43 



cold, little hopes of any success with that were entertained^ and it was 

 in fact never hatched, but probably died in conseųuence of Ihe re- 

 moval by the goose at an important moment. On the morning of the 

 14th it vvas ascertained that she or the malė, who always novv sat 

 close beside her in the box, had killed one of the two she had ai first 

 hatched, for it vvas found dead and perfectly flat. The fourth egg, 

 which was put under the hen, was assisted out of the shell, and ap- 

 peared vveakly from the firstj and as ils mother had lošt one, we put 

 it to her, in hopes it vvould do better than with its nurse. She took 

 to it at first very vvell ; but subsequently, both the parents beating it, 

 it was returned to, and vvell cared for, apparently, by its nurse, but 

 died on the 20th, having received some injury in one eye, eitherfroni 

 the old ones, or perliaps from the hen scratching, andtherebyhitting 

 it. The remaining gosling is doing very well, and appears strong 

 and lively, and the parents are extremely attentive to it ; and I have 

 little doubt but these birds may easily be established, (with a little 

 care and attention,) and form an interesting addition to the stock of 

 British domesticated fowls. 



" In its general appearance, and its Quaker-like simplicity of plum- 

 age, it seems to approximate niost to the family of the Bernacles j but 

 it appears to have almost as little (if as much) partiality for the water 

 as the Cereopsis." 



The bird in question vvas named by Mr. Vigors at the Meeting of 

 the Society on June 1 1 , 1833. It may be characterized as follovvs : 



Bernicla Sanjjvicensis. Bem. brurmeo-nigrescens, subtiis mar- 

 ginibusgue plumarum pallidioribus ; colio albescenti; guld, facie, 

 capite superne, Unedąue longitudinali nuchali nigris ; crisso albo. 



Long. tot. 24 unc. ; rostri, rietus, lį-; ala, 134 ; cmida, 5; tarsi, 



Hab. in insulis Sandvicensibus, et in Owhyhee. 



Mr. Owen read a Paper " On the young of the Ornithorhynchus 

 paradoxus, Blum." It vvas illustrated by dravvings of the young ani- 

 mal and of various details of its structure, both external and internai, 

 derived chiefly from the examination of the individual recently pre- 

 sented to the Society by Dr. Weatherhead : this individual was ex- 

 hibited, as was also a smaller specimen, forming part of Dr. VVeather- 

 head's collection. 



The circumstances which first attract attention in these singular 

 objects are the totai absence of hair j the soft and flexible condition 

 of the roandibles ; and the shortness of these parts in proportion to 

 their breadth as compared vvith the adult. The tongue, which in 

 the adult is lodged far back in the mouth, advances in the young ani- 

 mal close to the end of the lovver mandible, and its breadth is only 

 one line less in an individual four inches in leng^h than it is in fully 

 grown animals : a disproportionate development which is plainly in- 

 dicative of the iraportance of the organ to the young Ornithorhynchus 

 both in receiving and swallowing its food. 



On the middle line of the upper mandible, and a little anterior to 

 the nostrils, there is a minute fleshy eminence lodged in a slight de- 



