become universally known as a favourite resort of the scientific, 

 the curious, and the idle ; and the extension of the gratification af., 

 forded by their contents to the public at large, is deserving of th© 

 highest commendation. But it will not be long ere this Institution, 

 which has assumed a prominent feature in the science of Britain, 

 will obtain our attention and our meed of praise. 



The first number of their little popular periodical, contains figures 

 and descriptions of the Chinchilla of Peru, celebrated for the soft- 

 ness and beauty of its fur, but never before figured ; the Ratel, 

 Ratelus mellivortis, a native of the Cape ; the Wanderoo Monkey, 

 Macacus silenus; the Hare Indian Dog and the Esquimaux Dog ; 

 the Barbary Mouse, Mtts barbarus ; the Condor, Sarcoramphis 

 gryphus ; the Crested Curassow, Crax alector ; the red and blue 

 Maccaw, Macrocercus Macao ; and its brother, the red and yel- 

 low Maccaw, Macrocercus aracanga. 



The second contains the Diana Monkey, Cercopitkecus Diana; 

 the Mona Monkey, C. mona; the Napu Musk, Moschus Javani- 

 cusj the Palm Squirrel, Sciurus palmarumj the Dingo Dog of 

 New Holland; the Collared Peccary, Dicolytes torquatus; the 

 White-lipped Peccary, D. labiatus ; the White Stork, Ciconia 

 alba; the Black Stork, Ciconia nigra; the White Spoonbill, Pla- 

 talea leucorhodia, and the beautiful Californian Quail, Ortyx Ca- 

 lif or nic a. 



The Indian Ox, the Zebu, the Squirrel Petaurus, the Leopard, 



