324 
tail during its circular movements ; and on any person approaching the 
cage, would spit, growl, and utter loud, sharp, and discordant cries. 
The instant, however, it was set at liberty it permitted itself to be 
fondled even by strangers. One of its habits was very peculiar: it 
would take glue or any adhesive substance, if in its way, and rub 
some over its tail, and soon after amuse itself by licking it off, or 
endeavouring to remove it by washing its tail in water. It was very 
fond of sucking the blood of animals, and, when these were placed 
before it dead, always selected the part in which the blood had been 
retained in the greatest quantity before any other portion of its prey. 
I have also frequently seen it eat the fruit of the Moreton Bay fig- 
tree, running about under the tree, and, after selecting the ripest that 
had fallen, opening them and sucking out the pulp. One morning 
I observed it commence a meal upon a rat which had just been killed 
and given to it. The first process on receiving the prey was, as usual, 
to suck all the blood from those parts in which it found any had been 
retained ; it then began rolling the rat upon the ground with its fore 
paws, but for what purpose this operation was performed I could 
not ascertain. After the prey had been treated in this manner for 
some time, it pulled out the intestines and devoured some portion 
of them before eating any other of the fleshy part. On approaching 
the animal at this time, it would dart away with the prey, uttering 
shrill cries, and was exceedingly savage if any attempt was made to 
take it away. When running about in the garden, it would insert 
its long, flexible snout into the earth, root it up, and seemed to be 
eagerly devouring worms or any similar food it found there. It evi- 
dently possessed an acute sense of smell, for after smelling about for 
some time it would insert the snout to some depth into the earth 
in the selected place, and secure the worm or grub which it had 
been seeking. 
2. Asstract oF NoTEs ON THE OsTEOLOGY OF BALZNICEPS 
REX. By W. K. Parker, Memes. Micr. Soc.* 
The first view of the living Baleniceps at once suggests the idea 
of the Boatbill (Cancroma), the Heron (Ardea), and the Adjutant 
(Leptoptilus). Other large-headed birds occur to the mind on a 
longer observation, for one instinctively thinks of the Pelican (Pele- 
canus), the Toucan (Ramphastos), the Hornbill (Buceros), and the 
Podargus, although these birds belong to distinct and very remotely 
related groups. Nor does the internal structure of this noble, but 
strange and weird-looking bird, contradict the first external impres- 
sions ; for the very unusual size of the head, and its great strength, 
require certain modifications of a teleological character, such as 
occur in the large-jawed species of other widely separated groups. 
The difference in the structure of the skeleton between the Baleni- 
ceps and its small New World relative, the Cancroma cochlearia, is 
* This paper will be printed entire in the ‘ Transactions,’ accompanied by illus- 
trative plates. 
