32



Correspondence



BREEDING OF THE LAMMERGEYER IN CONFINEMENT


Mr. Hampe’s record (1933, p. 459) of the breeding of the Condor in the

Berlin Zoo is most interesting, and inspires me to put more on record as to

the breeding of another big bird of prey, the Lammergeyer (Gypaetus

barbatus ), than I was able to do in the note which appeared on p. 84 of

last year’s volume.


This merely mentioned that Lammergeyers had been bred at Sofia

for many years. The further details I can now give are taken from the

German Zoological Journal, Der Zoologische Garten , New Series, Band i,

July, 1928, pp. 32-57, in an article by Dr. Schumann, of the Zoological

Gardens, Sofia, Bulgaria, and for my knowledge of them I am indebted to

Mr. Grunzig, of Avenel, New Jersey, U.S.A., who has kindly sent me a

translation of these essential parts of the account, which I give here :—


“ A writer in the Zoologische Beobachter for 1916 described the first

successful rearing of the Lammergeyer in the Sofia Zoo. Since then the

pair have bred regularly and raised their offspring every year ; altogether

up to 1926-7 eight young Lammergeyers were reared and only one failure

recorded. Two eggs were the regular clutch, except in 1928, when only one

was laid, and generally the first was laid about 9th January, the second

about the 13th. The female sits most eagerly . . . only leaving the nest to

feed in the mornings. She begins to sit as soon as the first egg is laid and the

incubation period lasts fifty-five to fifty-six days. . . . The second nestling

to hatch (? the weaker) was killed by the parents in every case. . . . The

success was achieved in an aviary 6 metres long, 7 deep, and 8 high. In

March, 1929, there were eleven offspring of the original pair living at the

Sofia Zoo.”


E. Hopexnson.



OBITUARY


MR. C. T. METZGER


It is with sincere regret that we have to record the death, which

took place on 28th October, 1933, of Mr. Metzger, of Chicago, a member

of this Society since 1923, but better known as the energetic founder

and editor of our American contemporary, Aviculture.


Mr. Karl Plath writes :—“ Our own Society here, which has

functioned so haphazardly during the illness of the editor, Mr. C. T.

Metzger, has suffered a severe loss in his death. He did much to

bring the Society to its prominence and, until his illness early in the

year, gave practically all of his time to it. We have not given up,

however, and hope to come back bigger and better. In the meantime,

much luck to your Society ; it is one of the few of the many things

I belong to that I thoroughly enjoy.”



