16 



HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 



of the keepers to what had taken place. The 

 mother and her baby were removed to a quiet 

 cage, where they will be kept from the public 

 for at least a week. The baby weighs 3 lb. 

 and is about 16 in. long, and appears to be 

 healthy, although it was born before it was 

 expected. The mother at once made a 

 pile of straw in the corner of her new cage 

 and went to sleep with the infant on her 

 breast. 



No accurate observations have ever been 

 made on the infancy of anthropoid apes, and 

 and if this young ape is reared successfully, 

 interesting scientific results should be ob- 

 tained. There is much less difference between 

 very young apes and human infants than 

 between adults, the distinctive characters of 

 apes and of the human race developing with 

 growth, 



THAT a white specimen of Mus rattus (the old 

 English black rat) caught in Bristol, is now 

 in my possession. It has black eyes. This 

 is certainly a great rarity, and I am anxious 

 to obtain an ordinary M. rattus to mate with 

 it. — H. C. Brooke, Bishop's Hull, Taunton. 



THAT during the visit of Bostock and Womb- 

 well's show to Paignton, an attendant named 

 Docking (a native of Topsham) was leading 

 an elephant to bathe in the sea, when the 

 animal turned on him, threw him down, knelt 

 on him and prodded him. Docking sustained 

 several broken ribs and a lung was penetrated 

 by a tusk. He was rescued in the nick of 

 time and conveyed to Paignton Hospital. 



THAT Clara a clever Chimpanzee at the 

 Clifton Zoo who uses a fork for food and 

 performs many tricks is the delight of many 

 visitors to that well known Zoological 

 Gardens. 



THAT under the auspices of the Zoological 

 Society of Scotland a lecture on " Hill Birds 

 of Scotland " was delivered last night in the 

 Uniled Free Assembly Hall Edinburgh, by 

 Mr. Seton Gordon, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. Lord 

 Salvesen presided over a large ■ audience. 

 Mr Gordon's lecture was illustrated by 

 means of an exceptionally fine series of 

 photographs of the birds in their natural 

 surroundings. The photographs were taken 

 by Mr Gordon, and were illustrative of the 

 difficulties which he had to contend with 

 before satisfactory results could be attained 



the majority being taken at heights varying 

 between 1500 and 4000 ft. above sea level. 

 In dealing with eagles, he illustrated the 

 growth of the birds from the day they left 

 the eggs till they were able to leave their 

 nest in the rocks or in trees and come to 

 the ground. One particularly interesting 

 photograph was that which showed clearly 

 what Mr Gordon described as its "third 

 eyelid," with which he believed it cleaned its 

 eye. Many eagles built their nests on 

 the mountain tops, and they had been known 

 to carry branches as far as ten miles to build 

 their eyries. Mr Gordon next dealt with the 

 ptarmigan. It was very difficult to get them 

 to leave their nests, he said, and on one 

 occasion when he photographed a sitting bird 

 his camera was blown over, but in spite of 

 the fact that the bird was hit. it refused to 

 leave the nest. Gulls waged war on 

 the ptarmigan, and on one occasion he 

 saw the surface of a loch littered with eggs 

 which had been sucked dry by the gulls. 

 The ptarmigan invariably nested above the 

 heather belt, said Mr. Gordon, and he 

 described the precautions which it took to 

 safeguard itself from enemies by remaining 

 near the patches of snow. The habits of 

 the snow bunting and the dotterel, both of 

 which are rare in Scotland, were also fully 

 described, as were the peregrine, falcon, and 

 the crested tit. It was a curious thing, he 

 said, that the falcon never preyed on birds in 

 the vicinity of its nest, but always went 

 further afield. At the close of his address, 

 Mr Gordon was accorded a cordial vote of 

 thanks. 



THAT the ravages of the tsetse fly in Zulu-land 

 have resulted in a decision to hold an 

 enormous game drive (say the Central News 

 from Johannesburgh.) 



The drive will begin on August 15 and 

 will last for some days. 



Hundreds of sportsmen from all parts of 

 the country will participate. 



THAT members of the Plymouth Town Council 

 at yesterday's meeting sought information as 

 to the cause of the supply of electric current 

 being cut off one day last week, with the 

 result that the system was held up for an 

 hour. Alderman Love, chairman of the 

 Electricity Committee, explained that at one 

 of the generating stations a large conger eel 

 got into the force pump and choked it. 



Printed by W, J. Hasted 



Son (T.U.), 306, Mile End Road, E. i., and Published by ]. D. Hamlyn, 221, St. George's 

 Street, London Docks, E. 



