16 APRIL 1932, Page 15

A UNIQUE NEsx.

The new Zoo at Whipsnade has a host of virtues possessed by no other zoo in the world ; and needs no justification ; but if it did, I should feel inclined to quote the present activities of the Bush Turkey as type of the virtues such a place pecu- liarly possesses. The bird, as is well known, has a habit (shared by the ostrich and the crocodile !) of using mechanical heat for the hatching of its eggs. It makes up a great heap of leaves, in the midst of which the eggs are placed, and after a due period of ferment sufficient heat is generated to develop the embryos. We all knew this ; but not many of us hoped to have the chance of watching the whole process, without the need of travelling to the Antipodes. And it can be studied, and is- being studied, with a closeness hardly possible to an

observer in the wild. * * * *