THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2201, 7 May 1896, Page 47

THE NATURALIST.

The "Herman" at the Zoo.

Anyone interested in seeing a mermaid— or merman, rather — in tbe flesh can. now gratify his curiosity by a visit to the Zoo. The authorities have been lucky enough to obtain a real live specimen of a very Btrange and rare animal, known as a manatee, which Is generally supposed to hava been the origin of the mermaid fiction among the ancients. As a matter of fact, in ' appearance the manatee almost exactly resembles a whale, except that its length is something less than 4ft, and that it is endowed with a tail like a beaver's and a mouth like the " sucker " at the end of an elephant's trunk ; but in place of fins it possesses a couple of flappers, which bear a ouribubly close resemblance to a pair of human hands, and which serve much the same purpose as a human being's arms!

In its native state the manatee will carry her young about in her arms, and occasionally, when hard up for food, will make capital out of her offspring by holding them up to the gaze of the crew &b Bhe swims round a ship. This method of soliciting alms is more suggestive of a beggarvroman than of a graceful mermaid; but it was apparently quite sufficient ground in the minds o£ the ancient mariners for weaving a romantic hiitory round the fishy mendicant.

The present specimen in the Zoo is a singularly stolid and unromantlc-loofeing creature. Notwithstanding that the wound from its captor's harpoon la still visible on its back, it lives contentedly in a small tank, and seems to think that the copious supply of beetroot with, which its keeper supplies it is

ample compensation foe toe mote varlegAtea diet it nibbled from thd banks of He uativa Amazon.

Tbe dieting of the manatee is a diffioulfc j matter. Though it will readily devour any j form of green food, it is a martyr td dyspepsia, all of its predecessors at the Zoo | haviDg died of that distressing complainfe | Curiously enough, too, in its captive condl- | tion it can't be induced to touch what keepi I it "at" when free— viz, a few stalks o£ | common dandelion. | The Talk ob 1 Oats.— Oats differ a3 much : as human beiDgs in tbe qnality of their ! voices and in their talkativeness, and as far as my observation goes, the finest bred have the least to say. Princess and her immediate | descendants were talkers; they always I mewed for what they wanted, and in response to a greeting or question ; and they asked many questions, the drift of which wa could not always catob, with uomißtakabla 1 interrogation in the tone. She and M'liss, who was a chatterbox after her kind, both had a habit of making little conversational sounds in the throat, as many dogs have, especially when much patted; they would keep up this sotto-voce communication for 10 or 15 minutes, muoh to our perplexity, ■though it somatimes evidently exprened affection or a wish for sympathy. They had | great variety of Inflections in talking to their i kittens, and many of them wore tender, and even musioal, like the chirp of a bird. M'itea, had a cheerful mew, particularly ih bidding" one good morning, bus some oats have always a tone of complaint. Most of mine acknowledge any little service, suoh as bringing food or opening a door, by a mew of gratitude. — Temple Bar.

CoußfeSHtp Among Bibds.— Courtships exist amongst birds as well as amongst human being*, and in both oases form one of the moat serious and neoeasafy businesses of life ; but there is at least one very remarkable difference, for while amongst human beings women sport the gayer and more gorgeous costume in order to attract the other aex, amongst birds that rule is reversed, - and it is the males who are arrayed in the brighter and gayer plumage, and who .tftka every opportunity of showing off to the best advantage before the birds they wish to mate with. In thajcase of the blue 1 bird, the male lover will peroh a few inches away frgm hii enslaver, nnd attempt to bewitoh her with tbe sweetness of his song, Hi» low, soft warble ia a delicious bit of love-pleading, which ought to soften the most obdurate heart, but the female is coy and flouts him. Coming nearer, and slightly elevating and quivering bis wings, he bows in front of her, all the while pleading in an impaecioned manner, and then raising himself, puffs ont hia breast and stalks in front of her. His song them takes a more, virile strain, and he boasts of his prowess in the fields. Anon he turns his back and calls her attention to his beautiful blue coat. Again he turns nnd points to the beauty of his scarlet vest, and tbiß last argument (how deadly is a red coat in all couttabipe I) proves eff eotive, and the fair one yields. The courting ol! the pea-, cock ia not so plaasiug ia voice, but he proceeds much in the same way in the plumage argument. He spreads out his beautiful tail to its greatest extent, and, holding his head for back, strolls round in a circle so as beisfc to display its beautieß from all points of view.