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Show 1897.] MR. SCLATER ON THE EGG OE CARIAMA CRISTATA. 813 of Hippopotamus amphiblus. which were remarkable as being sufficiently tame to allow the keeper to ride on their backs aud thus placed to feed them from his hand. The most noticeable Mammals in the Zoological Garden of Moscow were a fine adult female of the Persian Deer (Cervus maral), accompanied by a young fawn, very distinctly spotted on the back (see Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vii. p. 336, pl. xxix.). There was also a young male of this beautiful Deer, and a young female Saiga Antelope (Saiga tatarlca). In the renowned Zoological Garden of Berlin there was, as always, much to be inspected and admired. The Garden was fortunate in possessing one of the few pairs of the old stock of Nubian Giraffes, Giraffa camelopardalls, still existing in European menageries. These animals were fifteen or sixteen years old, but still in excellent form and condition. The male showed the median horn very prominently (cf. de Winton, P. Z. S. 1897, p. 276); in the female it was barely observable. Amongst the Antelopes, Mr. Sclater had noticed fine examples of Gazella cuvieri 2 , Cephalophus harveyl from German East Africa, Buballs llchtenstelnl, and Cobus unctuosus (3, 2 e^ vit.). The new Bird-house contained a large series of examples of Passerine and other birds, many of which Mr. Sclater had not seen alive before. Amongst these were Oriolus trailll, 0. melano-ctphalus, Crateropus squamlceps, Rutlcilla leucocephala, Artamus sordidus, and Pyocephalus versten. There were also many fine Cranes, Storks, and Herons to be seen (Ardea sibllatrix, Ardea gularis, &c), for which a new House was in preparation. The series of the larger Birds of Prey comprised fine examples of Spizaetus coronatus and S. belllcosus, and two quite adult examples of Haliaetus branickii with perfectly white tails. In the same compartment as the last was a nearly adult specimen of H. pelagicus, showing at a glance the striking diversities of these two large-billed Sea-eagles. Mr. Sclater exhibited an egg of the Cariama (Cariama cristata) laid in the Society's Gardens on the 18th of August last, and remarked that it was not so pointed and not so much spotted as those described and figured by Prof. Newton in 1889', but otherwise agreed with them in its characters. Mr. Sclater read the subjoined notes from Mr. Arthur Thomson, the Head-Keeper, on this subject:- " Two Cariamas which were thought to be a pair were put together during the past summer in the large cage at the west end of the Eastern Avairy, where a large flat basket had been fixed in one corner as a suitable nesting-place. Birch-twigs &c. were scattered about the cage and the birds (which proved to be a pair) soon began to carry them into the basket. The female laid two eggs in July and commenced to sit on the 21st. Both birds took turns on the nest, and I have seen the female drive the male on to the ] See P.Z.S. 1889, p. 25, pl. i. |