ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY HULLETIX. 



681 



Thf Secretary Bird is found jjracticull}- 

 throughout ct-ntral and southern Africa wher- 

 ever dry, open country exists. By some au- 

 thorities, the nortJiern birds are classed as a dis- 

 tinct species called Serpentarius gamhiensis, but 

 bv others this distinction is deemed unwarranted. 

 The birds are usually found in pairs, each hav- 

 ing a certain hunting ground which they defend 

 fiercely against intrusion by their neighbors. 

 The nests are very large and bulky, built of 

 sticks and generally placed in a thick bush, or 

 small tree, although the}- have occasionally been 

 found at great heights. Here the bluish-white 

 eggs, usually two in number, are deposited. 



The long, slender tarsi of the birds, particu- 

 larly in the young, are extremely brittle, and 

 care must be taken to prevent the sudden alarm- 

 ing of captive birds, lest their legs be snapped. 

 The young are frequently taken from the nests 

 and raised by the native farmers as pets. 

 Their only fault in that capacity is said to be 

 their fondness for young chickens, which often 

 proves their own undoing. 



ZOOLOGICAL GOSSIP. 



WIND, rain and the moulting season have 

 sadly bedraggled our pea-fowl, and the 

 pride of every peacock has long since 

 passed away in the hands of various visitors. 

 Even though dejirived of their glorj', their spirit 

 remains undaunted, and wherever a male bird 

 finds an audience, he still makes heroic efforts to 

 entertain it. 



The dazzling appearance of the white pea- 

 cocks instantly made them popular, and when 

 their timiditj' had been quite overcome, they 

 frequented the paths where visitors were most 

 numerous. A short time ago a large crowd was 

 gathered near the Wolf Dens, intently watching 

 the antics of an ordinary Indian cock courting 

 a hen, when suddenly from the shrubbery a 

 white bird stepped into the open space. He evi- 

 dently meditated an immediate conquest, for he 

 strutted proudly before the hen and threw erect 

 — not a whole, magnificent tail — but, alas, only 

 a single feather. Such a shout of laughter 

 greeted this display that his composure was 

 completely shattered, and he turned and made a 

 hastv retreat. 



One branch of surgery that Dr. Blair is oc- 

 casionally called upon to practice, is the setting 

 of broken bones. The number of these frac- 

 tures, the subjects, and the causes, present prob- 

 lems often of great complexity. Usually the 

 cause is unknown, and witli some of tlie dumb 



YOUNG CHIMPANZEE. 



patients it is difficult to understand just wh}' so 

 agile a creature could suffer such an accident as 

 a fractured leg or arm. 



Not so puzzling when the subject is a tall 

 wading bird, for a sudden twist and the fragile 

 leg bones are snapped. Even a mountain sheep 

 may find himself with a broken leg by the sud- 

 den thrust of a foot into the crevice of a rock; 

 but when a fracture occurs in the leg of a 

 primate — and a particularly strong and active 

 ))rimate, such as an orang, determining the cause 

 is difficult. During the first week of August, 

 our youngest orang was found lying on the floor 

 of the outdoor exercising cage, apparently suf- 

 fering great pain. In the absence of Dr. Blair 

 it was hastih' concluded that the trouble was in 

 the bowels, as the abdomen was distended. 



The usual remedies were administered, but 

 without relief. When our surgeon arrived a 

 minute examination was then made, which re- 

 sulted in the discovery of a fracture of the left 

 femur, near its head, close to the pelvis — a 

 particularly bad break. In fact, this is about 

 the most serious place in which a break can oc- 

 cur, on account of the heavy muscles which pre- 

 vent the perfect resting of the leg, and the pos- 

 sibility of the fracture lying within the capsu- 

 lar liirnnient. Dr. Blair reduced the fracture 



