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088 01261 4
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY BULLETIN
No. 30
Published by the New York Zoological Society.
July, 1908
THE MOUNTAIN GOAT BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY.
N May 20, 1908, the first Rocky Mountain
Jeon ever bred in captivity, was born in
the New York Zoological Park. Its
parents were brought from British Columbia by
Director Hornaday in November, 1905, with
three other specimens. All five were born in
May, 1905, and were captured in the mountains
north of Fort Steele.
Since the arrival of the little herd in New
York, all of its members have been maintained
in excellent health. They are fed upon very
clean crushed oats (in the hull), sliced carrots
and potatoes, an occasional apple and all the
clover hay they can eat. There are three adult
males and two females, and they have been
given three large corrals and a rustic barn in
the southwestern corner of the Park. For
amusement and exercise they climb all over the
roof of the barn, and spend much time aloft.
Although very level-headed and calm in times
of real danger, the Mountain Goat is shy of be-
ing handled and petted, and with neryous im-
patience flings itself away from an outstretched
hand. But one member of the herd will permit
its keeper to touch it. Although they are not
quarrelsome toward each other, they were so
free in prodding each other with their skewer-
like horns it was necessary to saw an inch from
each horn-tip. :
Quite a number of goats have come into cap-
ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT AND KID BORN IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK.
430
ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT KID.
Three days after birth.
tivity, but very few have survived longer than a
few months. The climatic conditions of the
Atlantic coast region have carried off eight other
goats of our acquaintance in two years or less,
and until now it has been doubted whether it
were possible to acclimatize the species on the
Atlantic coast, and maintain it in health and
vigor up to the breeding point. For this rea-
son, the news of the birth in the New York herd
will be hailed with delight by all sportsmen and
nature-lovers.
The period of gestation was from November
25, 1907, to May 20, 1908, or four days less
than six months. The kid now in the public
eye was born at 3 A. M. At 3.10 it arose to its
feet; by 3.30 it was jumping about the stall, and
climbing upon its mother’s back, as she lay upon
the straw. It nursed for the first time at 3.20.
Two days after birth it was thirteen and a
half inches high at the shoulders, and weighed
seven and a quarter pounds. Of course its
pelage is pure white, and, like nearly all young
hoofed animals, its eyes now are practically
black. It is very strong and capable, and seems
to take a very hopeful view of life. It is a
male, and has been christened “Philip,” for rea-
sons that every goat-hunter will understand.
While nursing, it stands directly under its
mother’s body, and makes a continuous whining
noise, like a young puppy. Frequently it butts
the udder, and then the mother patiently raises
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
a hind leg, to give her off-
spring the best possible op-
portunity. The mother is a
model of what wild-animal
mothers should be, a good
milker, affectionate, solicit-
ous for her offspring, and
quiet and sensible toward
her keeper.
The Zoological Park goat
herd is in charge of Keeper
Bernard McEnroe, who has
managed it with great skill
and success. He never per-
mits any of the goats to get
thoroughly rain-soaked, but
shuts up the herd whenever
it begins: to rain. In New
York it was quickly learned
that Oreamnos can not en-
dure rain. The pelage ab-
sorbs water like a sponge.
holds it for hours, and the
animals have not sufficient
vitality to endure it.
THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.
ITS PRESENT STATUS, AND HOW IT APPEARS TO
FOREIGN CRITICS.
T this date the New York Zoological Park
may be regarded as seven-eighths complete.
But for the unfortunate financial conditions
which have prevailed during the past six months,
and which seem destined to influence both the
public mind and the public purse during the
next half year, the end of 1909 would have wit-
nessed the rounding-up of the Zoological So-
ciety’s work in the Bronx.
