84 LETTER FROM DR. G. BENNETT. [Feb. 25 , 



February 25, 1862. 



Dr. J. E. Gray, V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. Leadbeater exhibited a Hybrid Duck between the Pintail and 

 the Teal {Anas acuta and Querquedula crecca), and a hybrid between 

 the Common and Silver Pheasants. 



Dr. Hamilton exhibited a female example of the Grey Hen {Tetrao 

 tetrix), which had partially assumed male plumage. 



Dr. Cobbold exhibited and made some remarks upon a specimen 

 of a curiously malformed Trout. 



The Secretary read the following extracts from a letter addressed 

 to him by Dr. George Bennett, F.Z.S., dated Sydney, December 20th, 

 1861:— 



"Two 'Kagus' {Uhinochetus juhatus) arrived from New Cale- 

 donia, December lltb, in H. I. M. schooner ' Gazelle.' One of them 

 is for myself (from my friend D. N. Joubert, Esq.), the other has 

 been presented by the commander of the schooner, Capt. Hardy, to 

 the aviary in the Botanic Gardens. I intend sending my specimen 

 home by an early vessel, of which I will inform you by the next mail. 

 I intend requesting Mr. Moore, the director of the gardens, to send 

 you also the other specimen ; but if he accedes to my request you 

 will have to send some bird in exchange, as, being Government pro- 

 perty, that is the only way in which he can dispose of it. Mine, of 

 course, I present to the Society. The birds differ a little in size, 

 which may probably be a sexual distinction. They appear to be young, 

 and run about in a very lively and active manner, elevating their 

 wings alternately, and at the same time raising their crests to their 

 utmost expansion. This more particularly occurs when making 

 an attack upon any of the birds in the same compartment of the 

 aviary. A young Nankin Heron in speckled plumage, and the 

 " Weka," or New Zealand Rail, are the more immediate objects of 

 attack. At the latter bird the Kagu rushes and pecks, driving it to 

 the further corner of the aviary. The Dacelo, or Laughing Jackass, 

 and the Corcorax leucojitera also come under its enmity, but not so 

 frequently as the two former birds, as these can readily fly on to the 

 perches out of its reach, for I have not as yet seen the Kagu use 

 its wings for flight. 



" The Kagu sleeps with its head under the wing, and also occa- 

 sionally reposes with the head sunk between the shoulders. It feeds 

 on meat cut small, intestines of fowls, snails, worms, &c. Mr. Jou- 

 bert fed his bird at New Caledonia on worms collected by the natives 

 for the purpose, and says that it ate nearly a quart in one day. It 

 seems to be an active bird, and although it is said to be very shy in 

 a wild state, becomes very tame soon after it is captured, and ap- 

 pears easily reconciled to captivity. 



