1902.] THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. 137 



March 4, 1902. 

 W. Bateson, Esq., F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of February 1902 : — 



The registered additions to the Society's Menagerie dimng the 

 month of February 1902 were 73 in number. Of these 24 were 

 acquii-ed by presentation and 49 were received on deposit. The 

 total number of departures during the same period, by death and 

 removals, was 154. 



Amongst the additions attention may be specially directed to : — 



(1) A young male Snow-Leopard (Felts uncia), from Ladakh, 

 presented by Oapt. H. I. Nicholl, of the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment, 

 Mooltan. We are much indebted to Oapt. Nicholl for the care 

 and trouble which he has taken in sending us home this rare and 

 beautiful animal, of which so few specimens have ever reached 

 us, and to Messrs. Gellatly, Hankey, & Oo. for its passage home in 

 the s.s. ' Frome.' It was originally obtained by Oapt. Nicholl 

 in Ladakh about September 1901 ^ 



(2) A pair of Prjevalsky's Wild Horses {Eqims prjevalskii), 

 being part of the same convoy as those lately acquired by His 

 Grace The Duke of Bedford, our President, as was recently 

 annovxnced (see P. Z. S. 1901, vol. ii. p. 505). 



Mr. Hagenbeck has supplied me with the following information 

 respecting the capture of these animals : — 



The Wild Horses were captured in three different districts in 

 the vicinity of Kobdo in Western Mongolia (in about 38'^ N. and 

 90° 35' E.), in the Chinese Empire, as shown on the map which I 

 now send. 



From Kobdo the horses were taken to the Siberian Railway 

 Station, Ob. They were thirty-nine days on the way, including 

 four days of travel by barges on the River Ob. 



The Prjevalsky's Horses drop their young ones from the latter 

 days of April to about the 20th of May, and dm^ing this time 

 they come to particular spots, which are marked on the map, and 

 they find at these places plenty of food and water. 



"The system of catching them is the following : — Large troops 

 of Mongols hunt in combination, waiting for the animals behind 

 the hills, and when they observe that a great many are together 

 they all, on a signal, suddenly start and ride after the animals. 

 As the young ones cannot follow then- mothers, they are caught 

 with nooses that are arranged on long sticks. The captives are 

 brought to the camp, where the Mongols keep a lot of common 

 mares with their young ones. These young ones are then taken 

 away, and the wild colts put to the common Mongol horses to 

 be nursed by them. After a few days the young ones become 



1 See ' The Field ' of 1902 (vol. xcix. p. 325) for an account of the capture of this 

 animal. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1902, Yol. I. No. X. 10 



