296 On the Hatching & Rearing of the Brush Tin keys at the Zoo.


When first hatched the primaries and secondaries of the

young are encased in a thin filmy covering, which gives the wing

the appearance of being full of blood feathers or quills, but

directly the chick dries this membrane peels off, leaving the

bird ready for flight.


Those hatched at the Zoo did not appear to be great

eaters and they were supplied with a variety of food, such as

hard-boiled egg, crissel, chicken meal, ants’ eggs, dried flies,

boiled potatoes, boiled rice, boiled carrots, groats and grain, of

all sorts, both dry and soaked. They were fond of lettuce,

watercress, and grass in seed, but evinced the greatest partiality

for chopped onions. When large enough they were removed to

one of the pheasantries where they do well, and are constantly

catching flies on the grass or rushing up and down from one

•end of the place to the other in a state of great excitement.

They like to roost as high as they can get, and the gravel paths

in their enclosure are frequently turned upside down by their

powerful—although not clumsy—feet. At three weeks the black

feathers are distinctly visible through the down, and at six the

birds are a repetition of the adults, although smaller, and the

yellow wattle at the base of neck can be plainly seen.


Respecting the dead chick in the mound, I may say that a

week before we opened it the cock was seen to be in a great state

of excitement, and constantly putting his head into a deep,

narrow cavity ; so I have come to the conclusion that it was

about time that the young one hatched. And with regard to the

theory advanced that the male bird tests the heat of the mound

by putting his head, bare neck, and wattles into the mound, I

am rather inclined to think he only does this when the eggs are

due to, or have hatched, and that it is from parental affection,

or anxiety for the 3' r oung, as in both cases where chicks were

found—living or dead—a narrow opening leading from the }'oung

ones to the upper exterior portion of the heaps, was noticed, and

although the} r are particularly silent—only emitting a slight

grunt at times—the cock can probably hear some movement in

the egg, which either causes him to open the mound when the

■chick is ready to emerge or to further energetic repulsion of

intruders.



