2U THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



deposition of the eggs. The following account furnished by him 

 is quoted from Bartlett's report: 



The oviduct of the female protruded from her body more than an inch 

 in length, and the bladder-like protrusion being retroverted passed under 

 the belly of the male on to her own back. The male appeared to press 

 tightly on this protruded bag and to squeeze it from side to side, 

 apparently pressing the eggs forward one by one on to the back of the 

 female. By this movement the eggs were spread with nearly uniform 

 smoothness on to the back of the female, to which they became firmly 

 adherent.* 



One of the egg-bearing females died, and was examined by 

 Mr. Boulenger, who found that the uterus contained a good 

 number of ripe ova. His deduction from Tennant's observation 

 was that fecundation took place before the extrusion of the 

 eggs. In this connection it may be well to give the original 

 description of Madame Merian : 



Foemina ex animalibus ejus generis in dorso gerit foetos suos, q u i p p e 

 uterus ad longitudinem dorsi positus semina con- 

 cepit, fovet et nutrit usque dum maturitatem vitamque nacti 

 sint foetus, quando ipsi per cutem sibi pariunt viam unus post alium 

 sensim velut ex ovo erumpentes.t 



In 1896 a pair of pratincoles bred in the fish house ; the 

 first egg was eaten by a whimbrel, and three subsequently 

 laid were hatched out, but none of the chicks lived more than 

 a couple of days.J Bartlett's notes are interesting, as this 

 appears to be the first instance in which the species has bred 

 in confinement. 



The male and female were observed to take turns on the nest. On 

 June 20 the young birds could be seen, and on the keeper's approach to 

 the aviary the female would rush forward with wings and tail spread out 

 and with open mouth, apparently craving for food, which she would peck 

 or take from his hands, and return to the young ; brooding over them like a 

 common fowl, she commenced the up-and-down movement of her head, 

 and the food being regurgitated, was taken from her mouth by the young. 

 The young never left the nest. 



The breeding list in the Report for 1898 contains this entry : 

 One hybrid zebra (bred between Equus caballus and Equus 



* Froceedings, 1896, p. 597. 



+ "Insectes de Surinam" (A La Haye, 1726), p. 69, pi. lix. 



t **Wnd Beasts in the 'Zoo,' " pp. 195, 196. 