On August 11, 1908, ten years will have elapsed
since the beginning of work in the improvement
of the Park. It will be remembered that the
Park was formally opened to the public on
November 8, 1899. But for the temporary
halt in the erection of the final buildings, the
Park would have been rendered practically com-
plete in eleven years from the beginning of
active work. At present there remain to be
erected the Elephant House yards and the Ad-
ministration Building—funds for which have
already been formally appropriated, and at last
are expendable, and also the Zebra House, and
the Eagle and Vulture Aviary—as yet unpro-
vided for. The end of all this is so near, that
it seems reasonable to hope the very small
amount of additional funds required to secure
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 431
BOSTON
ROAD ENTRANCE TO THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK.
Recently completed at West Farms.
the completion of the Park can be made ayail-
able within a short time.
In the total number of mammals, birds, rep-
tiles and amphibians on exhibition, the Zoo-
logical Park stands to-day at the head of all the
zoological parks and gardens of the world. The
Twelfth Annual Report of the Zoological Park
contains the following table showing our rank
according to the total number of living speci-
mens on exhibition.
All are as of January 1, 1907, except New
York and London, which are tor 1908.
Institution.
Total.
New York Zoological Park 103
LB(Sp ol Fn eer 8 ae es ice eRe 3149
IG Setter he Me tie te tice ol 2972
Fila lp hitaieeeray aa sete ie te 2526
Jniias |e onacoddacoence 2389
SCHOCHOEUMM | aidan cs a 2085
CUGRIG Yraceccdotens cogs 2001
ESRESIAMb a. rhs es ihe cieies 1843
1 Shine 1249) ene eee exe ERE 1002 1804
The character of the New York Zoological
Park as a whole, its grounds, its buildings and
its collections, are in the main quite well known
to the people of New York City and vicinity.
To-day the buildings of the first class that are
complete, occupied by animal collections and
open to the public, are ten in number, not count-
ing the magnificent new Elephant House, which
will be completed in the autumn or early winter.
Of second class animal buildings there are ten
more, and of large groups of outdoor dens,
aviaries and corrals, there are twelve. There
are also eight entrances, six public comfort
buildings, two restaurants and three animal
storehouses for winter use. The area of the
Park in land and water embraces 264 acres. Of
walks and roads there are about eight miles.
and of fences ten and one-half miles. The
maintenance force of the Park, constantly on
duty, embraces 141 persons. The number of
visitors in 1907 was 1,273,046,—nearly one-
third of the entire population of the metropolis
of the American continent. Of this number it
is estimated that a quarter of a million visitors
were from outside of New York City.
To all members of the New York Zoological
Society, and to all residents of New York, the
opinions of foreign critics on the Zoological Park
are of much interest. Entirely aside from the
value of local opinion, it is worth while to see
ourselves as others see us. On this point we
may quote the opinion of three German pro-
who came to America
fessors last August as
delegates to the Seventh International Zoological
Congress. At the close of their visit in New
York, they addressed to one of the leading
newspapers of this city the following letter:
432 ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
GROUP OF YOUNG GIRLS FROM A LOWER EAST-SIDE SCHOOL.
Thousands of school pupils, conducted by their teachers, annually visit the Zoological Park.
New York, Sept. Ist., 1907.
To the Editor of the
New York Staats-Zeitung:
“As a supplement to your article headed ‘In
the Lion House,’ which appeared in No. 208 of
the New York Staats-Zeitung, we take the lib-
erty to send you, in a few words, the views of
the German zoologists on your zoological gar-
den. The article mentioned is incomplete, for
the reason that it does not do justice to the
many superior features.
“Among all existing zoological parks, there
is none in which the animals are found in such
absolutely natural conditions as here in New
York. The extent of the ranges for deer,
bisons, ete., and the imposing flying cage, had
the undivided admiration of all the scientists
present. Added to this is the great number of
interesting forms of animals, especially of the
American fauna, and last but not least, is the
surprisingly large number of individuals.
“The past attainments give a guarantee that
the New York Zoological Garden, upon com-
pletion, is sure to take a specially pre-eminent
position among institutions of its kind.”
(Signed) Professors Braun, Heymons
and Bogert.
