96 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 
are shy and unobtrusive little birds, but to one who has patience 
to wait quietly on the watch, there are few more interesting exhibits 
than these charming little miniature partridges. When disturbed 
or alarmed they scarcely ever use their wings, but run with 
great speed. 
A number of Waxbills and Whydah Birds, some Yellow- 
breasted Conures, and a pair each of Blue-crowned and Golden- 
fronted Conures, are among the birds recently acquired. 
A small range of cases was recently constructed for hardy 
reptiles, and is being stocked with European and British species. 
Most interesting, perhaps, of those at present on view are specimens 
of the Three-toed Skink, a lizard inhabiting sandy and desert 
tracts of Southern Europe and North Africa, which suggests a 
parallel to the evolution of the snake. They were sold by a dealer 
as ‘‘slow-worms,” and they are more slender and snake-like in 
body than even the slow-worm, but they betray the group to 
which they belong more clearly than the latter by the possession 
of four very tiny legs on each of which only three almost 
microscopic toes are externally visible. The legs are probably quite 
useless as a means of progression, but the lizard can travel very 
quickly, and can burrow into the sand with astonishing speed. 
A New Aviary FoR Wapbinc Brirps.—A scheme for the 
construction of a wading birds’ aviary, which will add greatly to the 
attractions of the Park, has just been sanctioned by the Council. 
Many waders, some of special interest, have been received at 
different times ; but they have suffered from lack of proper quarters, 
and when they did thrive they had to be kept in unsuitable 
enclosures where they couid not be seen to advantage. When 
displayed in suitable surroundings these birds of shore, moorland 
and fen, are particularly attractive, and they are among the few 
birds which it is possible to keep in captivity under almost natural 
conditions. The new aviary will be of very simple construction, 
merely a framework of natural poles and rafters to support the 
netting, but it will be of large size—about one hundred and ten 
feet long by twenty-five feet wide—and it will be made rat-proof. 
The dimensions will allow space for pools with mud flats and 
banks of sedges and rushes, as well as little hillocks on which 
coarse grasses will be sown, while a number of thorn-trees 
growing on the site will be retained. As the birds for which it 
is intended do little or no damage to vegetation, it will be possible 
to keep it well stocked with birds without any danger of the 
destruction of the appropriate background.—T. H. G. 
