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THE following Plates are selected Lee the series of Drawings made by Mr. Enwarp
Lzar from the living animals in the Right Honourable the Bar or Dersys Menagerie
at Knowsley Hall, forming part of the large collections of Zoological Drawings in his
Lordship’s library. They have been lithographed with great care by Mr. J. W. Moons,

and coloured by Mr. Bayrrexp.

Their chief value consists in their being accurate representations of living specimens.

J. E. GRAY.

BRITISH MUSEUM,

August 1, 1846.

GLEANINGS.

VITOE. Nyctipithecus felinus.

PLATE I.

Nyctipithecus felinus, Spix, Sim. Braz. t. 18.—Gray, List Mam. Brit. Mus. 1843, 14.
Cheirogaleus Commersonu, Vig. and Horsf., Zool. Journ.

Nyctipithecus Azare, Wagner, Erich. Arch. 1843.

Maraquina, Azara.

Inuasits South America.

We have three very distinct species of this genus in the British Museum collection, viz. : ;

1. With short, close, yellowish grey fur, with three equal, narrow, elongated streaks on the head ; which
appears to be the Simia trivirgata of Humboldt, described from a specimen which had lost its external
ears: hence it has been formed into a genus under the name of 4otus. Lesson has called the same spe-
cies V. Duruculi, and Schinz, N. Humboldt. It is the NV. trivirgatus of the British Museum Catalogue, and
probably the JV. vociferans of Spix, and the Northern A@riquina of M. Natterer.

2. With short close fur, like the former, but of a darker colour, with two white and three black tr:-
angular spots on the forehead. This is the species here figured.

3. The species from Santa Fe de Bogota, which is rather yellowish grey, but with long, very dense fur,
and with three indistinct blackish spots on the lower edge of the forehead. In the ‘List of the Mammalia
in the British Museum’ I regarded it as a variety of the preceding species, but having procured another
specimen, and examined others, from the same country, I am convinced it is a distinct species.

WHISKERED YARKE. | Pithecia rufiventer.

PLATE II.

Pithecia pogonias, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. x. p. 356; Zool. Voy. H. M.S. “Sulphur,” Mammalia,
t. ; List Mam. Brit. Mus. 1843, 13.
Pithecia rubiventer, 1. Geoff. MSS. Mus. Paris, 1845.

Tue species of Yarkes having been very much confused; I attempted to unravel them in the ‘ Zoology of the
Voyage of H.M.S. Sulphur, and gave figures of the more characteristic parts of the three species con-
tained in the British Museum collection. Since the publication of that essay, on examining the Paris
collection, I have found that the Pithecia Monachus of Geoffroy the elder, which has long been a riddle
to zoologists, was established on a very young specimen of the species which I have described and figured
in the ‘Zoology of H. M. S. Sulphur’ under the name of P. ¢rrorata; the former name should in justice
be reinstated. Professor Andrew Wagner, in Erichson’s Archives for 1844, says that it.1s the same as
the P. hersutus of Spix; and as he resides in Munich, where Spix’s specimen is preserved, probably his
determination is right, though it disagrees in several particulars with both the figure and description of
that author.

Dr. Andrew Wagner, in the same work for 1843, states that the species here figured is only a young
male or female of P. /eucocephalus, but this is evidently a mistake, as we have in the British Museum col-
lection both sexes, and old and young of both species, and the Whiskered Yarke is not uncommon in
collections of Brazilian animals sent to this country for sale.

RED MACAUCO. Lemur rufus.

PLATE IIL.
Lemur rufus, Audeb. Makis, 12. fig. 2.—Cop. Schreb. Saugth. t. 39 c—Geoff. Ann. Mus. xix. 160.

Inuazsirs Madagascar. |

This is one of the most distinct species of this very difficult genus. It appears to be doubtful, if great
part of the difficulty in distinguishing the various specimens from one another, does not arise from the
species breeding together with facility.

YAGOUARONDI. Leopardus Yagouarondi.

PLATE IV.

Felis Yagouarondt, Lacép.—Griffith, A. K. t. 86. f. 2—Darwin, Zool. Beagle, 16. t. 8.
Felts Darwini, Martin, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, 3.
Leopardus Yagouarondi, Gray, Cat. Mamm. Brit. Mus. 42.

