BOTANIC GARDENS MENAGERIE. 1 77 



threw them to the hen who arranged them by stamping on 

 them with her feet. The young birds however were often 

 destroyed by eagles and hawks. When a pair of swans occu- 

 pied the lake they would not allow a new comer there but 

 chased it off. They often left the lake to crop the grass on the 

 grass plots, and one while crossing the road was run over by a 

 carriage and its leg nearly cut off. The leg had to be removed, 

 and the swan recovered and lived for many years, and though 

 it could no longer walk as before, it used to wriggle along on its 

 belly on the grass plots and so get the grass it liked. 



Two were killed and eaten by a large python, on two 

 successive months. On the occasion of the second disap- 

 pearence of the swan a hunt was organised and the python 18 

 feet long was found on the Island in the lake and shot with 

 the swan still inside it. The head of the swan had been 

 crushed by the jaws of the snake, but the body was entire, 

 giving the snake a remarkable appearance reminding one of a 

 Plesiosaums. 



Dendrocygna javanica 



The whistling teal, was constantly kept on the lake and 

 used to nest, and rear young which however were often des- 

 troyed by eagles and kites. At one time when there was a 

 crocodile in the lake, the teal used to roost each night on the 

 leaves of the Victoria Begia water lily, and frequently laid eggs 

 there. Though the wings of these ducks were cut at first so 

 that they could not fly they used commonly to take long 

 flights when the feathers grew again, and they could not be 

 recaptured, and either flew far away or fell victims to would-be 

 sportsmen. 



Nettopus coromanddianus . 



The goose teal, used for many years to frequent the lake 

 in the spring, but would only remain a few weeks on passage. 



Aix sponsa* 



Mandarin Duck a pair was presented to the gardens but 

 did not live long. 



E. A. Soc. No. 46, 1906* 



•13 