The latest critical opinion on the New York
Zoological Park is that of Dr. Walther Schoen-
ichen, of Berlin, which appears in an article on
this institution published in the last number of
“dus der Natur,’ with illustrations. Two of
its paragraphs are as follows:
“There are few places in the world where all
desirable conditions have been fulfilled in so
excellent a manner, as in the Zoological Garden
in New York. Although it has existed only
the short space of time since 1899, already it
belongs with the most prominent institutions of
its kind, and when all of those installations
which are now in the course of preparation have
been finished, it will surely be the grandest and
most beautiful garden in the world.
“The farsightedness and devotion with which
the Zoological Society has fulfilled this duty, is
not the last thing which must fill the visitor to
this grand animal park with admiration and
inspiration.” W. T.
INTERESTING ANIMAL SURGERY.
N May 28, 1908, an interesting and un-
usual operation—that is unusual in the ani-
mal world—-was performed on our Indian
Rhinoceros, “Mogul,” by Dr. George G. Van
Mater, of Brooklyn, for cataracts in both eyes.
The operation, in medical parlance, is termed
“needling,” and is primarily a rupturing of the
crystalline lens, allowing the humor to escape
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 433
INDIAN RHINOCEROS, ‘‘MOGUL.”
into the anterior or aqueous humor, where a
process of slow absorption takes place. A cat-
aract is not, as most people suppose, a growth
over the ball of the eye, but a gradual change
of the humor in the crystalline lens, to a milky
opacity, eventually destroying the sight.
“Mogul” was captured in 1906, and upon his
arrival at the Park, it was noticed that the right
eye had been injured. Gradually the defect
communicated itself to the left eye, in time
rendering the animal nearly blind. Dr. Van
Mater diagnosed the case as cataract and ad-
vised the “needling” operation which is only
practicable in soft or young growth cataract.
“Mogul” was cast, by means of combination side
lines and hobbles, with considerable difficulty,
requiring the united aid of Drs. Blair, Ryder
and Ellis, and a number of the keepers, to ef-
fectually subdue him. Dr. Gwathmey admin-
istered the anesthetic, using a mixture of chloro-
form and ether. Fully an hour elapsed before
the animal succumbed, exhausting in its strug-
gles one and one-half pounds of chloroform and
three-quarters of a pound of ether. As is quite
well known, the eye is the surgeon’s index of
the patient’s condition under anesthetics, and as
this was the point of operation, it was then nec-
essary to resort to local anesthesia, rendering
Dr. Gwathmey’s task a difficult one. Dr. Van
Mater then punctured both capsules with a deli-
cate knife of peculiar and ingenious construc-
tion. The incision in the cornea was a thin slit,
but after penetrating the front of the crystalline
lens, the blade was turned in the handle, as it
was drawn back, making a T shaped cut, which
allowed the humor to flow into the anterior cham-
ber. The blade then being turned back on its
axis necessarily passed through the cornea in ex-
actly the same place as it entered, effectually
preventing the thin humor of the anterior cham-
ber from escaping. The operation was blood-
and The animal, despite the
enormous amount of anesthetic taken, was stand-
ing upon his feet within forty minutes after the
operation. He is recovering the use of the left
eye. The right one, being an advanced growth,
is yet cloudy.
The work consumed nearly three hours, and
the services of the operating surgeons, Drs. Van
Mater and Gwathmey and their assistants, Drs.
Ryder and Ellis, were gratuitous.
less painless.
Ba Rego
454
JAPANESE RED-FACED MONKEY AND YOUNG.
NOTES.
Zoological Park.
Japanese Red-faced Monkey.—One of the
very interesting young animals this year is a
Japanese red-faced monkey, born at the Small-
Mammal House on June 4. The parent is one
of several which has lived out of doors the year
*round. The tenderness, if her savage vigilance
can be construed into that, is remarkable. No
movement of the little animal escapes her. If
he wanders a few steps from her side, she fol-
lows at once, and at the slightest demonstration
from a spectator, clutches him close to her
breast, ready to retreat. The young animal
clings tightly underneath to the long hair of
the mother, and is carried rapidly and easily.
