256 MR. A. D. BARTLETT ON THE [Mar. 7, 



the keeper entering the house, she rushed towards him in a perfect 

 fury. Another sign of her temper was the fact of her not replying, 

 as she usually does, to the call of the male, who being disturbed by 

 her incessant movements continually called to her by his loud grunt- 

 ing roar, to which, in ordinary times, she is in the habit of respond- 

 ing. It was therefore evident to me that the event was close at 

 hand. At last she selected a spot, upon which she carefully lay 

 down, and for a few moments seemed quiet, when, by one sudden 

 effort, the young Hippopotamus was shot head first into the world, 

 as if by magic. The most remarkable feature respecting the birth 

 was its startling quickness. 



The mother was on her legs at once, and turning round, with 

 open jaws, rushed at the little one, taking him partty into her mouth. 

 At this critical and exciting moment, I believe, had she seen or 

 heard any one, she would have destroyed her offspring instantly. 

 The keeper and I almost held our breaths ; we watched her rolling 

 eyes as she paused apparently listening and wondering what to do, 

 when, to our great astonishment, on hearing the old male utter his 

 loud call, the new-born animal answered him, and shook his ears 

 as if to free them from water. At this moment the female drew 

 back, and passed her large flat tongue over the body of the little 

 one, which by this time began to move about and attempted to walk. 

 In these attempts it was assisted by its mother's nose, which she 

 kept close to the little one and sometimes used to push it along. 

 In less than half an hour after it3 birth, it was walking and stag- 

 gering about the house, closely followed and kindly attended by its 

 mother. Towards dark it had found a comfortable warm bed on 

 the short straw in the corner of the house, the mother lying 

 down with the greatest care and keeping the young one in front of 

 her. On the following morning the young one appeared much 

 stronger, and walked about the house two or three times, and during 

 the day responded to the old male's call several times, the female 

 remaining silent : both the mother and young one slept the greater 

 part of the day. The young one was never observed to suck ; but 

 as no lights were exhibited after dark, we thought it probable the 

 young one received its nourishment during the night. 



On Thursday morning the young one was apparently asleep, the 

 mother seemed uneasy, and, as the day advanced, we saw the young 

 one make an attempt to rise but seemingly unable to do so. Care- 

 fully noticing all the symptoms, I concluded that it was going 

 wrong, and determined, if possible, to remove it from its mother 

 — a task of considerable difficulty, and one not altogther free from 

 danger. The keeper, Michael Prescot, was the first to enter the 

 house, and having the gates open that lead into the tank containing 

 the water, expected that he would be able to close the gates, and 

 keep the mother in the bath until the young one had been re- 

 moved. He made the attempt ; she rushed at him and into the 

 water ; but before he could close the gates she rushed out again, and 

 stood before her young one, gnashing her teeth and threatening the 

 keeper. 



