812 Mil. SCLATER ON OOXTINENTAL MENAGERIES. [NoV. 16, 



In this case, tour eggs were laid, but only three of them were 

 hatched. Two of these (living) young ones are about as large 

 again as the third one. The young birds are fed by the parent in 

 the same manner as Pigeons feed their young. The period of 

 incubation is about three weeks. 



" The question as to whether the Glossy Ibises we have are really 

 of two distinct species is rather a puzzling one. In the winter it 

 is, I think, quite impossible to tell which are the American and 

 which are the European birds. At the present time there are 

 three or four birds that may well bear the name of ' White-faced 

 Ibis.' 



"In the supposed P.guarauna the white on the forehead is broader 

 and passes round the back of the eye and under the chin. The 

 cere is red, the eyes, I believe, are claret-coloured. The beak is 

 reddish and the knees are red. 



"In the true P. falcinellus the margin of white on the forehead 

 is very narrow and does not pass behind the eye, and there is no 

 white under the chin. The cere is lead-coloured, the eyes are black, 

 and the beak and legs blackish. The Ibis that bred the three 

 young ones is one of these. I think that the white-faced Ibises are 

 distinct from the European bird, but that the difference can only 

 be seen in adult birJs in breeding-plumage. 



" Oct. 1897.--In the early part of this month (Oct. 1897) the 

 whole of the Grlossy Ibises were caught up to be put in the Eastern 

 Aviary for the winter. I took this opportunity to examine each 

 bird, and so far as plumage is concerned it was almost impossible 

 to tell one bird from another. I found three birds with claret-red 

 eyes. Two of these have reddish knees and pinkish ceres, and are, 

 no doubt, the two that had white faces in the summer. The third 

 (red-eyed) bird has no reddish knees nor pink cere. All the other 

 birds have smoky-black eyes." 



Mr. Sclater stated that during the past summer he had visited 

 the Zoological Gardens of Cologne, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and 

 Berlin, and made some remarks on the principal animals he had 

 observed in those establishments. 



At Cologne were fine specimens of Cams jtibatus and Canis 

 lateralis of West Africa, also a group of six specimens of the 

 Arabian Gazelle (Gazella ui-ahica), which Herr Reiche (of Alfeld), 

 who had imported them, had informed him were received from 

 the Arabian Port of Hodeidah, near which this Gazelle was found 

 on the littoral strip. The family of five Sea-lions (Otaria cali- 

 fornica) was still thriving, and lived in harmony in the large 

 basin provided for them with four Cormorants. An example of 

 Haliaetus branickii at Cologne, of about the same age as that in 

 the Society's collection (see P. Z. S. 1896, p. 784, pi. xxxvii.), was 

 now getting slightly white in the tail. 



In the Zoological Garden of St. Petersburg, which was mainly 

 resorted to as a place of public amusement, was a fine adult pair 



