78 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



was very low. Eeturning to England via Innsbruck and the Lake 

 of Constance, I had a fine sight of an Osprey fishing on the lake. 

 There were also many Gulls, Terns, and flocks of Duck, though I 

 was never able to get near enough to identify the latter. — (Miss) 

 Clemence M. Acland. 



Female Carolina Duck in Male Plumage. — There is at present on 

 the Three-Island Pond at the Zoo a female Carolina Duck [Aex 

 sponsa) which has assumed the plumage of the male to a remarkably 

 complete extent. The general effect is duller, especially as regards 

 the gloss on the head, and the markings less clearly defined, but on 

 the whole the difference from the male is not greater than that seen 

 in the female common Sheldrake {Tadorna vulpanser). The glossy 

 parts, however, are more bronzy than in the drake, and the wing- 

 coverts show the black tippings only found in the female. The bill, 

 eyelids, and eyes are feminine in colour, and the legs, though more 

 orange than in a normal female, are not so bright as a male's. 

 A little time back another Carolina duck at the Zoo assumed male 

 plumage, but less completely than the present bird ; she never looked 

 well, and is now dead, whereas the present bird seems healthy and 

 vigorous. In this second specimen the eyes and bill were also 

 feminine. — F. Finn. 



REPTILIA. 



Hardiness in a Chameleon. — On the afternoon of November 13th 

 a fine large specimen of the Common Chameleon [Ghamelaon 

 vulgaris), ten and a half inches in length, and apparently in good 

 health, was brought to me by a gentleman who had found it on a 

 plum tree in a garden at East Dulwich. It is somewhat difficult 

 to keep a chameleon in the cold weather, and it seems noteworthy 

 that this individual should have been in an almost normal state of 

 activity after being even a short time in the (at that time very cold) 

 open air in November, though we have no means of knowing how 

 long the animal had been at large. About three weeks after it was 

 brought to me the animal passed a whitish-yellow faecal mass, and 

 also a large dark mass, l^V ii^- in length and f^- in. in thickness. 

 The latter mass was found on examination to be wholly composed of 

 the remains of blow-flies, amongst which I counted 21 heads. The 

 Chameleon is being kept in a room which has a temperature of 

 about 50-55° F., and is still (January 23rd) alive and active, though 

 it has not yet taken any of the Stick-Insects which have been 

 offered to it as food. When captured the animal was of a dark 



