REMINISCENCES FROM THE MELBOURNE ZOO. 
59 
model that could be used as a guide would be a chorus from a company 
of Tasmanian devils. 
The young devil is black with rather pretty white markings, in 
irregular spots or stripes. These disappear as they mature, and in 
adulthood they have merely the V-shaped white collar. Their heads are 
entirely disproportionate to their bodies; for they really seem to be 
all head, with repulsively strong jaws, large mouths filled, or over-filled 
with excessively strong teeth, that keep them perpetually grinning. 
As one might anticipate from such a list of dark characteristics, 
this creature, that is scientifically known as the Dasyure, is nocturnal in 
its habits. During the day it is too sleepy to be otherwise than very 
stupid, but with the oncoming of covering darkness it displays a cunning 
and a cleverness inseparably connected in the human mind with the 
original owners of the despised name of devil. 
A FRIENDLY LITTLE COOT 
There is a very small bird at large in the gardens that few people 
recognise as part and parcel of the establishment, but which is one of 
the most attractive little things in the whole place. It is not outwardly 
beautiful, but there is something about it that has endeared it to every- 
thing in the gardens save the churlish eagles and a few other creatures 
of their stamp. It is a little brown coot, with sea-green bill and dull 
maroon legs that cross very quaintly as he limps along slowly, a victim 
to combined old age and rheumatism. He has been in the gardens for 
over fifteen years, and has been allowed perfect freedom to go about 
the place as he chooses, and visit whomsoever he pleases. A casual 
observer, seeing him in any of the big birds’ company, would probably 
judge him to be a common wild bird that had flown down to pick up 
the scraps from some of the compounds, but this estimate would be 
entirely wrong, and by not knowing his history the visitor would miss 
one of the prettiest of the Zoo stories. 
The fact is that every bird visited by this little coot is thoroughly 
envied by all its neighbors, who exert all their blandishments in the 
attempt to entice him away. The competition between them for the 
honor of his company is such that one would only expect to be extended 
to royalty, and yet the little bird goes through life with unswelled head 
and gentle manners which prove that admiration is not always bad for 
