HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
63 
which it has been faced is so difficult, and the 
issues of any course of action are so grave or al- 
ternatively so costly, that with the time at its 
disposal and the material available, any exhaus- 
tive inquiry by the committee was impossible. 
The Executive might consider the advisability 
of appointing a commission to make a more de- 
tailed investigation. 
The motion was agreed to, and the report 
referred to the Executive Committee. 
GENERAL NOTES. 
By John D. Hamlyn. 
THAT the Goat Show lately held by the British 
Goat Society in the Zoological Gardens, 
Regents Park, was a great success. There 
were over 100 entries. This should be held 
annually, being of great interest to goat breed- 
ers. 
THAT the London confectioners have reported 
favourably on the liquid ostrich eggs sent from 
South Africa to the Imperial Institute as a; sub- 
stitute for liquid hens' eggs. Another con- 
signment has been ordered for further trials. 
THAT the Council of the Royal Zoological Socie- 
ty of Ireland should make an offer for the keg 
of butter, "probably 200 years old," which was 
found in a Roscommon bog by some turf-cut- 
ters last week. It is the custom of the mem- 
bers of the Council to breakfast together every 
Saturday morning, prior to their weekly inspec- 
tion of the Zoological Gardens in Dublin, and 
at one of these breakfasts a few years ago some 
"new laid eggs" were on the menu, which were 
voted excellent by those who sampled them. It 
was, however, explained by Sir Charles Ball, a 
member of the Council, who had just returned 
from a visit to China, that he had brought them 
from that country, and that they were all forty 
years old. But the age of an egg has never 
been mentioned more delicately, perhaps, than 
by an official of the Food Ministry, in an inter- 
view that is published this morning. He con- 
trasts "the egg of recent date" with "the egg 
of an earlier period." 
THAT Lord Rothschild writes to "The' Field": 
"A Hybrid Cockatoo. — In your issue of 
Nov. 30 under this heading it is stated that 
the hybrid exhibited by Mr. Seth Smith was 
probably the first instance of a hybrid cocka- 
too. This is not the case, as three hybrids 
between Leadbeater's cockatoo and the sul- 
phur-crested or lesser sulphur-crested cocka- 
too were reared in Lord Lilford's aviaries 
where I saw them five or six years ago. — 
Rothschild." 
THAT the "Daily Chronicle" records: — 
" Among the enemy vessels captured in 
the early days of the war and placed in the 
custody of Mr. H. W. Lovell, the Admiralty 
Marshal, was one that contained a number of 
alligators. 
The officer who advised the authorities 
of the seizure seemed rather nervous, as, al- 
though some of the saurians were dead, 
others were very much alive. As the Zoo- 
logical Society did not want alligators at the 
time, they were sold to a man who exhibited 
them in the provinces as 'prize animals'." 
This consignment consisted of a very large 
number of alligators from a few inches to 20 
feet in length, a quantity of Bull Frogs, Lizards, 
Snakes and some Raccoons. They were prac- 
tically given away to a local showman. The 
American cost was over £200. I am under the 
impression £50 was only realised. 
THAT a French Breeder, under date 6th Decem- 
ber, gives me the following particulars of a 
new variety of Budgerigar. He writes as fol- 
lows : — 
"I have received your telegram. These 
Budgerigars are neither blue nor green. They 
have a different colour — green — olive — dark, 
a tint which is not the green colour character- 
istic of the race. After three years of work 
and patience, I have succeeded to transform 
the type of the Budgerigar. I think the 
breeder can reinforce and extend now this 
character for obtaining the blue tint. When 
during some generation these birds shall be 
submitted to some other variation." 
I trust to have the pleasure of introducing 
these to the amateurs of Great Britain. Only 
one or two pairs expected. Prices on applica- 
tion. 
THAT I have received a very interesting letter 
from Monsieur Pierre Amedee Pichot of Paris : 
"I have only just received the November 
number of the Magazine, and was pleased to 
renew acquaintance with an old friend, for 
as I had not received the September and 
October numbers, I was afraid that the war 
had made you drop your interesting publica- 
tion. 
Well, now that we are entering into bet- 
ter times, I am happy to find that you have 
kept on so far, and that nothing shall now 
interfere with your success. 
I daresay business shall be very active, 
so many Zoological collections, public or pri- 