Tuts is the tropical representative of the Puma.

This species, though it appears to be simply grisled by the pale tips to the hairs, when viewed in an
oblique direction shows distinct indications of spots, and like the Puma and other plain-coloured Feline, is
distinctly spotted when first born, the spots becoming more indistinct when the fur is first changed.

The white band across the sides of the loins, which was so distinctly exhibited in this specimen, appears
to be formed by some peculiar arrangement of the hair, as it was only visible when the animal was sitting
erect.

The Eyra (Fehs Eyra, Desm.) is much smaller, pale red, and not grisled.

oO
a

BANDED MUNGOUS. Mungos fasciatus.
PLATE V.

Vwerra Mungo, Kempf. Ameen. Exot. 574. f. 567.

Viverra Ichneumon, Schreber, Saugth. t. 116, from Mangouste de l’Inde, Buffon, Hist. Nat. xiii. t. 19.
Herpestes fasciatus, Desm. Dict. Sci. Nat. xxix. 58.

Herpestes zebra, Ruppell, Fauna Abyss. t. 9. f. 2.

Ryzena Suricata, Children in Clapperton’s Travels, App.

Mungos fasciatus, Gray, Cat. Mam. Brit. Mus. 50.

Innasits Africa.

M. de Buffon believed that his specimen was found in India. It is a native of Africa, and appears to
have a very extensive distribution in that country. Dr. Ruppell found it in Abyssinia; Captain Clapper-
ton at Lake Tschad; Dr. A. Smith and Mr. Burke in the interior of South Africa; Colonel Perronet
Thompson in Sierra Leone; and Mr. Whitfield brought the specimen here figured from the Gambia.

JELERUNG or JAVAN SQUIRREL. Sciurus Javensis.
PLATE VI.

Sciurus Javensis, Schreb. Saugth. 781. t. 216.

Scirus Madagascariensis, Shaw, Zool. 9, 128.

Sciurus bicolor, Sparmann, Vet. Selsk. Handl. i. 70.—Horsf. Z. R. Java.
Sciurus bergmaricus, MacClelland MSS.

Javan Squirrel, Pennant, Quad. 409.

Ecureuil de Madagascar, Buffon, H. N. Supp. vii. 243. t. 63.

Innasits India, Java.

This is one of the examples of the large flat-tailed, round-eared Squirrel of India and the islands of the
Indian Archipelago, which, like the larger squirrels of the American Continent, are most difficult to sepa-
rate from one another; for according to the number of specimens which come under observation, one
is at one time inclined to regard them as several very distinct species, and at others, as all accidental
varieties of the same: but certainly, the specimens which come from the same locality are generally very
similar, and the change of the colours of the surface of the fur is sometimes only produced by the change
in the colour of the tips of the hairs.

QUEBEC MARMOT or WEENUSK. Arctomys Empetra.

PLATE VII.

Mus Empetra, Pallas, Glir. 75.

Arctomys Empetra, Schreb. Saugth. t. 210.—Rich, N. J. 147. t. 9.—Sabine, Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. p. 384.
Arctomys melanopus, Kuhl, Beitr. 64.

Arctomys Marmotta Canadensis, Kuhl, Beitr. 64.

Arctomys niger, 1. Geoff. MSS. Mus. Paris.

Gls Canadensis, Erxl. Syst. 363.

Monazx Ghs, F. Cuv. Mam. Lithog. t.

Arctomys Monax, Audub. Mam. N. Amer. t. 3.

Quebec Marmot, Penn. Syn. 270.— Quad. 397. t. 41. f. 2.

‘Inuasrrs North America, Canada.

EYEBROWED GUAN. Penelope superciliaris.
PLATE VIIL.

Penelope. superciharis, Mliger, Wagler, Isis, 1830, 1110.
Salpiza superciliaris, Wagler.
Penelope Jacu-pemba, Spix, N.S. Av. Braz. 7. t. 72.

Ixunasits Tropical America.

