Bird Notes from the Zoological Gardens. 2S5


BIRD NOTES FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.


By The Curator.


The most important arrival for some time past is that of a

young Shoebill (Balceniceps rex) which reached the Gardens on

June 29th. It was presented to the Zoological Society by Sir

Reginald Wingate, and brought home by Captain A. L,. Butler,

the Game Warden of the Sudan. In i860 the Society received

two specimens of this very remarkable Heron. These lived but

a short time, and there have been none in Europe since, although

there are three at Giza and one at Khartoum.


I would refer our members to an excellent paper on this

bird by Captain Stanley Flower, which appeared in this journal

in 1S9S (Vol. VI. Second series, p. 191).


There have been few new arrivals during the past month,

but nesting has been going on. The two young Scarlet Tanagers

that I mentioned last month, unfortunately both died after

leaving the nest. At that stage they were barely fledged, and

quite unable to stand the cold and damp that, as luck would have

it, set in just at the critical moment of their lives.


The Magpie Tanagers made an open nest of grasses in a

privet bush about seven feet from the ground. Two eggs were

laid, and as I write they have two young ones about three days

old.


The White-throated Ground Thrushes which I mentioned

last month as having successfully reared a pair of young birds,

are now sitting again and just about due to hatch their second

brood.


Crimson Finches are sitting ; and a pair of Plale’s Parrot

Finches are rearing a brood of three or four young birds.


The pair of Cariamas which bred successfully last year

have another young bird, now just a month old.


In the Great Aviary a Black-headed Gull has paired with

an Australian Silver or Jameson’s Gull. They hatched three

young birds, but these were taken by other birds, probably Ibises

or Night Herons. They laid again and we took the eggs and

hatched out two chicks, which are progressing well in charge of

a bantam hen.


But of considerably greater interest is the hatching of a



