HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 



chance offered him. However, it is possible that 

 Mr. Lepage did think of this, and if the story is 

 fact and not myth, I hope he will give further 

 information on the subject, as it is of great 

 interest to field naturalists and African hunters. 



I am, Sir, 



Yours faithfully, 



"The African World" has the following in 

 this week's issue : — 



STRANGE UGANDA MONSTER. 



Hunter's Interesting' Reminiscences. 



The great bubble of publicity which the Bron-- 

 tosaurus story occasioned exploded when the cable 

 describing the affair as a hoax was published. 

 Nothing further has been heard on this side of the 

 water of monsters, prehistoric or otherwise. With 

 this mail comes a very interesting story told by 

 Mr. J. R. McClang in the "Johannesburg Star." 

 He writes : — 



I was interested to read of the discovery of 

 the strange animal encountered by an engineer 

 while hunting in the Belgian Congo. The animal 

 so described is similar to one I shot in one of the 

 closed dstricts of Uganda, but smaller. 



The following are the circumstances : — 



I was travelling in the direction of the river 

 Nile, in Uganda, in the year 1909, when I sudden- 

 ly saw what I thought to be a rhino. Upon close 

 examination I found this animal was not of the 

 rhino species, but quite a strange animal I had 

 never seen before. It was longer than the full- 

 grown rhino, and about the same height, but 

 broader. This animal had two tusks, about 3 ft. 

 long, and a long horn between the nose and the 

 top of the head at least 2 ft. long and very thick. 

 I was so astonished at seeing such an animal that 

 I stood gazing at same, within 80 yards, for at 

 least two minutes. I then aimed for the brain 

 and shot. He must have got my scent and swerved 

 his head. I lowered my rifle for the heart shot, 

 fired, and got him in the lung. This I could tell 

 by the thick blood he let in his track. His spoor 

 was similar to an elephant's, but broader. I fol- 

 lowed up his tracks and found him behind some 

 bush on the banks of the Nile. I fired my heavy 

 .577 — both barrels. Both bullets went through 

 his spine and he rolled into the river. That's 

 the last I saw of him. 



When I was hunting in the Wamba Forest, 

 now the Belgian Congo, I had 300 pigmy natives 

 with me and they were very keen on taking me 

 deeper into the forest, where they said I could 

 get the very big elephants with three tusks, and 

 in my dealings with the little pigmies I found 

 )them A'ery keen. 



General Notes. 



THAT Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, writing from 

 Dar-Es-Salaam, March 14th, gives an interest- 

 ing account of wild life in Africa in "The 

 Times," 16th March. 



THAT Mr. A. C. Brooke has received the thanks 

 of the trustees of the British Natural History 

 Museum for presenting the national collection 

 with a series of the varieties *of the Decuman us 

 rat, comprising chocolate, silver fawn, cream, 

 spotted, and Japanese. - 



THAT a baby lion has just arrived for the Zoo 

 — a gift from the 8th Battalion Hampshire 

 Regiment. 



THAT a baby crane was born in the Edinburgh 

 Zoo, and is progressing favourably. 



THAT a sensation was caused at the Paris Halles 

 on Wednesday morning, when onje of the 

 wholesale butchers exposed for sale the car- 

 case of a fine lioness at 5 francs a pound — that 

 is, less than the price of beef. 



The lioness came from a zoological collec- 

 tion, and had had to be killed as the result 

 of an accident which occurred while her cage 

 was being repainted. 



Buyers for such unusual meat were readily 

 found, on condition that some distinguishing 

 part of the animal was given them with the 

 meat, the purchasers relying on the traditional, 

 curiosity of Parisians foe a ready detail sale 

 provided they could prove the meat they were 

 offering was really lioness. 



THAT the Belfast City Council are seriously con- 

 sidering the establishment of a Zoo. 



THAT further wonderful photographs of African 

 big game — The Buffalo — by Captain Russell 

 Roberts, appeared in "The Illustrated London 

 News," April 3rd. Captain Roberts deserves 

 every praise for his enterprise and daring. 



THAT at the monthly meeting of the Zoological 

 Society on Wednesday the Council reported 

 that there had been 92 additions to the mena- 

 gerie during February — 16 presented, 19 de- 

 posited, 52 purchased, 1 received in exchange, 

 and 4 born in the Gardens. Among these were 

 2 golden-crested penguins from South Georgia, 

 new to the collection, which have been pur- 

 chased; a collection of South African reptiles, 

 including 4 white-throated monitors, and 2 

 Derbian Zonures, purchased; 3 beaver rats or 

 coypus, born in the menagerie on Februady 6; 

 and a spotted cavy, born in the menagerie on 

 February 29. 



During January and February the number 

 of visitor? to the Gardens was 94,357, an in- 

 crease of 41,113 on the number in the same 

 month last year. 



Printed by W, J. Hasted ft Son (T.U.), 306, Mile End Road. E. 1., and Published by J. D. Hamlyi", 221,, St. George's 



Street, London Docks, E. 



