116 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



A moitnd was formed by the brush-turkeys, and in it ten 

 eggs were deposited between May 16 and June 21. The first 

 was hatched out on July 18 ; four others subsequently came to 

 maturity, but three of the chicks died soon after exclusion, and 

 the fourth was accidentally killed when about a fortnight old. 

 This chick was quite as strong and promising as the first which 

 came out of the mound and was successfully reared. It was 

 said in the Report that if the parent birds bred again, there 

 would be Httle room for doubt as to establishment of the species 

 in this country, " if not wild, at all events in a semi-domesticated 

 and artificial state." Two Impeyan chicks were hatched under a 

 bantam from eggs laid by the Queen's birds ; and ten Japanese 

 pheasants were reared from a pure imported cock and a three- 

 quarter hen. The chicks of both these pheasants lived through 

 the winter in a slight shed, and had access to the open every 

 day, even when snow was on the ground. 



In the Quarterly Review for December, 1855, there was an 

 article on the Gardens. The following quotation shows that 

 the management was mindful of the purposes of the Society, 

 as defined in the charter — the advancement of zoology and 

 animal physiology, and the introduction of new and curious 

 subjects of the animal kingdom : 



One of the objects of the Gardens, under the enlightened management 

 of the Secretary, is to make it what Bacon calls in his " Atlantis " " a tryal 

 place for beasts and fishes." * For centuries a system of extermination has 



* This quotation, from memory, hardly does justice to Bacon, who contemplated 

 things more important than acclimatisation. In the belief that the fancy of the 

 " New Atlantis " will be one day translated into fact, the paragraphs which the 

 Quarterly Reviewer had in his mind are given in full fiom the *' Works " 

 ((ii. 159, edited by Spedding, Ellis, and Heath : 



" We have also parks and enclosures of all sorts of beasts and birds, which we 

 use not only for view or rareness, but likewise for dissections and trials ; that 

 thereby we may take light what may be wrought upon the body of man. Wherein 

 we find many strange effects ; as continuing life in them, though divers parts, 

 which you account vital, be perished and taken forth ; resuscitating of some that 

 seem dead in appearance, and the like. We try also all poisons and other 

 medicines upon them, as well of chirurgery as physic. By art likewise we make 

 them greater or taller than their kind is ; and, contrariwise, dwarf them, and stay 

 their growth. We make them more fruitful and bearing than their kind is ; and, 

 contrariwise, barren and not generative. Also we make them differ in colour, 

 shape, activity, many ways. We find means to make commixtures and copulations 

 of different kinds, which have produced many new kinds, and them not barren, as 