PILEATED GUAN. Penelope pileata.
PLAT H IX

Penelope pileata, Lichtenstein, Wagler, Isis, 1830, 1110.
Salpiza pileata, Wagler.—Gray, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. 19.

Inuasits Tropical America.

The Earl of Derby in his Notes remarks on these birds and the Curassows :—

‘One species of Guan, of which we do not know the name, but a small brown kind, has laid with us,
and we reared three young about five years back. Thompson thinks the young lived till the following
season: we have some of the same kind now.”—July 21, 1846. .

“¢ As to Curassows, we have bred them several times, and I have one young one of this year, but I rather
think they have all been of the same kind, viz. C. globicera.”—July 21, 1846.

“We have two young Curassows, C. glodicera, and some eggs, both of that kind and of the Paua. I
wish these last may succeed.” |

“We have lost the young Cushew bird.”

«<The skin of the Gallina di Monte (Oreophasis Derbianus, G. R. Gray, Genera of Birds, t. _) was given
by Mr. Klee, a gentleman of Guatemala and a friend of Mr. Skinner’s, to my collector Bates for me, and
it was the only bird of the kind that Bates saw in the country, though he heard much of them; nor do I
know with certainty whether my specimen be male or female, though I suspect the former.” —1844.

PIPING GUAN. Penelope pipile.
PLATE X.

Crax pipile, Jacq. Beitr. z. Gesch. der Vogel, t. 11.
Penelope pipile, Gmel. |

Penelope leucolophus, Merr.

Penelope Jacatinga, Spix, N. S. Av. Braz. t. 70.

Inuazits Tropical America.

PURPLISH GUAN. Penelope purpurascens.

PLATE XI.

Penelope purpurascens, Wagler.

Inuazits Tropical America.

AMERICAN EMU. Rhea Americana.

PLATE XIl.

Struthio Rhea, Linn. Syst. Nat.
Rhea Americana, Lath.—Vieill. Gal. Ois. t. 225.

Inuasrrs the East Coast of South America.

Until lately it was believed that there was only a single species of American Ostrich; but Mr. Darwin,
~ ina letter to Professor Henslow, states that he was led, by the account he heard from the natives, to believe
that the kind found in Chili differed from those which inhabited the plains of the east coast; and spe-
cimens of different ages which have lately been received from Mr. Bridges and deposited in the British
Museum collection, prove the truth of this idea. |

The following are extracts from Lord Derby’s Notes :—

“The six Rheas of last year are doing well, though one has somehow lost an eye.”—May 16, 1845.

“The Rhea has begun to lay.”—May 23, 1845.

“My Rhea eggs have hatched ill this year; out of twenty-six, twenty-three proved bad, and the other
three had dead birds in them. But I have three later still to hatch: I hope they may prove more lucky.”
—Sept. 18, 1845.

‘‘ My Rheas have laid about thirty eggs

«‘Qut of my new young Rheas we hone certainly to succeed (accidents barred) with six of tinea. My
young Rheas are progressing well.” |

«The Rhea has laid about forty eggs, but no incubation yet.”—July 2, 1846.

« The Rhea Americana has bred here twice, and at this moment I have, I believe, upwards of forty eggs,
laid partly, I believe, by those bred here.” —July 21, 1846.

‘My African Ostrich has laid four eggs.” —1846.

«My Emu is sitting on fourteen eggs, and we have one Rhea egg.”—May 31], 1845.

«My female Emu has laid about twenty eggs, but still the male shows no symptoms of sitting.” —
April 9, 1846.

‘It is rather provoking our Emu will not sit, while at Wentworth their male is wanting to sit and has
no egg. John thinks of sending our eggs to them. Would you advise this ?”

«My only doubt about sending the Emu eggs to be hatched. by the Wentworth male i is, whether the
carriage might not spoil them.”

WATTLED CROWN CRANE. Balearica regulorum.

PLATE XIII.

Grus regulorum, Lichtenstein.
Balearica regulorum, G. R. Gray, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 7, 75.

Innasits South Africa.

This species is easily known from the common Crowned Crane of Northern and Western Africa be the
colour of the cheeks and the size of the throat wattle.

