HAMLY.VS MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
31 
was then noticed that the entrance holes were 
of such a height that it was necessary for the 
gulls to lower their heads in order to pass 
through. As this is an act which many wild birds 
consistently refuse to perform, two inches were 
clipped from the top of each space, and next 
morning the gulls were inside. 
Three pairs immediately selected sites and 
soon were incubating their eggs. Each pair 
safely hatched a single youngster and all were 
doing well, when one was killed by a large rat. 
This depredator received swift justice, and the 
remaining two young birds were safely reared. 
We have reared a number of golden pheas- 
ants, several bob-whites and also at least one 
scaled quail, with several more still in the bum- 
ble-bee stage. The last species may have been 
bred previously, but no record of this event has 
:ome to the writer's notice. 
Last year, while removing the birds from the 
Flving Cage, we found two large white eggs in 
a small cavity in the top of a ten-foot stump. 
They evidently were those of curassows, and this 
spring we selected the only true pair that had 
been in the cage the year before, and with-held 
the others. A close watch soon disclosed the 
female sitting in 'the cavity, and after a short 
wait, her two white eggs were removed and placed 
under a bantam hen, since young birds of that 
character could not survive in the midst of such 
a crowd of doubtful characters as is found in the 
Flying Cage. Unfortunately, however, the eggs 
proved infertile, as was the case with a second 
pair which appeared shortly afterward. This 
species, the banded curassow (Crax fasciolata), 
appears never to have been bred in captivity, and 
it is disappointing to have been so near success 
without achieving: it. 
-®- 
THE OVAL ANT FROG. 
By Richard Deckert, 
Department of Reptiles, Bronx Zoological Park. 
New York. 
The Reptile House in the Zoological Park 
harbors many interesting creatures, especiallv 
among the amphibians, which the average visitor 
scarcely honors with a casual glance, or, owing to 
their burrowing and nocturnal habits, does not see 
at all. 
All of these creatures are insectivorous, and 
many, like the common toad, are of great use to 
man. A little enlightenment, therefore, regarding 
their modes of life and their appearance should 
be desirable, if it were only to serve the purpose 
of doing away with age-long superstition and 
prejudice against these harmless members of the 
animal kingdom. 
Every one with a mental picture of the out- 
line of a frog expects when such a creature is 
mentioned to behold an animal with short, squat 
bod>', long' limbs, large, wide head and propor- 
tionately large eyes. The Ant Frogs, however, 
are quite different in structure. The body is large 
and oval, the legs are short in proportion, and the 
head is very small, with a sharply-pointed snout, 
small mouth and tiny, bead-like eyes. 
These characteristics in frogs always denote 
nocturnal, burrowing and ant-eating habits. The 
mouth, instead of possessing the regular dentition 
along the edges of the upper jaw as in true frogs, 
has several curved, transverse ridges on the palate, 
which .ire faintly serrated, but do not bear teeth. 
This peculiar structure is usually associated with 
a diet of ants. 
The habitat of these frogs, which are also 
called narrow-mouth frogs, is southern North 
America, Mexico, Central and South America, 
southern Asia and many of the islands in the 
Pacific and Indian Oceans, Australia and Africa. 
The three known North American species inhabit 
most of the states south of Virginia. They are dull 
of colour, usually some shade of grey or brown. 
The Oval Ant Frog (Engystoma ovale) is a 
native of South America, the specimens in the 
Reptile House having been collected on the Island 
of Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela. They are 
small, the adult frog" attaining a length of but one 
and one-eighth inches. Over the neck region there 
is a distinct transverse fold of skin, giving a turtle- 
like appearance. The color is leaden grey, with 
minute black specks on all the upper surfaces, 
while the abdomen bears a pattern of large and 
small bright yellow spots of irregular shape, inter- 
spaced with black. On the inner side of the thigh 
there is a broad orange or vermillion band, from 
groin to knee; concealed except when the frog is 
in motion. 
During the day the specimens exhibited in our 
Reptile House conceal themselves under pieces of 
bark, but after dark they come forth and prowl 
around their cage in search of food. This is pro- 
cured for them in the following manner : Small 
pieces of wet bread or raw beef are deposited in 
corners known to be infested with black ants, and 
are left there until they are covered with those in- 
sects. The ant-covered bread or meat is then 
placed in the vivarium with the frogs which soon 
emerge from their hiding places, and slowly crawl- 
ing, instead of hopping like ordinary frogs, 
approach the "bait," when the feast of ants begins. 
An almost incredible number of ants can be assimi- 
lated by one of these tiny frogs. Small flies, which 
I had tried to feed to them in the beginning of their 
captivity were not eaten, the frogs taking no notice 
of them, and thus it seems that their diet consists 
exclusivelv of ants. 
