1056 The Zoologist — January, 1868. 



extending upwards from the entrance towards a rotten part where an 

 arm has been blown off. Part of the hole is covered with lead to 

 prevent farther rotting, and to darken the interior. This hole has been 

 inhabited by owls as a diurnal retreat for numbers of years. Within a 

 stone's throw, in a secluded nook known to tew, the most beautiful of 

 British water-birds, the kingfisher, rears its young year after year. It 

 was in the dusk of a November evening when I visited this singular 

 spot: the moorhens were just discernible, scudding in and out of the 

 reeds; the ring doves were flapping in the tree-tops: the dry leaves 

 were rustling on the ground : I stood a little apart and contemplated 

 the scene with indescribable emotions. 



While recrossing the open park 1 could hear the notes of the jay 

 behind me : the herons were sailing slowly down from the trees to 

 the margin of the water, and ducks were dropping down on to the quiet 

 lake. 



It was the delight of Mr. Waterton to promote the pleasure of 

 others. At great expense he provided for the convenience of pic-nic 

 parties; he built an elegant circular temple to sit or dance in, and a 

 cot to make tea in, stables for the horses, grottoes, fountains, rustic 

 chairs, swings and benches for musicians. But now the hilarious 

 laughter of the pleasure-seeker is not heard ; weeds are creeping into 

 the walks; rust is tinging the swing-chairs, and moss is coating the 

 rustic chairs : these little things attest forcibly to the loss of a watchful 

 eye and an untiring hand. But I hope, we all hope, that the day is 

 not distant when the gates will be re-opened, the fires re-lighted, and 

 the musicians again take their staud in the shade of the fir-trees. 



George Roberts. 



Loflhouse, near Wakefield. 



Interesting and Extraordinary.— Two of tlie largest and most ferocious-looking 

 animals of tie monkey tribe bavejasl arrived in Liverpool. They are both males and 

 young, being also nearly of a size, the larger standing fully four feet high. They are 

 of very remarkable aspect, having a large lion-like snout or morale, with very powerful 

 jaws and formidable teeth. Theii limbs are very muscular, and their whole body is 

 covered with a coat of rough shaggy hair, and they evidently possess very great strength 

 and agility. A peculiar sort of comparatively hairless brow, which is at the will of the 

 animal covered by a shaggy kind of caul, contains the eyes, which are large and 

 strikingly piercing and expressive. From their great size and extraordinary con- 

 formation the suggestion is at once raised that they are a kind of hybrid between the 

 gorilla and the lion, both of which animals abound in the central portions of Africa, 