The little fellow is covered with black hair and
bears very trifling resemblance to the parent.
Nesting-Birds.—The fearlessness with which
the birds nest in most accessible places is be-
coming more marked each year, and is a grati-
fying evidence of their sense of the protection
afforded them. In the bay trees on Baird
Court, a song-sparrow and a purple grackle are
rearing young broods, and not far distant one
of the small lindens shelters a robin. On the
walk back of the Elephant House a wood thrush
has a nest in a small horn-beam, with a young
brood. A pair of humming birds have elected
to choose the store yards back of the shops as
a summer home, and in defiance of the turmoil
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
are cheerfully raising a family. Vireos and
robins live in harmony in a small oak at the
conservatory entrance, and in the cornice brack-
ets of the Service Building and the facade of the
Mammal House, in conspicuous places, two robin
broods have already been reared. The nest at
the Service Building is now occupied by some
English sparrows. Two young vireos, just
leaving the nest, were observed near the Polar
Bear Diem, and farther along Beaver Valley a
wood thrush was running about under the
shrubbery followed by her young offspring. A
swallow has fastened her nest to the wall of the
sleeping den of the Polar Bear and at this time
has not been disturbed. A wood-duck made her
nest high up in an oak tree in the Beaver Pond,
but was disturbed by squirrels, and gave it up.
The Canada geese have raised several goslings
and the mallar ral ducklings on the wild- foal pond
are a legion.
The Wichita Bison Herd—The last news
from the Wichita National Bison Range re-
ported the herd in first-class condition, and the
outlook for the future entirely satisfactory.
The two calves born on the range are doing well.
An effort is being made to procure a few elk to
introduce in the range, and it is reasonably cer-
tain that this plan will be carried into effect at
an early date.
Heads and Horns.—The number of gifts to
the National Collection of Heads and Horns
that have been received during the past year
entirely surpasses the most sanguine expecta-
tions of the founders of the Collection. Both
in number, and in zoological value, the array
is most gratifying. The future of the Collec-
tion is now quite beyond the pale of doubt. A
number of sportsmen of international reputa-
tion have sent some of their finest and most
highly prized trophies; and in Alaskan heads
and horns the Reed-McMillin Collection is fair-
ly beyond compare. Part II. of the annual
Heads and Horns publication, now in press and
soon to be mailed to all members of the Zoolog-
ical Society, contains notices of all the gifts
received during the past year.
Births —During 1908 the births among the
mammals of the Park have been unusually
numerous and important. OO RY OD Or ee FE MD OOD OOO BD OS OD 2 DD OO
W. T. H.
LAWRENCE WARBLER IN CAPTIVITY.
One of the most interesting results of this
spring’s collecting in the Bird Department, is
the acquisition of a male Lawrence Warbler in
full plumage, (Helminthophila lawrencei Her-
rick). It will be remembered, that in 1904 the
Curator reported the fact that a Lawrence
Warbler mated with a female Blue-winged
Warbler, had a nest and six unfledged young in
the Zoological Park.* These nestlings subse-
quently flew in safety and the nest is now in
the collection of the Zoological Society.
On May 13 of the present year the Lawrence
Warbler now living in the collection was trapped
in the Park almost on the very spot where the
nest was located four years ago. This is merely
circumstantial evidence but it rather favors the
theory that the bird is either the male parent
bird or one of the young of the former brood.
Each spring since 1904 careful search has been
made in this vicinity but nothing has been seen
of Lawrence Warblers, although Blue-Winged
Warblers breed there regularly. The warbler
collection bids fair to be ahead of that of any
former year, there being now about twenty liv-
If the Lawrence and
a Blue-wing can ever be persuaded to nest in
captivity the long-contested question of the
status of the former, whether a hybrid, a valid
species or one in the process of formation, will
be settled once for all. @We Be
*See Zoological Society Bulletin No. 14, page 165,
and No. 15, page 181.
