MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 435 
Ait last, when we had a snake-bird at the “ Zoo” in London, I consulted the 
Superintendent, and took a wet day to watch the creature fed, The fish were 
very small, minnows if I remember rightly. These were thrown into the tank 
alive, and the bird “ darted ”’ after them from its perch on a “ duck’s ladder” 
over the water, open-mouthed. In the same way it pursued them under water, 
trying to seize them between its jaws and actually so seizing about 7 in 10, it 
returned to the surface,with the fish held across the beak between the jaws, jerk- 
ed it round in the usual way of fishing birds, and swallowed it head foremost. 
But it sometimes happened that the bird, though failing to catch the fish 
between its jaws, did actually impale it on one or other of them, about 2 in 
10 on the upper jaw, and 1 in 10 on the lower. This was evidently almost a 
failure, as, when a trapped pigeon is killed with the second barrel within the 
line, it counts ; but the performance is not triumphant. The jerking round 
of these transfixed fish into the proper position for swallowing was a longer 
and more awkward job than with those properly seized, and was accompa- 
nied by the most absurd expressive gestures of impatience and disgust. One 
could feel that the bird wanted to swear. 
It may be worth while to add that the tank was a good sized aquarium ad- 
justed in the usual way, so that I, only a few feet from the bird, could see 
him in an excellent light. There was no one present but one keeper and 
myself ; so the observation was taken under most favourable circumstances. 
There is much else to be said about the snake bird ; but the most of it 
has been said by Jerdon (Birds of India, vol, II, p. 865) and others, and I 
myself have written something about it in our journal, 
One odd thing not yet said is that the wing bones sometimes contain what 
looks and feels very like marrow—a rare thing in birds. It is to be wished 
that some good authority could pronounce on this after dissection, and if we 
could send home a few entire specimens in spirit it would be a good thing. I 
have been trying to get one ; but the bird is not very common on the Tanna 
rivers, though abundant in Kolaba and in Gujarat. It has probably been 
more persecuted in the former district, 
W. F. SINCLAIR, I.C.S. 
TANNA, 
No. VIIL—THE BREEDING OF THE GOURAMI, 
Some ten years ago I undertook to superintend the operations for procuring 
a supply of fish for the Ana Sagar Tank, a sheet of water covering about a 
square mile, and situated in Rajputana. Previous to the operations the tank 
contained only Chilwa, Singee, and a small species of Murrel ; I did not 
mind the first two, but the existence of the Murrel, small though they were, 
made it rather risky to introduce small fry. 
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