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Show 40 MR. J. VERREAUX ON CERTAIN TOURACOES. [Jail. 17, adventures of the early fur-traders on the Pacific slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Indeed, for some time after settlers came to that part of the country, so troublesome were the Snakes that they would even enter the houses and get under the beds. All efforts to lessen their numbers proved futile until Pigs became common in that part of the country. These Pigs were turned loose in the "oak-scrub" to feed on the acorns of the Quercus garryana, and generally to root about. From that day the reign of the Rattlesnake was on the wane ; and now so few are they in this locality that though I stayed there for about a fortnight, continually roaming about the country on foot on botanical excursions, for a radius of six or seven miles, I do not remember even seeing one. It was not until I got beyond the range of the Pigs that they again began to be common. Between the Pigs and the Snakes there seems to be a natural antipathy. The moment a Pig sees a Snake it rushes upon it, grunting loudly ; and before the Serpent can strike, it plants its foot on the Snake's head, crushing it, and then devours it. A Snake makes off immediately on the approach of a Pig; and so well do the Indians know of this antipathy, that I have often seen the women come to the settlers, begging for a piece of fresh Pig's skin to wrap around their ankles when gathering berries in the bush as a preventative against being bit by Rattlesnakes. This was in Southern Oregon, in Rogue-River valley; but the same belief (for which I doubt not there exists some good foundation in experience) is very widely spread. The Pig, it is said, is proof against the poison of the Rattlesnake. This 1 cannot certify as true, as I never had an opportunity of putting the assertion to the test. It may be, however, that the thick layer of fat in the Pig prevents the watery poison from reaching the more vital parts and so entering the larger blood-vessels." 4 M . Jules Verreaux, C.M.Z.S., made the following remarks on the colouring-matter of the wing-feathers of certainTouracoes, in reference to a discussion which had taken place at the previous Meeting:- " Comme il a etc question, dans la derniere seance de la Socie'te, d'un fait assez interessant sur le coloration des plumes de l'aile du genre Corythaix, permettez-moi que je viens vous soumettre quelques-unes des observations qu'il m'a ete permises de faire durant mes lon°-s voyages dans le sud de l'Afrique deja en 1818, lorsque j'accom-pagnais au Cap de Bonne-Esperance feu mon oncle Delalande. J'ob-servais dans le canton nomme Knysna un grand nombre du Corythaix albocristata de Strickland, et je remarquai que pendant les pluies diluviennes qui durerent plusieurs jours, ces oiseaux qui habitent d'ordinaire la sommite des grands arbres, descendaient sur les branches basses, et cherchaient dans les lieux les plus touffus un refuse contre l'intensite de la pluie, mais je remarquais aussi qu'a ce moment leur plumage etait tellement imbibe d'eau qu'ils ne pouvaient voler. Etant parvenu, apres bien de la ruse, a m'emparer d'un sujet que j'avais saisi par l'aile, et qui m'echappa, quelle fut m a surprise de voir l'interieur de ma main coloree en rouge comme du sang, mais qui disparut aussitot le lavage. Ce fait m'ayant paru des plus curieux, |