438 ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
EAST AFRICAN LIONS “SAMBOUT” AND ‘“SERGOIT.”
Presented by Mrs. Armar D. Saunderson.
TWO LIONS FROM AFRICA.
HE most valuable and desirable of all lions,
young or old, are those to which can be
applied the magic word “imported.”
This term signifies a jungle-bred animal, with
a wilderness constitution, and all the stamina
that wild paternity can impart.
The Society has recently received from Mrs.
Armar D. Saunderson two fine male lion cubs
that belong in the “imported” class. They were
captured by Mr. and Mrs. Saunderson on Feb-
ruary 20, 1908, in the southwestern corner of
British East Africa, when about two weeks old.
The mother lioness had four cubs in all, two of
which she managed to carry off to a safe retreat
before the hunting party arrived.
The two cubs captured were taken to Mr.
Saunderson’s camp, and hidden in a pile of sad-
dles and boxes. For several nights the mother
prowled about the camp, roaring at intervals,
but finally she abandoned her efforts to recover
her offspring.
Both the cubs are males, and have been named
“Sambout” and “Sergoit,” after two large rocks
that rise out of the Guas N’Guishu plateau.
For several days following their capture they
were fed on warm milk, to which was presently
added a midday meal of raw meat that had
been put through a mixing machine. They
were carried in two chop boxes, on porters’
heads, for over 100 miles to the Uganda Rail-
way, and came to New York by way of Mom-
basa, Marseilles and England.
“Sambout” and “Sergoit’ will be quartered
in one of the large eastern cages of the Small-
Mammal House until they are old enough to go
to the Lion House. They are very docile and
affectionate animals, and are taken out by their
keepers for a daily walk, in collar and chain.
Dancing Cranes.—A stranger might imagine
the cranes were crazy or affected by the heat if
he came upon them during play time, and ap-
parently that is what it can be termed. The
Sandhills dance around in a circle, jumping
about in the most grotesque way with out-
stretched wings and necks, continuing for
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
lengthy periods, usually terminating the per-
formance by a wild flight down the range.
But the Asiatic white crane has two tricks which
he performs with idiotic abandon and punctili-
ous care. He selects some spot in the range,
and bores a hole into the turf with his mandi-
bles; standing over it he pumps his head up and
BULLETIN. 439
down, until one wonders how long he can keep
it going. If you go away and return in one
hour, as I did, you will find him still at it.
Again he seizes a feather in his beak and tosses
it into the air, and as it falls leaps for it and
catches it, repeating the trick, as the keeper told
me, for over an hour at a time.
CENSUS OF AMERICAN BISON, JANUARY 1, 1908, OF PURE BLOOD.
TOTAL
Catves | Torat on
MALES | FEMALES | jn 1907 |JAN. 1, 1908|| Nn 1903
Captive in the United States. . 506 610 203) |) 1116 969
Captive in Canada 214 262 98 476 41
sRocalnupANNeriCay ys ta oa 0 eos els oye av GOSS 720 872 301 1592 1010
CApHVeHHeHMLOpe ye fe) oie & lag wiles Rigsined os 54 76 22 130 109
mROeAieIHN Captivity... sha lo « aia eas same ale 3 774 948 323 1722 1119
Wild Bison in the United States, Estimated ahr 25
WitldebisommnkCanaday Estimated =) oe. 5 a0s) ~0a6s 4 ; 300.
Lotals pure blood Bison, Jan. 1, 1908...) ... Bose 2047
Number of owners of pure blood Bison, in America. . . 45
Number of owners of pure blood Bison, in Europe 19
BUFFALO-DOMESTIC HYBRIDS, “CATTALOES”
1907 | 1908
In the United States 260 243
In Canada 57 17
In Europe 28 21
Bees) dace 345 281
Total on January 1, 1908 .
