ZOOLOGICAL 
For twenty hours, with all the human help 
that could be rendered, that struggle to nourish 
and be nourished continued in the quiet seclu- 
sion of that warm tank—both with and without 
water on the bottom. The animals were at- 
tended constantly throughout the night. Finally, 
at 6 o'clock in the cold gray dawn of December 
24 the baby nursed vigorously for ten minutes. 
Bravo! Perhaps we would win after all. It was 
accomplished by the mother lying upon her left 
side and holding her right hind leg up in the 
air at an angle of forty degrees. 
Ordinarily in lying down the mother simply 
sinks straight down, back erect, and stomach 
flatly pressed upon the floor; and in such a 
position even the strongest infant could not 
reach the udder. 
In order to miss no chances of success, and 
be provided for the worst event, Dr. Blair and 
Mr. Ditmars procured a milch goat and installed 
it in the hippo’s cage in the forenoon of the 24th 
ot December. 
The nursing efforts continued, but absolutely 
without further success. 
At eleven o'clock an effort was made to in- 
duce the baby to nurse the goat; but the teats 
were too large, and the effort ended in failure. 
Then some warm goat’s milk was placed in the 
last resort of foster parents—a nursing bottle 
—and about two ounces of the milk were taken. 
Later on, other efforts were made at artificial 
feeding, but the now weakened infant did not 
respond to them. It died at 7 o'clock, about 
thirty-two hours after it was born. 
Dr. Blair’s measurements of this specimen 
are as follows: 
Length of head and body, 19 inches; tail, 24% 
inches; height at the shoulders, 16 inches; cir- 
cumference of chest, 
19 inches; weight 91% 
pounds. 
Of course the skin was quite hairless. The 
skin color was light Vandyke brown, quite uni- 
form in tone. The iris was dark, blackish brown. 
The toes were extra long and spread widely, like 
those of a capybara. In life the little animal 
frequently twitched its little triangular and 
sharp-pointed ears a dozen times in very rapid 
succession, quite like adult pygmy hippos. 
The infant was posed artificially after death 
and photographed, as shown herewith. Its re- 
mains were at once taken in hand by the 
Society’s Prosector, Dr. George S. Huntington, 
Director of the New York College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, and they will be scientificaly 
developed to the utmost. The skin and skeleton 
SOCIETY BULLETIN 13 
were given to the American Museum of Natural 
History, where both will be prepared for ex- 
hibition. 
Thus was born and died the first pygmy hip- 
popotamus that ever was bred in captivity. The 
causes of death were precisely two: (1) the non- 
development of the flexor muscles of the hind 
legs with the consequent loss of ability to stand 
or to walk, and (2) the structural handicaps 
imposed by the form of the mother upon the 
nourishing of newly-born offspring. The female 
pygmy’s maternal factor of safety is entirely too 
small. 
THE COCK-OF-THE-ROCK 
New 
A Rare 
ON TRARY to our expectations, the end of 
C the war has brought little betterment to 
the live animal collecting industry. The 
great demand for shipping space and generally 
unsettled conditions the world over, have mili- 
tated against the improvement for which we had 
hoped. Present indications are that the trace 
on which the Zoological Park must depend for 
most of its specimens will not resume normal 
proportions before next summer. 
This being the case, arrivals of all sorts are 
eagerly welcomed and when the newcomer hap- 
pens to be both rare and beautiful, the event 
is almost epochal. 
ArrivaAL FRoM Britis GuIANa. 
So far this year, acquisitions 
in this category have been few. On August 
12th, however, we received from the Society’s 
Tropical Research Station in British Guiana, a 
consignment of specimens that included, be- 
sides several other interesting birds, a fine cock- 
of-the-rock, (Rupicola rupicola). The bird is an 
adult male in full plumage, and is the second 
of its species to be exhibited in the Zoological 
Park. 
Our first bird, the arrival of which was re- 
corded in the Bunierin for July 1916, also 
‘ame from the Research Station. It was a 
strong, healthy individual and throve for more 
than a year, when a between-season break in our 
supply of small fruits brought its career to a 
sudden end. 
There is no doubt of the delicacy of this rare 
bird in confinement. Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell 
gives the average longevity of eight specimens 
in the Zoological Gardens of London, as eight 
and one-half months, with a maximum of 
twenty months. However, it seems equally cer- 
tain that with a plentiful supply of fresh fruits, 
especially grapes and cherries, that the life of 
this rare bird in captivity can be considerably 
prolonged. Ee Sal 
