ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 687 
The Secretary Bird is found practically 
throughout central and southern Africa wher- 
ever dry, open country exists. By some au- 
thorities, the northern birds are classed as a dis- 
tinct species called Serpentarius gambiensis, but 
by others this distinction is deemed unwarranted. 
The birds are usually found in pairs, each hay- 
ing a certain hunting ground which they defend 
fiercely against intrusion by their neighbors. 
The nests are very large and bulky, built of 
sticks and generally placed in a thick bush, or 
small tree, although they have occasionally been 
found at great heights. Here the bluish-white 
eggs, usually two in number, are deposited. 
The long, slender tarsi of the birds, particu- 
larly in the young, are extremely brittle, and 
care must be taken to prevent the sudden alarm- 
ing of captive birds, lest their legs be snapped. 
The young are frequently taken from the nests 
and raised by the native farmers as_ pets. 
Their only fault in that capacity is said to be 
their fondness for young chickens, which often 
proves their own undoing. 
ZOOLOGICAL GOSSIP. 
IND, rain and the moulting season have 
sadly bedraggled our pea-fowl, and the 
pride of every peacock has long since 
passed away in the hands of various visitors. 
Even though deprived of their glory, their spirit 
remains undaunted, and wherever a male bird 
finds an audience, he still makes heroic efforts to 
entertain it. 
The dazzling appearance of the white pea- 
cocks instantly made them popular, and when 
their timidity had been quite overcome, they 
frequented the paths where visitors were most 
numerous. A short time ago a large crowd was 
gathered near the Wolf Dens, intently watching 
the antics of an ordinary Indian cock courting 
a hen, when suddenly from the shrubbery a 
white bird stepped into the open space. He evi- 
dently meditated an immediate conquest, for he 
strutted proudly before the hen and threw erect 
—not a whole, magnificent tail—but, alas, only 
a single feather. Such a shout of laughter 
greeted this display that his composure was 
completely shattered, and he turned and made a 
hasty retreat. 
* * * 
One branch of surgery that Dr. Blair is oc- 
casionally called upon to practice, is the setting 
of broken bones. The number of these frac- 
tures, the subjects, and the causes, present prob- 
lems often of great complexity. Usually the 
cause is unknown, and with some of the dumb 
YOUNG CHIMPANZEE. 
patients it is difficult to understand just why so 
agile a creature could suffer such an accident as 
a fractured leg or arm. 
Not so puzzling when the subject is a tall 
wading bird, for a sudden twist and the fragile 
leg bones are snapped. Even a mountain sheep 
may find himself with a broken leg by the sud- 
den thrust of a foot into the crevice of a rock; 
but when a fracture occurs in the leg of a 
primate—and a particularly strong and active 
primate, such as an orang, determining the cause 
is difficult. During the first week of August, 
our youngest orang was found lying on the floor 
of the outdoor exercising cage,.apparently suf- 
fering great pain. In the absence of Dr. Blair 
it was hastily concluded that the trouble was in 
the bowels, as the abdomen was distended. 
The usual remedies were administered, but 
without relief. When our surgeon arrived a 
minute examination was then made, which re- 
sulted in the discovery of a fracture of the left 
femur, near its head, close to the pelvis—a 
particularly bad break. In fact, this is about 
the most serious place in which a break can oc- 
cur, on account of the heavy muscles which pre- 
vent the perfect resting of the leg, and the pos- 
sibility of the fracture lying within the capsu- 
lar ligament. Dr. Blair reduced the fracture 