DOCILE WILD ANIMALS.
By R. L. Dirmars.
N every collection of animals there is always
a number of individuals that particularly in-
terest the keepers. The men usually desig-
nate such examples as “pets,” although not all
of them are to be altogether trusted as are most
members of that ever-interesting class. In fact,
a few mammals sometimes gain a species of
fayoritism through a display of extreme ugli-
ness.
There are now living in the Zoological Park
a considerable number of animals which the
keepers term “pets.” The Small-Mammal
House contains the most interesting assortment
of them. It was at this building, but a few
days past, that Mr. Sanborn endeavored to
photograph a “rounding up” of the keepers’
favorites, but owing to the attempted associa-
tion of members of such widely different orders
as the Carnivora, Rodentia and Edentata, the
proposed group prepared for a battle royal. In
deference to a strong prospect of a lively scrim-
mage, the attempt at making a photograph was
abandoned.
In the Small-Mammal House the most amus-
ing pets are a South American wild dog, two
dingoes, a badger, several civets, an agouti, a
Malabar squirrel and an armadillo. When the
keepers of that building are cleaning their cages
in the early morning, most of the animals men-
tioned have the free run of the building, al-
though the men are necessarily careful not to
thus exercise those of their pets that might in-
jure each other. The badger and the agouti
are absolutely to be trusted not to stray away,
and are permitted to run at will outside the
Small-Mammal House. It is not unusual for
an excited visitor to report at the Small-Mam-
mal House that he has met a strange-looking
animal ambling along the path, that had
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
BACTRIAN CAMEL AND YOUNG.
The young animal was born in the Zoological Park April 6, 1908.
At the time of birth it was so
helpless that it was necessary to lift it to the mother in order that it might nurse.
stopped and chattered in an alarming manner.
This is always the badger, which noisy little
creature often comes as far as the Reptile House,
always prompted by an untiring appetite.
Here, alas for romantic writers, it must be
explained that much of the docility among ani-
mals is prompted by appetite and selfish inter-
est. This accounts for some of the friendly ad-
vances of deer and other hoofed animals, many
of which will treacherously attack one in the
corral. With most of the “tame” flesh-eating
animals, the sight of food effects a startling
change in temper. The amusing little badger
is a veritable demon when given his food, and
continues to growl over the bone for hours after-
ward. Not all, however, among our keepers’
special favorites are thus influenced by appetite.
Quite an exception to the former rule is a
fully grown golden agouti, living in the Small-
Mammal House. The agouti belongs to a
group of rodents known as the Cavies. Nearly
all of them are uniformly good natured, even
to that gigantic creature, the capybara, which
is as big as a large pig, and has teeth strong
enough to instantly amputate a man’s finger.
The agouti in question often runs free about
the Small-Mammal House like a miniature deer.
It obeys the call of keepers Kane and Lands-
berg, and permits the men to lift it back to its
cage. In an adjoining cage is a large Malabar
squirrel, which, when turned loose, seems to ac-
tually tease the men as they try to get it back,
but when a step-ladder is brought the creature
evidently reasons that the game is at a close;
for it immediately darts for its cage door.
The most important and interesting of the
Park’s tame animals are the fine lion cubs
Sambout and Sergoit, presented by Mr. and
Mrs. Armar D. Saunderson. At present, the
keepers are taking these animals for a daily
walk over the lawns, each one controlled only by
a collar and chain. But the friendly spirit of
these lions soon will change. When about
eleven months old, the cubs of nearly all the big
cats become vicious and unmanageable, unless
subjected to constant handling and training, the
latter usually involving quite vigorous treatment,
and much nerve on the trainer’s part. Even to-
day, these small lions will suffer no human in-
terference at feeding time.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 44]
SOUTH AMERICAN TAPIR AND YOUNG.
The young tapir was born April 22, 1908. Both
the old and young are extraordinarily docile and
very fond of any attention from the keepers.
