4398 THE ZooLocist—APnIL, 1875. 
The only object we can see for the weavers suspending their 
nests, and building in trees, overhanging water, is to protect their 
young from snakes and other vermin, as they have to travel a long 
way in search of food for them, which is not to be obtained close 
at hand. In 1872 we perceived a whole colony of weaver-birds 
(Ploceus spilonotus) suddenly desert their nests, containing at the 
time eggs and young, without any apparent cause, and they did 
not return to the vicinity till the following year. The only way 
we can account for this is that a large tree-snake had taken up his 
residence among them. 
R. B. & J. D. S. Woopwarp. 
(To be continued.) 
Notes on the Zoological Gardens at Cologne and Antwerp. 
By J. JENNER Weir, Esq., F.L.S. 
Dourine a visit made to the Continent last year I visited the 
Zoological Gardens at Cologne and Antwerp, and was very much 
pleased with the general arrangement of both those establish- 
ments. 
At Cologne the gardens are small and the collection of animals 
not very extensive, but amongst them there were several of both 
great interest and rarity. 
There were two very fine grisly bears, a male and female; the 
former a large animal, but he fell short of the huge specimen 
formerly in the Tower of London, which ended his days in the 
Gardens of our Zoological Society. 
There was also that very curious animal, the saiga, which, 
although an European species, is rarely seen alive in collections. 
I was very much pleased to see the two species of bison well 
represented and placed side by side: the Lithuanian aurochs had 
bred there. The specimens, five in number, looked very healthy, 
and both in shape and colour differed materially from the 
American species. The auroch also has not nearly so much 
mane, and is throughout the body a less shaggy animal. 
Great attention appeared to have been paid to the smaller 
species of warblers: these were numerously represented, and 
among them I observed a specimen of the bluethroated warbler— 
a difficult bird to keep in confinement, but it was in perfect 
