3i6 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Sept. 21, 1 8 



Joubert, son of the above-mentioned gentleman, writing 

 from Kai, in the interior of the island, remarked that 

 these birds were particularly plentiful in all the neigh- 

 bourhood of Kai and in the district of the Boh Moun- 

 tains. Unfortunately, however, they were discovered to 

 be excellent for the table, and were forthwith snared and 

 shot in great quantities by both natives and settlers, with 

 the natural result that some twenty years later their 

 numbers had decreased to such an extent that they were 

 only to be found in certain parts of the country, and are now 

 so scarce that when a gentleman leaving Port de France, 

 N. C., offered a large reward for a liveKagu to take back 

 to France with him, not a single bird was to be found for 

 miles around. The natives were in the habit of catching 

 the Kagus by means of a strong string fastened to the 

 ground with a loose slip knot, in which the birds would 

 become hopelessly entangled, thus falling an easy prey to 

 their captors. 



M. Ferdinand Joubert called attention to the fact that 

 there were two distinct kinds of this bird, one the " Bush 

 Kagu," as he termed it, large and handsome and compa- 

 ratively serene in disposition ; the other, the " Grass 

 Kagu," much smaller and darker, with dark stripes on its 

 wings and tail, and so pugnacious that fights were of 

 constant occurrence, despite the fact that the aggressive 

 little "Grass Kagu" was invariably ignominiously de- 

 feated. 



Dr. Bennett describes this bird as about the size 

 of an ordinary fowl. The female is usually slightly 

 the larger of the two, and rather more graceful in shape, 

 with pale brown plumage, and with bill, feet, and legs of a 

 pale orange colour. The plumage of the male bird is 

 dark brown, with bars of a paler shade, the prima- 

 ries and secondaries of the wings very dark brown, barred 

 with black, the long pending crest on the nape of the 

 head dark grey, the bill and legs vivid orange scarlet, 

 and the iris orange. The voices of both birds are 

 peculiar ; the female utters a strange kind of growling 

 scream, and the male a noise which is an extraordinary 

 compound between a bark and a laugh, and which some- 

 times in their wild state is said to sound like a young 

 puppy calling for its mother. Like most birds of the 

 heron tribe, the Rhinocetus jubatus has the remarkable 

 powder - down tufts, characteristic of the Ardeines, 

 strongly developed, having the down tufts above and 

 around its wings, and on its breast and back, thickly 

 stored with powder. Mr. Bartlett remarked that when 

 these birds bathed, the whole surface of the little pond 

 was immediately covered with a sort of film, somewhat 

 resembling French chalk. The markings of the Kagu's 

 wing and tail feathers strongly resemble those of the 

 sun-bittern, and although no eggs have hitherto been 

 found in its native home, the one "obligingly" laid by 

 the specimen in the Zoological Gardens (the adverb is 

 Professor Parker's) bears a great similarity in both form 

 and colour to that of the bittern, and is further proof of 

 the relation of the two birds. The Kagu possesses a dis- 

 tinctive feature in the peculiar scroll-like membrane 

 which surrounds the nostrils, which, closing entirely over 

 the aperture when the beak is inserted into the soft 

 earth and mud where the bird seeks its food, effectually 

 prevents the entrance of any extraneous matter into the 

 nostril. The female bird has a curious habit of crouch- 

 ing on the ground and covering herself with her wings, 

 throwing them up in concave form over her back, so as 

 to completely hide her head and body. 

 ( To be continued?) 



The Language of Crows. — According to Dr. C. C. 

 Abbott, a well-known and trustworthy observer of bird- 

 life, crows have twenty-seven distinct cries, calls, and 

 utterances, each readily distinguishable from the others, 

 and each having an unmistakable connection with a cer- 

 tain class of actions. Is it not fully time that the cant 

 expression " dumb animals," peculiar as it is to England, 

 should cease to be employed ? 



Vital Conditions of Bacteria. — A writer in the 

 Berichte der Deutschen Chcmischen Gescllschaft finds that 

 air, and still more pure oxygen, promotes the multiplica- 

 tion both of the bacilli of anthrax and those of putre- 

 faction. Ozone, however, is fatal to the latter, though it 

 has no power over the former. 



Structure and Function. — Some time back Mr. 

 Waterhouse, of the British Museum, exhibited at a meet- 

 ing of the Entomological Society some aquatic Curculios 

 which swim with the same action and the same ease as a 

 Dytiscus, though their legs display no structural adapta- 

 tion to the purpose. 



A Wasp at Dinner. — Mr. J. H. Emerton (Cosmos), 

 whilst passing through a marsh covered with alders, 

 observed the curious spectacle of a wasp hanging from a 

 branch by one of its hind feet, and in this strange posi- 

 tion tranquilly devouring a fly. The prey was held by 

 its two anterior feet, whilst the other feet and the wings 

 were disengaged. The rapid movement of the jaws and 

 the antennas whilst the fly was being turned to and fro 

 caused the body of the wasp to keep gently swinging. 

 When nothing remained of the fly beyond the wings and 

 the shell the wasp let fall the remnants, drew herself 

 up on the branch and took wing in quest of fresh adven- 

 tures. 



Experiment on the Treatment of the Potato 

 Disease. — M. Prillieux (Paris Academy of Sciences) has 

 treated a plot of early potatoes in which the disease had 

 already shown itself in the form of black spots on the 

 leaves, with " Bordeaux broth," a decoction of six parts 

 of sulphate of copper and six parts of lime in ioo parts 

 of water. The liquid was applied in the state of a fine 

 dew by means of a "pulveriser." When the crop came to 

 be gathered not one diseased tuber was found on the 

 plants which had been treated. Adjacent plants of the 

 same kind, but not treated, yielded 32 per cent, of 

 diseased tubers. 



Leafing of the Oak and the Ash. — Mr. J. Saunders 1 , 

 writing in the Midland Naturalist, informs us that this 

 year a large number of trees were carefully observed in 

 South Bedfordshire and North Hertfordshire, especially 

 where they were growing in company, and in the great 

 majority of cases oaks were before the ashes, the excep- 

 tions being about 10 per cent. He also considers that 

 oak trees, upon the whole, leaf before the ash, and remarks 

 that this season, in which the oaks have been less in 

 advance than usual, has turned out exceptionally wet. 

 We may here remark that there are contradictory ver- 

 sions of the old proverb concerning the leafing of these 

 two trees. In some parts we are told : — 



" If the oak's before the ash, 

 There will be nought but drip and splash ; 

 If the ash is before the oak, 

 There will be nought but dust and smoke," 



