142 DR. G. BENNETT ON THE DIDUNCULUS. _[Mar. 22, 
effort to escape. These birds run with great rapidity, elongating the 
body and depressing the head, and in the action of running resemble 
the Grouse. On the 12th of September the older bird refused food, 
which continued to the morning of the 14th of September, when 
several fits carried it off in the course of the day. I placed the bird 
entire in spirits, to enable a complete anatomical description of this 
bird to be given by my distinguished friend Professor Owen. The 
young bird seems tamer and more lively since the death of its com- 
panion ; it is probable the old bird being so wild terrified it. I ob- 
served a quantity of white powder (epithelium) about the cage lately, 
and also discolouring the water; it resembled the same kind of 
powder often observed from the White Cockatoos. On the 4th of 
October the bird did not feed well ; so we gave it some loquats (Hrio- 
botrya japonica), a fruit naturalized and abundant in New South 
Wales. The bird enjoyed the change ; it did not devour the pulp, but 
picked out the seeds, and cracked them into minute bits ; what por- 
tion was eaten I could not ascertain, but a pint of loquats was used 
daily in this way, as well as occasionally a little boiled potato. On 
the 7th of October the Didunculus was in excellent health, and the 
plumage is very much changed, as the head, neck, and breast is now 
of aslate-colour tinged with dark bottle-green. The bill has be- 
come of a bright orange-red, and the legs are nearly a bright scarlet 
colour: the bird has evidently assumed the adult plumage. When 
the bird is seen, and does not perceive the observer, it leaps from the 
perch, runs about the cage, and then commences feeding; but on a 
visitor approaching, it again takes to the perch, and remains watching 
the intruder, giving deep guttural growls, followed afterwards by a 
vibration of the whole body from the head to the tail, uttering at the 
same time its plaintive notes of goo, goo, goo, repeated in quick suc- 
cession. On the 23rd of October, the bird looks well; it has not 
eaten for the last two days, but has taken a large quantity of gravel. 
We find the bird requires a large supply of that material for the 
purpose of aiding digestion. As it was considered the loquat-seeds 
might have disagreed with the bird, they were discontinued. On the 
25th it appeared worse ; and fearing it might die, I placed it in a Par- 
rot-cage to enable the artist to fimish the drawing from life, as in a 
cage of that description he could have a good view of the plumage, 
&c., over every part of the bird; when, to our great surprise, it 
jumped from the perch to the bottom of the cage and commenced 
eating what, on examination, was found to be hemp-seed ; and from 
that time it has been fed on that kind of food. It soon regained its 
usual health, the diet of hemp-seed being occasionally diversified by 
some bleached almonds ; stale bread is also placed in the cage, but 
it eats but very little, if any, of it. This circumstance points out the 
difficulty of arranging a diet for a bird with whose habits we are un- 
acquainted, as at one time it thrives well upon a certain diet, on a 
sudden appears to be dying, and then becomes in good health from 
a change of food accidentally discovered, as in this instance. Since 
then, the Didunculus has continued in most excellent health; and 
has now just been placed on board the ship ‘La Hogue,’ Captain 