In the Primate House are creatures that so
closely parallel humanity, both in action and
structure, that it seems inappropriate to speak
of them as “wild animals.” Young orang-utans
and chimpanzees are like children. They in-
sist upon throwing their arms about the keep-
ers necks, to be carried about, and when the
men finally insist upon putting them down, they
scream lustily, or bump their heads against the
cage floor in infantile rage. Almost anyone can
handle these young anthropoid apes, but in the
Monkey House there are many other animals of
very different temper.
From the visitor’s point of view, one of the
most vicious monkeys in the building is a big
Japanese red-faced monkey. This creature
often shakes his cage front, gripping it with
both hands, and using all his strength. Such
exhibitions are followed by what the brute evi-
dently intends to be an illustration of what he
would do if he had the chance. It consists of
placing his hand in his mouth, and biting at it
quite savagely. Strange to say, this demoniacal
creature is perfectly gentle with his keepers.
By assisting him to walk upright, he can be led
about like a child. He is under such perfect
control that the men never have taken a stick or
whip into the cage. A mild cuff with the hand,
delivered by keeper Reilly or Engeholm, causes
the sour-visaged brute to whimper and cringe.
but the instant the men close the door and leave
the cage, Jake hurls himself at the bars as if to
avenge an imaginary insult from a visitor.
As examples of actual affection among mam-
mals, we might select a woolly monkey and a
spider monkey, both on exhibition in the Prim-
ate House. At the rattle of the lock these ani-
mals spring for the cage door. The keeper
barely has a chance to open the door when a
pair of long arms are wound about his neck and
the man finds himself in much the same predica-
ment as Sinbad. It is only with the help of an
associate that the burden can be dislodged.
Ordinarily, Keeper Reilly carries the strange
woolly monkey about with him, slung over his
back, rather than provoke the chorus of ear-
splitting shrieks that would follow if the monkey
were at once forced back into its cage.
A considerable degree of docility is to be ob-
served among the inmates of the Reptile House.
There is a big Cuban iguana quartered in the
north corral of the Lizard and Tortoise Yards,
which is so fond of Keeper Toomey that when-
ever the latter enters the corral the reptile
rushes to him, crawls up his back and to his
shoulders, where he perches contentedly. Nor
is this creature’s interest in his keeper prompted
by appetite; for he behaves the same immediate-
ly after feeding time, when all of the iguanas
are so gorged they refuse further food. The
big tortoises are also docile, following their
keeper about their corral, but in them there is
so marked a decrease of interest after feeding
YOUNG MEXICAN PUMA.
One of a pair of pumas which were sent to the Park, arriving
in a very emaciated condition. It is thriving on
milk fed from a bottle.
time that little or no affection may be attributed
to their movements.
First-Keeper Snyder has a number of charges
which he classifies as pets. Most of the alli-
gators take their food from his hand, and there
are a number of snakes that invariably come to
the door of the cage when open and crawl about
the keeper. With all of the serpents, appetite
is usually the cause of their interest in the
keeper, though the desire of an occasional speci-
men to get out of its cage will cause many
visitors to remark upon the snake’s great joy
at beholding the keeper at the open door.
The king cobra is possibly the “favorite” in
the Reptile House; but here favoritism comes
from an extreme display of craftiness and
ferocity! This dangerous serpent has been on
exhibition about nine years, and is just as
vicious as the day he was received. He is al-
ways ready to strike his keeper, and would
never miss the opportunity if the chance was
presented. A display like this, of a really
dramatic rage, is always appreciated by the
keeper. It is the listless animal, lacking both
signs of docility or real hostility, that is looked
upon with disfavor.
A WHITE RHEA.
HE Rhea is the most graceful of all the
ostrich-like birds and the most interesting to
us as being the only representative of these
birds in our hemisphere. It inhabits the level,
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
prairie-like pampas of South America and_ its
enemies are chiefly the jaguar and the puma.
