374 
* As showing the nature of the animal, it should also be stated 
that the cub could easily have escaped, and, in fact, went away three 
times, but each time returned from hearing the cries of her dam; on 
the last return, the water had become too low to permit its further 
escape.” 
Mr. O. Salvin stated that he had lately received from Mr. Robert 
Owen, Corresponding Member of the Society, specimens of the eggs 
of twenty-three species of Guatemalan birds. Amongst these were 
two eggs of the Quezal, or Long-tailed Trogon (Pharomacrus para- 
diseus), which he exhibited, as he believed, for the first time. Mr. 
Owen’s note relating to their capture was as follows :—“ In an ex- 
pedition to the mountains of Santa Cruz, one of our hunters told me 
that he knew of a Quezal’s nest about a league from Chilasco, in the 
same range, and offered to procure me the eggs and one of the birds 
if I would send my servant with his gun to help him. This I ac- 
cordingly did, and my man returned with two eggs and the hen 
bird, which he said that he shot as she left her nest. He described 
the nest as being placed in the main stem of a decayed forest tree, 
about 26 feet from the ground. The hollow or nest had but one 
entrance, not more than large enough to allow the bird to pass,—the 
interior cavity being of barely sufficient capacity to allow of the 
female bird turning round. Inside there were no signs of a nest, 
beyond a layer of small particles of decayed wood, upon which the 
eggs were deposited. 
“The mountaineers all say that the Quezal avails itself of the de- 
serted holes of the Woodpecker, probably founding their statement 
upon the unfitness of the bird’s beak for boring into the trunks of 
trees.” 
The following papers were then read :— 
1. Nore on THE FEMALE OF CUSCUS ORNATUS. 
By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., &c. 
On the 11th of January of this year* I described a new species of 
Cuscus, under the name of Cuscus ornatus, from a male specimen 
sent by Mr. Wallace from the Island of Batchian. 
Mr. Wallace has now sent three female Cusci (two adults and one 
younger specimen) from Ternate, which appear to be the females of 
the species above-described. 
The older female only differs from the male from Batchian in 
being darker. One specimen has many more spots on it than the 
other ; the spots are small, irregular in size, and not disposed sym- 
metrically. The younger specimen is yellower than the others, but, 
still, darker and browner than the male, and only indistinctly spotted. 
The dorsal streak is distinct and well-marked in the whole of the 
three, and disposed exactly as in the male. 
* See anted, p. 1. 