The Crown Cranes are separated from the other Cranes by the structure of their nostrils; indeed the
nostrils appear to form one of the best characters for the separation of the Wading Birds into natural
groups, as I attempted to prove in the arrangement of them published in the ‘Synopsis of the British Mu-
seum for 1840.’

‘<The Crowned or Numidian Cranes have never bred here, or even paired, I believe.’—July 21, 1846.

STANLEY CRANE. Scops Paradisea.

PLATE XIV.

Ardea Paradisea, Licht. Cat. (1793) 28.
Tetrapteryx Capensis, Thunberg, 1818.
Anthropoides Stanleyanus, Vigors, Zool. Journ. vi. t. 8.

Innasrrs South Africa. | :

This bird was first described by M. Lichtenstein, the father of the African traveller, in the catalogue of
his collection, and introduced by Bechstein into his translation of Latham’s ‘Synopsis of Birds.’ It was
afterwards formed into a peculiar genus by the celebrated Thunberg; but their description having escaped
the researches of Mr. Vigors, he described it as a new species, and gave the first figure of it in the ‘ Zoolo-
gical Journal,’ as above cited.

It is the most elegant bird of the family of Cranes, so peculiar for the grace and lightness of their
movements, and is at once known from the Demoiselle of India by its superior size and the length of the
plumes over the tail.

Lord Derby in his Notes observes :—

-“T possessed for some years several individuals of that species of the genus Anthropoides which my
late friend Dr. Latham had done me the honour to distinguish by my name, in consequence of my having
had the good fortune first to draw his attention to the bird, which I had seen in the Tower of London,
then under the care of Mr. Cops, but not one of them had ever shown any signs of a chance of breeding,
until, in the year 1843, my superintendent Thompson thought he saw in two of them an inclination to pair,
and he immediately determined to separate them from all others of the same kind, in a small paddock
behind his own house, in which were the Elands and some large fowls. The plan succeeded, for in the
next year (1844) the hen laid seven eggs, but scattered about in different parts of the paddock, without
any appearance of a nest. From this circumstance I entertained little, if any, expectation of any good
being derived from them, but we decided to put them into the hatching-machine, and the result was, that
while six out of the seven proved barren, the seventh produced a chicken, which however was always deli-
cate and lived but a very short time, not above two or three days. ‘The system of seclusion was continued,
and in the spring of 1845 she laid five eggs, which Thompson placed at first under a Turkey, but not con-
sidering her a sufficiently good nurse, when the period of hatching drew near, he took them from her and
put them under a large Hen, of a somewhat Indian breed. ‘Two of the five proved addle; the other three
had. birds in them, of which the third died in the shell; but two were hatched, and far from showing any
disposition to remain in the nest and be fed, they from the first took to their legs, and followed the ex-
ample of so many Chickens or Partridges, actively running about and picking up the food thrown to them,
and even taking it from the hand They appeared to go on very well for some short time; but in about a
week or ten days, I think, one of them was found one morning to be suffering apparently from cramp, for it
could not stand on its legs, though it fed very well; but though every attention was paid to it, it never
recovered its powers, and died at about ..... The other continued strong and healthy, and grew very
rapidly in size, and I trusted we might have succeeded in finally rearing that one; but at last, a short time
before its companion’s death, it also became ill, and survived its fellow but very little. I had them both
preserved, and all three now form portions of my museum. The same attempt will be continued with the
same pair next season, and a second pair are already separated after the same plan, when I trust, with one
or the other, we may be more fortunate than we have yet been, especially if the next season should be more
favourable than the two last have been.”

‘One of my young Stanley Cranes is going on well, and I am told is much grown, but the other has
been for some days laid up by cramp and cannot stand, but still feeds well.”—Sept. 18, 1845.

_ ‘My young Cranes still both exist, but one I fear we shall never rear: the other is a fine bird and
grows fast. They are now between three and six weeks old, and one at least getting into pen-feathers,
and commencing the change of the body, getting more grey and the head becoming paler.”

