66 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
exclusive Puffins and the Pigeon Guillemot. 
Secreted in individual nests in dark and more or 
less inaccessible appertures are found the little 
Petrels and Auklets. The Gulls are more easily 
suited and nest everywhere, the term nest imply- 
ing simply a loosely coherent mess of sea weed 
which may lie upon a flat space or in a slight 
pocket in the rock or underneath an overhanging 
rock. The bunches of weed in photograph 3 in- 
dicate the remains of Gulls' nests. 
The Cormorants build rather more preten- 
tiously than the Gulls, and photograph 2 illus- 
trates a practice frequently followed of building a 
nest on a steep slope giving a rather high effect 
on the down-hill side. The other sea, birds are 
likewise satisfied with very scanty cushions for 
the reception of their eggs. 
The practice of nesting in compact colonies 
is apparently a defensive measure, and one of the 
parents always remains near the eggs to protect 
them from the hereditary official pirates of the 
rookeries, the Western Gulls. The nests are left 
unguarded only when the birds are frightened 
away by human invaders! of their territory, and 
herein lies the danger of permitting visitors dur- 
ing' the breeding season as the Gulls are eternally 
on the Avatch for an opportunity to raid the nests 
of the other birds. 
The Gulls are among the earliest to bring out 
their families, but the breeding season for all 
species draws to a close from the first to the mid- 
dle of August. On the date mentioned, four species 
mere found still tending their young : — 
Murres : with nestlings of all degrees, from 
egg's just hatching and older. 
Brandt Cormorants : from naked nestling's to 
light brown and drab plumaged young, 
roosting on the signal peak. 
Puffins : in the down, with wing feathers just 
starting. 
Gulls : young appeared to be all feathered. 
Notwithstanding the care exercised by mem- 
bers of the Association in making this visit, large 
numbers of helpless new birds and the adults tend- 
ing them were disturbed and distressed, and it 
was the unanimous opinion that July 31st is too 
early in the year to open the rookeries to visitors, 
but consideration for the birds would dictate the 
extension of the closed season through th eentire 
month of August. In photograph 2i three Cor- 
morant nestlings may be observed in the nest. At 
this stage the birds are in quite as much danger 
from the Gulls as if they were within their eggs. 
For a very considerable time after leaving the 
nest the young Cormorant's sole means of loco- 
motion is a sort of aimless flopping as it seems 
built neither to walk nor to fly, and if frightened 
it will simply flop aimlessly away from the point 
of disturbance without regard to consequences 
which are often fatal. 
In photograph 3> several colonies of Murres 
may be observed along the sky line at the right 
with individual Murres or Cormorants in the fore- 
ground. 
A visit by President Lastreto to the light- 
house elicited the information that many birds 
were killed during the migrating season by flying 
against the light and dropping exhausted. Some 
are able to find a perching place en the balcony 
pipe railing', but this is not well adapted to the 
purpose, nor does it afford room for all those in 
need of a resting place, out of the direct rays of 
the powerful light. The attendants are sufficiently 
interested to avoid disturbing the birds while 
they are resting, but it is thought that some more 
adequate arrangements would result in the preser- 
vation of many desirable birds. It is known that 
perches are provided at many similar locations in 
England by the Royal Society for the Preservation 
of Birds, and President Lastreto called attention 
to the desirability of communicating with the Royal 
Society to learn details and to solicit suggestions, 
of suitable measures for the accomplishment of 
this object here. 
-©- 
REMINISCENCES OF THE LONDON 
ZOO. 
By F. Finn, B.A., F.Z.S. 
Plenty of people will remember the old bear 
pit at the end of the terrace, and the Polar Bears' 
den at the foot of it, where the old Sam and his 
mate, the best Polar bears I ever saw, used to 
play together to the great entertainment pf visi- 
tors, whose umbrellas Sam used to annex by cun- 
ningly placing a bit of his food on a ledge where 
the passer-by would charitably try to- push it in 
to him, and thereby forfeit his "gamp." 
It was from here that Barbara, the present 
she Polar bear, escaped only a few years back, 
and led the staff a pretty dance to get her back; 
Sam, however, is a silly oaf of a bear, who would 
probably never have got his living had he grown 
up in the Artie, and is not a patch upon his pre- 
decessor for good or ill. The den and pool which 
were demolished for the Mappin Terraces not long 
after they were built was a very nicely arranged 
home for the pair, and it was a great pity it was 
so wasted. 
I may say I can just remember Jumbo and 
Alice among the elephants, being- able vividly to 
recall having to write an essay in French when at 
School on Jumbo's behaviour when he made his 
well-known stand against exile to America. He 
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