ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1013 



BLACK-NECKED SCREAMER 



of young is as follows: four cereopsis geese, 

 nine Canada geese, seventeen wood ducks, 

 three white call ducks, one herring gull, 

 two white ibises. 



There were also a large number of mallard 

 ducks and several Barbary turtle doves, but 

 as these birds are at liberty an accurate ac- 

 count of them cannot be kept. 



The cereopsis geese are now in full adult 

 plumage and are the first to be reared in this 

 country. It is not possible as yet to dis- 

 tinguish the sexes, and the birds show no signs 

 of pairing off, so it seems probable that this 

 species, like many other geese, does not breed 

 in its second summer. 



We are particularly pleased with our suc- 

 cess in rearing wood ducks, as the readiness 

 with which they breed in captivity will cer- 

 tainly save them from the extinction which 

 threatens this species in the wild state. We 

 are making special efforts to do even better 

 in 1913. 



The herring gull was allowed to grow with 

 wings unpinioned,in hopes that it might remain 

 in the Park. As soon as it was able to fly, 

 however, it immediately forsook its parents 

 and drifted off with passing birds of its kind. 

 Herring gulls were fairly abundant in the Park 

 during the past winter and with the night 

 herons, added a touch of life most welcome 

 during the cold weather. 



The Screamers. — A curious group in many 

 ways, the screamers are especially so in the 

 original manner in which they carry their 

 spurs. One is accustomed to seeing such devel- 

 opments on the legs of game-birds, even to 

 the number of three or four on each limb, 

 and this is so universal that it creates no 

 comment. But the tarsus of the screamer is 



quite innocent of horny excrescences of any 

 kind. The casual observer is surprised, there- 

 fore, to find that these birds are well able to 

 defend themselves with two very strong and 

 sharp spurs which they carry at the bend of 

 each wrist and with which they are able to 

 produce a really dangerous wound. 



The foregoing applies to the crested 

 screamer and to the black-necked screamer. 

 The horned screamer is not content with even 

 these eccentricities, and goes his congeners 

 one better by carrying a very long and curved 

 horn on his forehead. 



The crested screamer is to be found in al- 

 most every zoological collection of note, but 

 both of the other species which go to form this 

 ancient group are very uncommon. No 

 European zoological garden possessed a speci- 

 men of the black-necked screamer in the fall 

 of 1912, and the only horned screamer noted by 

 the writer was one exhibited at Hamburg. 

 The New York Zoological Society, therefore, 

 enjoys the distinction of possessing what is 

 probably the only complete series of scream- 

 ers now in captivity. 



Hooded Cranes. — To any collection of living 

 birds cranes are a most desirable addition, 

 because of their extreme hardiness and lon- 

 gevity, and high value as exhibition birds. The 

 collection of cranes in the Zoological Park is 

 a particularly rich one, and was recently en- 

 hanced by the arrival of a pair of the rare 

 hooded crane. This is a small species, of about 

 the size and general coloration of the sand hill 

 crane, but differs in having the entire head 

 and upper neck pure white. It breeds in 

 southern Siberia, passing the winter in China 

 and southern Japan. Although once reported 

 as extremely abundant in many parts of its 



HORNED SCREAMER 