“The Stanley Cranes have certainly bred with us, but I rather think that hitherto it has been always
the same pair, which has now, I may say, bred three years. In the first I think only one was hatched; last
year two were reared till about half-grown, as you may see in Hawkins’s Drawings, which comprise those
two, from the life, in two states of growth, the single one of the former year from the Museum, and the
egg. This year the same pair have laid six eggs certainly, if not more, but none have as yet been hatched.”

—July 21, 1846.

MANED GOOSE. Chenalopex jubata.

PLATE XY,

Anas jubata, Spix, N. 8. Av. Braz. ii. t. 168.
Anas polycomus, Lesson, Trait. d’Orn.
Chenalopex jubata, Wagler.—Gray, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 126.

Inuazits Tropical America.

These birds breed freely at Knowsley. On the approach of a stranger they have the habit of raising
their bodies nearly erect, swelling out their hreasts, and flapping their wings against the legs of the in-
truder. ‘They sometimes bend themselves backwards to such an extent, that they appear as if they would
fall on their backs. |

The following observations on the breeding of Water-fowl at Knowsley are extracted from Lord Derby’s
Notes :—

«The Orenoco Goose has laid eight eggs, which are set.”—May 24, 1844.

“You will be glad to hear that my eight young Orenoco Goslings are all doing well. You will find it
figured in Lear’s drawing, who was much amused by its manner of swelling out the breast like a Pouter
Pigeon, which he has represented. I have had them before, but these are the first pair that have ever
bred with us.”—June 11, 1844.

‘The Maned, or as we call it the Orenoco Goose, has bred with us, and one year they hatched eight
eggs; but before the next season the old gander killed his mate, and since then neither he nor any of his
progeny have bred or paired as far as I know. One pair of the young ones were sent last year to Her
Majesty, but as far as I hear they also have been unproductive.” —July 21, 1846.

“The Waterfowl are beginning to breed: one Sandneck has hatched four out of five eggs; one Black
Swan two, all she had. My Thoulouse Geese are both sitting, one on twelve, another on ten eggs; a
Canada hen, three eggs; and a Chinese Goose, eight; other things going on well.”—May 1845.

“My Carolina Ducks have laid well; about thirty-five eggs. I trust they will hatch well.”

‘We think the Eiders have paired, but as yet no egg.”—May 16, 1845.

‘Our Eiders too are supposed to have paired, but no eggs are yet laid there. I fear our Java Teal
have been prevented by the outbreak of the pond, and the consequent bustle in that vicinity.”—May 19,
1845.

‘““We have hatched three or four Goslings from a hybrid male (between the White-fronted and Ber-
nicle) with the female of the first. John says it is a third cross, I call it a second; but at all events, how
does this fact square with the principle, that mules are barren; or if not, that the fact proves the parents
to be the same identical species? Surely the Bernicle and White-fronted Geese cannot be said to be iden-
tical in species, any more than the Dshygetai and Zebra and Burchell’s Zebra; but the first has copu-
lated with his own daughter by the last: whether she will produce is yet to be seen.” —May 24, 1844.

“ But they have been unlucky with the Thoulouse Geese, only hatching five out of twenty-two eggs.” —
May 16, 1845.

“Twelve young summer Ducks, and ten of Anas obscura. The Javanese Teal has not bred.”—May 31,
1845.

“We have fifteen Penguin Ducks hatched, and one Canada Gosling out of five eggs ; nine young Silver
Pheasants earlier than usual, but no advantage, as the birds are earlier than the insects.”

‘« My Black Swans are proceeding famously : a pair I have on the Kennel Dam bred late in last year, and
~ out of six eggs hatched four cygnets, of which one died, and the remaining three are now about four months
old. They are of course still with the mother, who however has now six more eggs, and is beginning to
sit again. Pretty quick, laying twelve eggs in less than twelve months.”—March 10, 1846.

‘J shall have a sight for you that you will think interesting: several of my West African birds, in the
place appropriated to the smaller Insessores, have taken to breeding in considerable numbers, and some
have actually young ones at this moment. They are chiefly, I am told (for I have not seen them, as I
cannot get there), of the Weaver kind, but I am not aware that such have ever bred in this country before.
You were much pleased with the drawing of the nest of the Ploceus, but I am sorry to tell you, the stock
raised has not been over-successful. Of the whole number of nests, near fifty I believe in all, not more
than six or seven young were hatched, and of these but one now survives, and that a very weakly thing.
The time of year is very much against them, and I fear there is not much likelihood of their altering their
natural habits, and accommodating their breeding-time to the new climate they are brought to.”—Jan. 31,

1844.

