1871.] ON THE BIRTH OF A HIPPOPOTAMUS. '255 



5. Notes on the Birth of a Hippopotamus in the Society's 

 Gardens. By A. D. Bartlett, Superintendent. 



[Received March 7, 1871.] 

 (Plate XX.) 



Towards the end of last year the keeper of the Hippopotamus 

 (Michael Prescot) and myself noticed a considerable change in the 

 habits and appearance of the female ; and the only way that we 

 could account for this change was by supposing that she was with 

 young. 



That these suspicions were well founded was soon made evident, 

 and she began to display her temper towards her keeper in a very 

 disagreeable way, occasionally turning him out of her house with 

 very short notice. These indications, together with her increasing 

 size, and the enlargement of her mammae, left no doubt about the 

 matter. Having been informed by Mr. Hegt, the Superintendent 

 of the Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam, that the period of gesta- 

 tion of the Hippopotamus was seven months and a few days, I was 

 led to expect the young one about the first week in February. 



I therefore wrote to my friend Mr. Westerman of Amsterdam, 

 asking for any information he could give me upon the subject. The 

 following is an extract from his letter. 



" Our Hippopotamus always went with young from seven months 

 and twenty-one days to seven months and twenty-five days ; we 

 generally could see the work of delivery begin about twenty-four 

 hours before the young one appeared. The female is in great trouble 

 all that time, the red sweat running down her body." 



Guided by this information and by that of our keeper, I felt 

 certain that we were near the time indicated ; and we kept a very close 

 and careful watch for any symptoms that might take place. On 

 Monday the 21st of February we noticed a very decided change in 

 her manner and appearance; she was restless and looked wild. I 

 closed the doors of the house immediately, and gave instructions to 

 the keepers not to enter the house nor to allow any one to disturb 

 her, and commenced a strict watch upon her movements. This we 

 could easily manage from a window in a small room above the house. 

 From this window we could see perfectly without being seen by the 

 animal, on account of the position of the light. Here we watched 

 until half past 4 o'clock on the following day (just thirty hours). 

 During the whole of this time the animal was moving about, walking 

 round the house, lying down, and getting up again immediately, 

 rolling on her side, going backwards and forwards, looking and 

 holding her head upwards, opening and closing her jaws, and fre- 

 quently clattering her teeth, the bloody fluid (perspiration) running 

 down her sides and face, as it issued from every part of her skin, 

 until one's eyes became weary of witnessing the distress and anguish 

 displayed by this monstrous mass of restless and troubled flesh. 

 We noticed that the slightest noise arrested her attention ; and on 



