list 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



The Muscovy, on tlie other hand, has shown 

 but small tendeney to vary, except slightly in 

 color. This may be accounted for by the fact 

 th.it its introduction in Europe is conii)aratively 

 recent. Even in this space of time, however, a 

 pure white and a bluish variety have been 

 evolved, and the normal black body of the wild 

 bird is variously marked witli white in the com- 

 mon domestic form. Although somewhat 

 greater in bulk, these captive birds have not 

 lost the power to fly, the ridge of a house or 

 barn being a favorite roosting i)lace. 



Muscovies will cross with other ducks, but 

 the hybrids are invariably sterile. A pair of 

 these birds, bred from a Muscovy drake and a 

 Rouen duck, are now in the Zoological Park, 

 the gift of Air. E. V. Carey. 



In its natural state, t!ie Muscovy duck ranges 

 from Central America through tropical South 

 America, wherever water is to be found. It 

 nests and roosts in the trees, after the fashion 

 of many other South American representatives 

 of normally terrestrial groups. Both sexes are 

 entirely black, with the exception of the greater 

 wing coverts and axillaries, which are white. 

 The head of the male is covered with dark red 

 caruncles and he is considerably larger than 

 his mate. While domestic birds sometimes 

 a])proacli wild specimens in color, they can be 

 detected almost invariably by a generous 

 sprinkling of white. 



For some obscure reason, real wild Musco- 

 vies are very difficult to obtain. They are al- 

 most never seen in the possession of natives, 

 who may have numbers of tree and other wild 

 ducks. The young are not difficult to rear and 

 while birds of this species generally are not 

 so abundant as the tree ducks usually found in 

 the same localities, thej- are not so rare as to 

 make the finding of a nest an impossibility. 

 It may be that the natives are not attracted by 

 the sombre Muscovies and do not attempt to 

 secure them, or perhaps because it is much 

 easier to obtain the eggs of domesticated birds, 

 the wild ones arc not considered worth while. 

 At any rate, their extreme rarity in cajitivity re- 

 mains a fact. 



On .Tunc 1. I90f). the Zoological Society re- 

 ceived from Argentina a pair of Muscovy 

 Ducks, reared from the eggs of wild birds. 

 They were fully adult, and the female was 

 quite healthy, but the male was in poor con- 

 dition and soon succumbed. In following years, 

 the female laid regularly. On one occasion, she 

 mated with a spur-winged goose, and a hybrid 

 was hatched, which unfortunately we were not 

 able tc rear. 



In the spring of 1<)1.S a second pair of birds 

 of untainted blood was brought' from Colombia. 

 They were younger than the first pair, and the 

 female has not laid as yet. The male, however, 

 this year jjaired with the old duck, and we now 

 have six sturdy young birds. It is our hope to 

 be able to establish a flock of ])ure wild Mus- 

 covy Ducks, which undoubtedly would be unique 

 among zoological collections. 



I.. S. C. 



DEADLY SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA 



Bjl R.WMOND L. DlTM.^RS. 



AN exceptionally interesting book has re- 

 centlv appeared which presents a thor- 

 oughly sym])athetic review of the habits 

 of .South -Vfrican serpents. The author is 

 .Mr. F. \V. Fitzsimons. now Director of the 

 Port Elizabeth Museum. 



\\'e had already noted the unicjue and dan- 

 gerous h.ibit of the South African ring-necked 

 cobra or ringhals, spitting its venom when 

 angry, but Mr. Fitzsimons further enlightens 

 us regarding this snake. He explains: 



"I have scores of times purjiosely irritated 

 our captive Ringhals snakes, and closely ob- 

 served the manner in which they ejected the 

 fluid. The fluid is not saliva, as generally 

 supjiosed. but pure venom ejected in two 

 streams from the poison fangs. When the 

 snake struck the glass in the act of spitting, 

 the venom was ejected from the fangs in two 

 streams which ran down the glass, but if a 

 couple or more feet away, would be sj)rayed 

 in a fine shower. This spraying of the venom 

 is mainly accomplished by the expulsion of 

 air from the lung sac. simultaneously with the 

 ejection of the venom from the fangs. The 

 air is expelled very forcibly and is accom- 

 panied by a short but loud hiss. 



"The venom is evidently secreted at a very 

 rapid rate when the snake is enraged, for I 

 observed that a large Black Ringhals dis- 

 charged five showers of venom within as many 

 minutes. For the first day or two of a Ring- 

 hal's captivity, it s))its at every one who ap- 

 proaches. .\ single snake covered a sheet of 

 plate glass four feet by four feet, all over with 

 venom in a day. 



"The venom on exposure r,ii)idly hardens, 

 cracks irregularly, and assumes a straw-yellow 

 color. When first ejected it is colorless and 

 is of the consistency of glycerine. 



"On many occasions I have scraped the 

 ejected venom from the glass of the Ringhals' 



