GUIDE TO GARDENS. 
35 
summer they construct small bowers of light twigs, 
about two feet in length, and amuse themselves all 
day in altering the position of the twigs and running 
through their bower, chasing each other and bowing 
in the most grotesque manner. The adult males are 
a glossy purple black, and the young males and females 
green; but in the male birds the mottled appearance 
produced by the gradual change of plumage and the 
intervention of a black feather here and there before 
the full glossy covering is reached is striking and 
peculiar. The eye is most beautiful, being of a deep 
brilliant blue. In a second division of this building 
are some Grey Crow Shrikes (Strepera Anaphonensis) , 
captured last year at Grembrook, the Society's game 
breeding establishment. These birds in their wild 
state live on mice, moths, and insects ' of all kinds, 
and woe betide any unhappy mouse which invades 
their present quarters, as it is immediately pounced 
upon and eaten. In a third compartment are a pair 
of Curassows [Qraoc Alector), from Mexico, but they 
are shy breeders, and have only once reproduced in 
the Society's Gardens. 
Opposite the Aviary last mentioned is a paddock 
devoted to Zebus (or Brahmin cattle). These animals 
breed freely every year, 
Following round this paddock, the visitor is con- 
ducted to the small mammal's house, No. 4, recently 
erected. It contains at present Native and Tiger Cats, 
the Native Eabbit or Beelbah (Paragalea Lagotis), the 
Moongus (Kerpestes Griseus), Kangaroo Eats (Bettongia 
Guniculus), &c. 
Close by is the Bear-pit, also a recent construction, 
inhabited by two fine specimens of the North American 
d 2 
