36 
common with many of the order to which it belongs, but are 
composed of solid bone, covered with skin like the remainder 
of the skull. 
As with the elephant, the height of the Giraffe is enorm- 
ously over-estimated in popular opinion ; the distance from 
the head, when fully erect, to the ground, probably not aver- 
aging over sixteen feet. They are very delicate in constitution, 
and in our climate require the most careful attention. 
The South American Tapir {^Tapirus terrestris), as before 
stated, belongs to the same division of Ungulates as the horse 
and rhinoceros, though in appearance it somewhat resembles 
the swine. The natives of the regions which it inhabits con- 
sider it to be very good eating. It is fond of the water, div- 
ing and swimming with great ease, and is rarely found far 
from the banks of some lake or stream. Their common resort 
is the dense thickets of undergrowth, where they lie concealed 
from danger. D’Azara says of them : — “ It is also remarked 
that when the jaguar pounces upon them, they rush headlong 
through the thickest parts of the woods, until they force him 
to quit his hold, passing through narrow and intricate places. 
The Mborebi, indeed, never frequents a beaten road or path- 
way, but breaks and pushes through whatever it encounters 
with its head, which it always carries very low. It flies all 
danger, and anticipates it by means of its strong nocturnal 
vision and its acute sense of hearing.” 
There are several not very well defined species in South and 
Central America and one in South-eastern Asia. Of this 
species ( Tapirus malayanus) the Society obtained a specimen 
in the fall of 1876, but the severe Avinter which followed its 
purchase proved fatal to it, renewing a previous inflammation 
of the lungs, from the effects of which it died. It was much 
larger than the South American form and had a grayish-white 
patch marked out like a saddle-cloth over the back and sides 
from the shoulders to the rump — from this it derives its pop- 
ular name of Saddle-backed Tapir. 
During the winter a number of Macaws will be found in 
this building, which, when the weather is sufficiently warm, 
are kept in a wire cage opposite the Eagle Aviary. 
These superb birds form an important group of the order 
Psittaci, or Parrots, and live in large flocks in the forests of 
Central and South America, where their brilliant colors vie in 
intensity with the tropical vegetation which surrounds them. 
