334 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Oct. 14th. To Brussels. Near Namur I saw what I am pretty 

 sure was a Great Grey Shrike. I only saw it for a moment, but 

 it could have been nothing else. Many tourists on this railway 

 have probably noticed the extreme beauty of the Forest of 

 Soignes. The huge beeches, with tall towering trunks, are a 

 glorious sight. 



Oct. loth. At Brussels. In the Marche de la Madeleine we 

 found Meadow Pipits, Ortolans, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Lin- 

 nets, Tree Sparrows, Song Thrushes, and a few Blackbirds, Quails, 

 and Partridges, with both white and speckled horseshoes. The 

 shop-windows, too, were full of Grives. There is an extensive 

 collection of birds in the Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, but so 

 crowded and badly arranged that I had not time to examine 

 them carefully. Ring Doves inhabit the little park here. 



Oct. 16th. In the Palais des Beaux-Arts a picture by M. 

 d'Hondecoeter included a Kingfisher coloured a black-blue, as 

 are (with one exception) all those by the old Dutch and Flemish 

 painters that I have seen. 



Oct. 17th. Arrived at Antwerp, and went at once to the 

 Zoological Gardens, where we saw three specimens of the Abys- 

 sinian Ass (E quits tceniopus), three Burchell's Zebras (E. bur- 

 chellii), and two true Zebras (E. zebra), two Giraffes (four females 

 have been born here, 1871-70), a grand Bison, and a fine Aurochs. 

 Also a blackish variety of Fells pardus from Java, with the spots 

 showing indistinctly, and some Barbary Lion cubs with spotted 

 legs. I noticed here, and at Amsterdam, that Armadillos repose 

 quietly on their backs, with legs and nose in the air and tail 

 sticking out. Other things worth notice were a pair of local 

 white Jackdaws with ordinary eyes (we saw two more at Amster- 

 dam) ; eight species of Toucans, including bicornis ; Copsychits 

 macrurus, which sang sweetly ; and Prosthemadera novce-zeelandia, 

 with white chest-tufts. There was a magnificent aviary of Rails, 

 Ibises, Gallinules, Gulls, Waders, &c, and I was a good deal 

 surprised to see some of the Waders still in summer dress; for 

 instance, a Black-tailed Godwit, and a Ruff, whose (blackish) ruff 

 was ragged, but nearly all there. The Antelope-house is a very 

 fine one. It is horseshoe-shaped, with a large covered yard 

 inside the curve communicating with each box, thus enabling all 

 the animals to have exercise in turn. 



Oct. 18th. In the Musee Plantin-Moretus there is a set of six 