EYEBROWED ROLLULUS. Reollulus superciliosus.

PLATE XVI.

Innasrrs India ?
This interesting species has not hitherto been described. It forms a peculiar section in the genus,

which may be characterized by the small size and slenderness of the beak, and the absence of the occipital
crest.

The male is dark olive, beneath dark bluish grey; cheeks and underpart of head black; forehead and
streak over the orbits and on the side of the cheek white; vent blackish white-spotted; beak and feet
yellow. |
The female brown; feathers of the side of the crown and upper part of the body with an ovate acute
black spot near the middle of the end; bill and feet yellow.

The following remarks on the breeding of Gallinaceous Birds at Knowsley are extracted from Lord
Derby’s Notes :—

“We have about eighty-five Silver and about as many Gold Pheasants hatched.’—1845.

«| have a Silver and a Gold Hen Pheasant, both sitting on her own eggs, laid out wild.” —May 23, 1840.

‘My Argus Pheasant went off in a fit yesterday, and died.”—March 1, 1846.

‘In one of your recent notes you expressed a wish to have some of our casualties, in case I did not
require them for myself; and as you have also taken an interest in my Firebacks, you will be glad to know
that the first two eggs of this season which have been set have each proved fruitful, and I have now one very
promising young chick, which is going on quite well. They were hatched on Sunday, but one has died,
as we believe, trodden on by the nurse. These were among your desiderata; and as I have both the egg
and chicken already, I have directed John to send this dead one up to you. These are not, I believe you
are aware, the first that have been hatched, as we succeeded in bringing out some few last year, but they all
died. I trust now we shall succeed in rearing this, and we have eight more eggs to come out still, which
we have good hopes from. You probably recollect that I have but one hen and two cocks, but I cannot
feel at all assured that these latter are both of the same kind, though certainly very nearly allied, if they
are different. We thought at first that the differences were from age, but they both continue without
change as they were at first.”

«T am sorry that I have very bad news to communicate to you: yesterday we lost the streak-sided male
of the Firebacks very suddenly, and in rather an odd way. You will recollect, perhaps, that they were
stationed in a part divided off from another portion of the New Aviary, in which were some of our Curas-
sows and other Gallinaceous birds. It is supposed that he had been fighting at some of them through the
partition, and so furiously, that he tore off his spurs, and died in a very short time. The female has laid
two eggs; and though the other male still remains, I cannot help fearing this will cause great interruption
to our hopes and to her going on properly. This is sadly provoking.”—May 19, 1845.

“Of the Fireback we have seven eggs set, for she has laid since the old cock’s death, and is on very
good terms with the remaining male.”—May 23, 1840.

“I trust the Firebacks will breed: we have now eight eggs, and seven of them set already; besides
which, recollect, we have still the other smaller cock, with which the hen breeds as well as with her late
larger mate.”—May 31, 1845.

« You will also I hope have received a young Fireback Pheasant, as all my four have very recently died
blind. I kept a pair for myself, and have sent for the British Museum one of the males: they were begin-
ning, you will see, to advance towards the dress of age, and what I sent you before was only a chick.”

“We have also some Fireback eggs under incubation, but these are got by the smaller male, your
brown-sided. Will there be a cross between the two species, or are the three adult birds only two
varieties 2?” —June 6, 1840.

«You will be glad to know that the young Firebacks are doing beautifully. We have now, I think, four
living out of five hatched, only one having died. One will be three weeks old tomorrow, two a fortnight,
and one a week. The cock you call the brown-sided is the one we have bred from this year, and he seems
to have done his duty well, as we may say but one egg has proved addle or dead in shell out of ten, cer-
tainly out of six, and we know there are chicks in those still under incubation.” —July 13, 1845.

«My Firebacks have this year laid fourteen eggs, of which five have been set, in every one of which
there was a young one. Of these I have two very promising chicks, but the last three have been all dead
in the shell.’—July 2, 1846.

