266 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



destroyed. These animals in their gambols unconsci- 

 ously approached too near its cage, and were seized by 

 its powerful talons : it devoured them with almost all 

 their bones, but not without skinning them, an operation 

 which it uniformly performed previously to consigning 

 them to its maw. 



The Society's bird, as stated in the List of the Ani- 

 mals in the Garden, " was obtained in 1822, before it 

 had attained its mature plumage, by Robert Hesketh, 

 Esq., his Majesty's Consul at Maranham, near the 

 mouth of the River Amazon ; and was given by him to 

 Captain Edward Sabine, R. A., by whom it was brought 

 to England in the spring of 1 823, and presented to the 

 Horticultural Society, in whose Garden at Chiswick it 

 has since lived." In the autumn of 1829 it was trans- 

 ferred to the Menagerie of the Zoological Society, of 

 which it now forms one of the most striking features. 

 It is said m the List that " it is considered very rare in 

 the part of South America from which it was brought ;" 

 and we may add that this is the most southern locality 

 in which we have any authentic testimony of its having 

 been found. The specimen is in the finest plumage, 

 and seems perfectly familiarized with captivity. 



