THE ZOOLOGIST. 



felt sure of securing it. The same evening heavy rain and 

 wind came on, and I have no doubt that titys left the exposed 

 spot where I found him for sheltered quarters soon after I 

 saw him last. As I was flying home for a trap, up got a fine 

 Snow Bunting ; as he went away with that uncertain butterfly- 

 like flight which has been described so accurately in Mr. 

 Seebohm's 'Siberia,' I thought that we had seen the last of 

 him. Turning out soon after daylight on the 19th, in the 

 hopes of trapping titys (for which I searched all Thorpe unsuc- 

 cessfully until I had to hurry back to catch the train to town), I 

 was cheered by finding P. nivalis flitting along the beach 

 between Aldeburgh and Thorpe ; as no one else seemed to be 

 about, and as it was still raining very heavily, the bird of 

 icebergs was not wild, and with care I approached within a few 

 yards and watched him as long as I could linger on titys' 

 account ; from his white wings and general appearance I felt 

 that he was a male. 



ON TFIE TREATMENT OF SNAKES IN CAPTIVITY. 

 By Arthur Stkadling, C.M.Z.S. 



(Continued from /mil. 18S2, p. 456.) 



To those who arc inclined to go the expense of building huge 

 dens, with elaborate appliances for heating them, to accommo- 

 date twenty-foot Boas and Pythons, — and there be they, of whose 

 acquaintance I am proud, who would house the Great Sea Serpent 

 himself, if they could get him, — to such I address myself but 

 briefly, since they will probably take for their models the 

 cages for reptiles of that description in one or other of our 

 European zoological establishments. They can hardly do better 

 than adopt the pattern of those in the new Reptilium at the 

 Regent's Park, where a marked improvement upon the old edifice 

 will be noted, although the latter had the reputation, until quite 

 recently, of being the best of its kind in Europe ; a great change 

 has been effected, not only in the size and construction of the 

 compartments themselves, admitting of better exhibition of their 

 occupants, but in the water-supply, facilities for cleaning, and 

 other arrangements connected with them, all of vast importance 

 to the well-being of the snakes, and which, we may hope, will 



