Chap. XVIII. 



CHANGED CONDITIONS. 



157 



birds belonging to this order will not breed in their native country, 

 Jamaica; and the Psophia, though often kept by the Indians of Guiana 

 about their houses, " is seldom or never known to breed." 52 



No birds breed with such complete facility under confinement as the 

 members of the great Duck family; yet, considering their aquatic and 

 wandering habits, and the nature of their food, this could not have 

 been anticipated. Even some time ago above two dozen species had 

 bred in the Zoological Gardens; and M. Selys-Longchamps has recorded 

 the production of hybrids from forty-four different members of the family ; 

 and to these Professor Newton has added a few more cases. 53 " There is 

 not," says Mr. Dixon, 54 " in the wide world, a goose which is not in the strict 

 sense of the word domesticable ;" that is, capable of breeding under con- 

 finement ; but this statement is probably too bold. The capacity to breed 

 sometimes varies in individuals of the same species ; thus Audubon 55 kept for 

 more than eight years some wild geese (Anser Canadensis), but they would 

 not mate; whilst other individuals of the same species produced young 

 during the second year. I know of but one instance in the whole family 

 of a species which absolutely refuses to breed in captivity, namely, the 

 Bendrocygna viduata, although, according to Sir E. Schomburgk, 56 it is 

 easily tamed, and is frequently kept by the Indians of Guiana. Lastly, 

 with respect to Gulls, though many have been kept in the Zoological 

 Gardens and in the old Surrey Gardens, no instance was known before the 

 year 1848 of their coupling or breeding ; but since that period the herring 

 gull (Larus argentatus) has bred many times in the Zoological Gardens and 

 at Knowsley. 



There is reason to believe that insects are affected by confinement like 

 the higher animals. It is well known that the Sphingida3 rarely breed 

 when thus treated. An entomologist 57 in Paris kept twenty-five specimens 

 of Saturnia pyri, but did not succeed in getting a single fertile e°-o\ A 

 number of females of Orthosia munda and of Mamestm suasa reared in 

 confinement were unattractive to the males. 58 Mr. Newport kept nearly a 

 hundred individuals of two species of Vanessa, but not one paired ; this, 

 however, might have been due to their habit of coupling on the win^/ 9 

 Mr. Atkinson could never succeed in India in making the Tarroo silk-moth 

 breed in confinement. 60 It appears that a number of moths, especially 

 the Sphingidae, when hatched in the autumn out of their proper season, 



52 Dr. Hancock, in ' Charlesworth's 

 Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. ii, 1838, p. 491 ; 

 R. Hill, « A Week at Port Royal,' p. 8 ; 

 ' Guide to the Zoological Gardens,' by 

 P. L. Sclater, 1859, pp. 11, 12; 'The 

 Knowsley Menagerie,' by Dr. Gray, 

 1846, pi. xiv. ; E. Blyth, < Report Asiatic 

 Soc. of Bengal,' May, 1855. 



53 Prof. Newton, in 'Proc. Zoolog. 

 Soc.,' 1860, p. 336. 



54 'The Dovecote and Aviary,' p 

 428. 



55 'Ornithological Biography,' vol. 

 hi. p. 9. 



5fi ' Geograph. Journal,' vol. xiii.,1844, 

 p. 32. 



57 Loudon's ' Mag. of Nat, Hist.,' vol. 

 v., 1832, p. 153. 



58 ' Zoologist,' vols, v.-vi., 1847-48, p. 

 1660. 



59 'Transact. Entomolog. Soc.,' vol. 

 iv., 1845, p. 60. 



60 ' Transact. Linn. Soc.,' vol. vii. p. 

 40. 



