301



Bird Notes from the Zoological Gardens.



with. They generally begin nesting about February or March, but the eggs

then seldom hatch, owing no doubt to frost and cold. I usually remove

these eggs after about a month’s incubation, and they start again shortly

and generally rear three or four young out of five or six eggs laid. When

the young ones are nearly full grown I remove them from their parents, as

I find the old ones are apt to kill them then. They usually bring out two

broods every year besides the first nest. I find it almost impossible to keep

more than one adult pair together, as the}' fight desperately. They are very

savage with birds of their own size or under, even killing nearly full grown

Pheasants. I once saw a cock Weka Rail go up to a good sized cock

Pheasant take him by the back of the neck, drag him to the water and

drown him. I feed my Wekas on raw bullock’s liver, together with corn,

bread and scraps, but they get a large quantity of worms and insects for

themselves in their inclosure. They even kill small wild birds that come

down to feed with them. They make a large nest of moss sticks and

fibrous roots, generally under the root of a tree or under some faggots

which I provide for the purpose.”



BIRD NOTES FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.



By far the most important event since my last notes were

written is the hatching of three young Crested Screamers on the

,5th of July. As before stated, these curious birds have probably

never nested in captivit}*- before, and very little was known about

their nesting habits. The incubation period is now known to be

■six weeks ; the young are clothed in yellowish down, and except

for their small beaks and large feet, are not unlike young

goslings. One of the chicks was trodden upon and killed by its

mother, and an opportunity has thus been given to the authorities

•of fully examining the structure of these birds when newly

hatched, and it is to be hoped that a definite conclusion may be

arrived at as to the position these unique creatures occupy in the

Order of Birds. A full account of the breeding of these birds

with illustrations of the young will doubtless appear in the

Proceedings of the 'Zoological Society.


Two hybrid Rheas, between the Common (<J) and Darwin’s

■(?), have been hatched in an incubator, and are doing well. A

Globose Curassou has nested in a willow tree in the large aviary

near the Pelicans, and had laid two eggs when I last heard from



