THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 119 



Witli the exception of the Impeyan pheasants, all the chicks 

 of 1860 were disposed of among the Fellows and correspondents 

 of the Society before the issue of the Annual Eeport in April, 

 1861. And for the Impeyans there were numerous applicants, 

 who only waited for the sex to be determined. Some of the 

 cheers and kalijs that had been sent to Lord Hill at Hawkstone 

 throve in an open enclosure where shrubs were the only shelter. 



Sir George Grey presented a quagga in 1858, which lived 

 in the Gardens for about six years. The mounted skin and 

 skeleton are now in the British Museum (Natural History), and 

 the animal constitutes the type of a sub-species, known as 

 Grey's quagga."^ This was the third and last example of the 

 species, now extinct, received by the Society. 



In May an entire Burchell's zebra was entrusted to Rarey 

 " for the purpose of being submitted to his process of taming 

 and instruction." The trainer was to give a guarantee that the 

 animal should not sustain any injury. No satisfactory results 

 were obtained, and the zebra is said to have been in poor 

 condition when returned. 



Bennett's cassowary and Darwin's rhea were added to the 

 collection this year. Both birds are of great interest ; and there 

 is a curious story about the type of the latter told by Darwin 

 in the " Voyage of the Beagle " (chap. v.). While in Northern 

 Patagonia he heard of this small " ostrich," and of course sought 

 to obtain specimens. A bird was shot at Port Desire, and 

 considered to be a young common rhea. This was cooked and 

 eaten before it occurred to him that it might be the species 

 he was looking for. And thus he tells the story : 



Fortunately the head, neck, legs, wings, many of the larger feathers, 

 and a large part of the skin had been preserved ; and from these a very 

 nearly perfect specimen has been put together, and is now exhibited in the 

 museum of the Zoological Society. Mr. Gould, in describing this new 

 species, has done me the honour of calling it after my name. 



A kiang, presented by Major Hay in 1859, has been reckoned 

 the first to be received. If the wild ass from Thibet presented by 

 Captain Glaspoole in 1831 (p. 56) was correctly identified, 

 Major Hay's animal of course takes the second place. 



* Lydekker,in Knowledge, xxv. p. 221 (1902) ; Pocock, in Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History (ser. 7, xiv. 314-28, 1904), 