«JT have been with John today, instead of going to the course, inspecting our stock, and find we have
now five young Firebacks of this year, but one is a cripple or is cramped, and the others all promise well.”

—July 16, 1846.
«We have now four young Firebacks living of this year, besides two young cocks of last season.” —

July 21, 1846. |
“T received last night a letter from a friend in Belize, who has, by an Indian whom he despatched for

the purpose into the country where the Meleagris ocellata chiefly dwells, succeeded in procuring four living

specimens, of which two are stated to be fine healthy birds; the other two were weakly, and from the
necessary exposure to wet and confinement, &c. were seized with blindness, and one of them had died.
My friend doubts the other ever recovering its eyesight, but he trusts the two will survive, to be sent i due
time to England. He had however determined, and I think wisely, not to risk their voyage before April
next, when he will send them by some careful captain, either to Liverpool, if possible, or if not, to London ;
as if sent in the winter they would have no chance of coming safe, owing to the severe north winds which
prevail on these coasts. I certainly do not feel confident at all as yet, but 1 am delighted, as I think there
is now a better chance than I have ever had of possessing these beauties in life. Ido not know what sexes
these birds are, or aught more than I have told you, but I shall in consequence postpone at least the idea I
had in contemplation, of letting Bates go again and make another attempt.” —1844. |

« As you are interested in the Meleagris, I may as well tell you I have heard from Mr. Skinner, who
has lately gone out again to Belize, who says that the first thing he saw on landing was a fine male, strut-
ting about Mr. Thompson’s yard with his poultry, in good health but wofully mutilated in plumage. Mr.
Thompson, thinking they would be happier together, put my two surviving birds: in this way they quar-
reled, and one only remains, which Mr. Skinner has advised to be sent off by a sailing rather than a steam-
vessel, and I imagine it is now on its route. I shall however relinquish the hope of introducing this bird,
on account of its fierce disposition; but I must try to obtain the female and young, dead or alive.”—
Feb. 18, 1844.

“‘T am glad to tell you Dyson has brought a specimen of Mel. ocellata home, which is now, I am glad to
say, doing well here; but by what I hear of it (for till today our weather has not permitted me to get to
the Aviary), I am much afraid it will turn out to be a female, and of course the idea of a breed must be
abandoned, unless some one else shall be hereafter lucky enough to bring me a mate for her.” —Oct. 5, 1845.

‘Tam glad to tell you I have had a letter from Mr. Skinner, which has actually restored in some
degree my almost extinguished hopes of the male Med. ocellata.”

“We meditate trying my Honduras female with a true male American Turkey. The Honduras Turkey
has laid about thirteen eggs, but her first were not good.”

« The versicolor Pheasant egg laid by the hen before it died on the passage 1s very small, and rather duller
in colour even than our common Pheasant.”

«‘ The Phasianus versicolor here is so like the P. Colchicus, that I shall try to cross my male with some of
our common Hens, for fear of losing him by any sudden accident; or perhaps the Bohemian Hen might
answer better for the cross.”

«The Bohemian Hen, put to the male Phascanus versicolor, has laid, but it is doubtful if the egg is by
him.”

‘“‘The egg laid by the Phascanus versicolor Hen on her journey from Amsterdam, and also that laid by
the Bohemian Hen which we put to the male since their arrival here, have both proved bad.”—July 2, 1846.

‘My Double-spurred Partridge, brought by Whitfield from W. Africa, has laid three eggs, and one of
the others has hatched today.”—May 31, 1840.

“Of my young Perdix Clappertonii we have lost but one, having seven still doing well, but of course we
know not what sex.”

“The old pair of Perdix Clappertonii, which hatched eight young last year, all now alive, has this year
produced five more. None of those of last year have yet bred. I have now thirteen, and gave a pair to
Sir R. Heron.”—June 23, 1844.

“Tam glad certainly that the Perdiv Clappertoni has been prolific again, but I would rather this pro-
duce should have come from some of those bred last year, than from the original importation.”—June 25,
1846. |

“I find too that some of the Ortyges brought by Bates have bred and hatched, but I fear it is a cross;
at any rate, this is too late in the year to hope to rear them, but we will try.”

