Oct. 19, 1882] 



NA TURE 



605 



dried leaves of one of the gum-trees {Eucalyptus), upon 

 which scanty diet, however, it appeared to have thriven 

 well during the voyage. On being placed in a compart- 

 ment of a room fitted up specially for it with branches to 

 climb about upon, and supplied with fresh gum-tree 

 leaves and a little bread and milk, it continued to prosper 

 admirably, until it lost its life by an untoward accident. 



The specimen bad not been replaced until May last, 

 when a second example, from which our Fig. (24) has 

 been taken, was acquired of a London dealer, and 

 seems, like its predecessor, likely to do well in this 

 country under similar treatment. 



The Koala is nocturnal or semi-nocturnal in its habits. 

 In the daytime it is usually seen coiled up asleep on the 

 topmost branch of its cage. In the evening it descends 

 to munch the leaves of the Eucalypts provided for its 

 food, but it never seems to be very active in its move- 

 ments, and does not appear to have much intelligence. 



In its native land, as we are told by Gould, in the first 

 volume of his " Mammals of Australia," the Koala in- 

 habits the dense and luxuriant bushes stretching along 

 the south-eastern coast of the continent from Port Phillip 



to Moreton Bay, and the cedar-bushes of the mountain 

 ranges of the interior. It is apparently confined to the 

 south-east of Australia. It is recluse in its habits, hiding 

 in the day time in the dense foliage of the eucalypti or 

 native gum trees, so that without the aid of the natives it 

 is not easily detected. By these, however, it is readily 

 discovered, and captured by the aid of their waddies or 

 tm owing-sticks. It is exceedingly tenacious of life, 

 clinging to the branches after being shot until perfectly 

 dead. 



The Koala, when full grown, is about 2 feet in length, 

 and about iS inches in girth. The limbs are strong and 

 muscular, and the long clawed feet are well adapted to its 

 arboreal habits. On the fore-feet the two innermost toes 

 are so arranged that they form, as it were, a double 

 thumb, and act against the three outer, thus giving to the 

 foot the grasping power of a hand ; whilst on the hinder 

 foot the inner toe is very large, nailless, and thumb-like, 

 and acts against the four long-clawed outer toes in a 

 manner resembling that of the thumb. The head is 

 rounded and the muzzle short, the ears are not of large 

 size, their prominent appearance being given to them by 



Fig. 25.— 'the Cabot's Tragopan 



the very long hairs with which they are covered. These 

 in the adult are fully two inches in length, and on the 

 outer side of the ears are of the same grey hue as the rest 

 of the body. The fur covering the body is long, soft, 

 and rather woolly ; the general colour may be described 

 as ashy-grey, with an under-tint of brown. 



The natives of Australia are said to be very fond of the 

 flesh of the Kaola, and readily join in the pursuit of it ; 

 they examine with wonderful rapidity and minuteness the 

 branches of the loftiest gum tree, and upon di-covering a 

 Koala, they climb the treee with as much ease and expe- 

 dition as a European would mount a tolerably high 

 ladder. Having reached the branches, which are some- 

 times forty or fifty feet from the ground, they follow the 

 animal to the extremity of a bough, and either kill it with 

 a tomahawk, or take it alive. 



Thus persecuted by the natives, and driven into the 

 interior by the progress of civilisation, the Koala is now 

 getting rare in many districts near the coast, where it was 

 formerly abundant, and even for Australians the Gardens 

 of the Zoological Society of London will shortly become 



perhaps the most convenient place to inspect ihis strarge 

 animal. 



25. The Cabot's Tragopan (Ceriornis cabot^.—lhe 

 Tragopans, or Horned Pheasants, constituting the genus 

 Ceriornis of naturalists, must be ranked amongst the 

 finest and most brilliantly coloured representatives of the 

 splendid group of Indian game birds. Two of them — 

 the Crimson Tragopan of the Central and Eastern Hima- 

 layas, and the Black-headed Tragopan of the Western 

 Himalayas and Cashmere, are well known to Indian 

 Sportsmen, and are familiar objects of pursuit, though we 

 believe, by no means easily procured. The Crimson 

 Tragopan was introduced into Europe by the Zoological 

 Society in 1859, and has frequently bred in their Gardens, 

 as has likewise the Temminck's Tragopan (Ceriornis 

 temmincki), first received by the Society in 1864. Of 

 the Black-headed Tragopans a pair was acquired in the 

 spring of the present year, but this species, so far as we 

 know, has not yet reproduced in Europe. 



Between the furthest known eastern range of the 

 Crimson Tragopan and the frontiers of China a fourth 



