Bird Notes from the Zoological Gardens. 313


The old pair of Crested Screamers in the Great Aviary hatched

three beautiful chicks, fluffy yellowish little birds much like young

geese, with orange legs. But they brooded them too well, for they

managed to smother one soon after hatching, and, since the accom¬

panying photograph was taken, a second has met with a similar

fate. This second youngster was a fine strong bird, but the pressure

of its mother’s enormous foot during the night simply transformed

it into a flattened corpse. These extraordinary birds are so much

like geese, feeding chiefly upon grass and other green food, that I

should be much inclined another year, to transfer their eggs to the

care of some steady old goose, who, I believe, would rear the chicks

without any difficulty.


In the great Seagulls’ Aviary the pair of White Storks nested

as they did last year, hatching three young ones. Last year five

were hatched, but all died. This year, however, I am glad to say

the three young birds have been successfully reared and are now

shifting for themselves in one of the paddocks of the Ostrich House.


The American Red-winged Starlings have a family of three

which have left the nest. Bronze-wings, Crested and White-fronted

doves all have young, and a pair of the little Spotted Tinamous have

brought off three chicks.


A pair of Blue Water-hens (Porphyrio porphyrio) hatched off

two chicks in the Great Aviary, but as they seemed inclined to

neglect them, being much disturbed by the other birds in the enclo¬

sure, we took them and gave them to a small bantam to rear. They

are exactly like the young Black-backed Porphyrios we have reared

on several occasions, and most engaging little creatures, running to

meet their keeper on his approach, and readily taking food from his

hand.


Mexican Quails have a small brood of three or four chicks,

and to-day (July 14th) the keeper discovered a hen Douglas Quail

with a good brood of seven or eight. We thought she was sitting

somewhere, but the nests of these quails are so very well concealed

in the long grass that it is impossible to ascertain their whereabouts

without running the risk of causing the bird to desert. They are

generally approached through a long tunnel under the grass which

is pulled down so as to completely conceal the nest. Another pair



