TUFTED TIMBRES. 

 (Feb. 1, 1890.) 



THE most noticeable addition that has lately been 

 made to the menagerie in Regent' s Park consists of 

 four tufted umbres (Scopus umbretta), purchased 

 by the Society on January 7 last. These curious- 

 looking brown birds, though from the very quiet- 

 ness of their plumage they have little about them 

 to attract the attention of the ordinary visitor to 

 the Gardens, are in reality extremely interesting. 

 They belong to the order Herodiones } in which they 

 are placed between the herons and the storks. 

 They are natives of South Africa, ranging as 

 far North as the Zambesi river on the East and 

 Benguela Land on the West. While widely 

 distributed over this region, they appear to be 

 only locally common ; for example we quote from 

 Layard's " Birds of South Africa " Captain 

 Trevelyan records the umbre as common about 

 the vleys near King William's Town, " where he 

 has sometimes seen as many as five or six 

 together ; " and Majors Butler and Fielden and 

 Captain Reid state that near Newcastle it was 

 a common bird in vleys and along sluggish 