‘My young hybrid Quails, or rather Ortyges, are still progressing well.”

‘We have two other Ortyges now laying, but one of them is the same as laid last year, having crossed
with another species, so that it will be a cross-breed; she then laid four eggs and hatched one, which I be-
lieve is still living.”—Jan. 26, 1845.

«¢ John has just come in with two young Odontophorz, just hatched, out of three eggs, but we have about
eight more of them to come out. I do not know the species. They were brought to me by Bates from
Central America, and are evidently very nearly allied to, but certainly not identical with, P. Guianensis of
Gould.”—Jan. 26, 1845.

«The two young that my larger Ortyges have produced do not progress so well as we could wish, but
we have two of the hybrid breed, such as those bred Jast year, that are all doing quite well, and seem
hardier than the large kind.”

‘‘T flatter myself that I have now succeeded in establishing the Black Grouse in the woods here, and I
have good hopes of the Prairie Hen, 7. cwpedo. 1 mean to try hereafter others if I can get them, especially
the Ruffed Grouse.” —1844. :

**My Prairie Hen has laid thirteen eggs, of which eleven are set, and the Ruffed Grouse have begun to
lay.” —May 16, 1845.

«‘ Both the Prairie Hen and Ruffed Grouse have laid about fourteen eggs each, some of which are set,
and I hope will do well.”—May 19, 1840.

‘One young Ruffed Grouse has been hatched.”—-May 31, 1840.

“The eight Ruffed Grouse are all together and going on well.” —July 13, 1844.

‘I have not heard as yet any news of the Grey Hen’s nest ; but though the cocks are constantly seen,
the hens have not been for some time, so it is hoped they are sitting.”—May 19, 1840.

‘I have some Ruffed Grouse, and have turned some out, but probably too late for their breeding, as I
have not heard of that in any one instance, though I know that some have continued to be seen about, and
I hope we shall yet succeed.” —1843.

«My Black Game I fear have taken to wandering, as I have heard of a hen having been killed on Lord
Sefton’s property, at some distance, which had evidently, from the state of its breast, &c., been sitting ; but
she was alone, and with no other appearance of a nest anywhere around. She was killed by the scythe.
In one other instance at home here she was disturbed and forsook the eggs, which were set, but in vain, not
having been removed soon enough. I am not without hopes.” —1843.

‘A line today from Thompson tells me the female Zinamus has only laid one solitary egg: I will how-
ever try whether it may prove fertile.” 7

“T shall certainly tell Thompson to try to hatch the Zimamus egg, even if she lays no more.”

«Some few years back I was stating, in the presence of Mr. Audubon, that in my Aviary the Passenger
Pigeon (Ectopistes migratoria of Swains.) never had but one young one in a nest ; at which Mr. Audubon
seemed much surprised and rather doubtful, asserting that the species im its own country, like other Pigeons,
produced two, and he therefore seemed to think there was some mistake in my tale. On talking with my
man Thompson on such matters this night, I asked him how the case really stood with us; when he again
confirmed my first impression, adding, that these birds cannot well have more than one young, as he had
never known more than one egg, but that they bred remarkably quick, as the female generally began a new
nest when the young was three or four days old: in these cases the old male attended and fed the young
bird, and sometimes also incubated it; in which case the female brought it food until it was fledged.”—
April 8, 1846.

EYED TYRSE. Tyrse Argus.

PLATE XVII.
Tyrse Argus, Gray, Cat. Rept. Brit. Mus. ii. 48.

Inuazrrs Western Africa.

This very interesting new species of soft Turtle lived for some time in the pond in Knowsley Park, and
at its death it was kindly presented to the British Museum, and described in the Catalogue of the Tor-
toises, Crocodiles and Amphisbeneans in that collection. It was brought home by Mr. Whitfield.

It is easily known from the soft Turtles of the Nile by the black-edged yellow streaks on the side of
the head, and the numerous eyed spots on the back. The latter species has been well figured from life in
Mr. Bell’s beautiful work on Tortoises, under the name of Zrionya labiatus. | |

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