From these it is protected by its tall stature,
giving it a wide outlook, its dull gray plumage
and its. keen eyesight. Unfortunately these
qualities are of no avail against the attacks of
men, and unless means of protection are found
the Rhea will soon become extinct.
White birds are occasionally seen and the
Zoological Park has recently acquired one which
in beauty excels all the other inmates of the
ostrich house. In a wild state, a bird of this
color would have short shrift, and as it walks
about its range we can readily perceive how easy
it would be for the enemies of the bird to detect
it at a distance; its white, fluffy plumage stand-
ing out in sharp silhouette against the green
grass. The eyes are not pink as in ordinary
albinos but pale blue.
Although the two Rheas already in the collec-
tion are a true pair and from time to time lay
beautiful golden eggs, yet they willingly accept-
ed the newcomer and showed no display of the
fierceness which characterizes most other birds
of this group.
A pair of One-wattled Cassowarys which ar-
rived with the Rhea, fought so fiercely that they
had to be separated, and even then continued
their altercation through the fence so that it
was necessary to remove them from each other’s
sight. C. W. B.
A SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO THE
DELTA OF THE ORINOCO.
N the 22nd of February, 1908, Mrs. Beebe
Ons the writer sailed on the Royal Mail S.
5. “Trent” for Trinidad, off the northeast
coast of South America. Our chief object in
taking the trip was to study and photograph
something of the wild life of South America and
to obtain alive some of the interesting birds of
that continent for the collection of the Society.
In both we were decidedly successful.
On the way south we touched at Kingston,
Colon, Savanilla and La Guira, spending from
one to three days at each port. Desolation is
the impression one carries away from Kingston;
the vulture-haunted ruins of the earthquake of
a year ago, remaining almost untouched. We
found that Sunday at Colon is a day of abso-
lute cessation of all work, but we were fortunate
in securing a special train which took us across
the Isthmus. Cleanliness, and the evidence of
rapid and thorough progress compelled our at-
tention everywhere. It was play day, and
along the route pony racing and baseball alter-
nated with ranks of vine-covered engines (relics
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 14.3,
WHITE SOUTH AMERICAN RHEA IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK.
of the French occupation), hundreds of neat,
mosquito-screened houses and vistas of the gi-
gantic ditch.
Savanilla presented the antithesis; a collec-
tion of tumbled-down, dirty, thatched huts scat-
tered about in a desert. But there were com-
pensations—of a kind. If one purchased a
train ticket for 20 cents and paid with a five-
dollar American note, one’s change would be a
large roll of yellow bills, aggregating $480—in
Colombian money. A Colombian dollar at this
time exactly equalled an American cent! It
was surprising to see ragged soldiers sitting in
the streets, gambling away bills of large denom-
inations.
At La Guira one gives no thought to the town
itself, which is a typical Latin seaport, but is
lost in admiration of the wonderful mountains
which tower upward for thousands of feet al-
most sheer from the water. It is the grandest
part of the whole Spanish Main.
Port-of-Spain, the capital of Trinidad, we
found a most wide-awake and American-like
city and the citizens hospitable and kind. We
were delayed there a week or two, but at last
were able to charter a twenty-one ton sloop and
with a captain, cook, and crew of three, we
sailed. westward under the Venezuelan flag,
headed for the northern part of the Orinoco
delta.
From now on we were in the midst of primi-
tive nature and our results group themselves
naturally under two heads: first, the aboreal and
aquatic life of the vast expanse of mangrove
swamps, and second, our studies of the peculiar
fauna and flora of La Brea, the pitch lake of
Venezuela, which represents the very beginning
of the high land adjoining the mangroves. Of
the pitch lake we had heard a good deal politi-
eally, and from a natural history point of view
we found it intensely interesting. Thes results
will be worked up as quickly as possible and
published by the Society.
Some two hundred excellent negatives were
secured of flowers, insects, fish, birds and In-
dians. A collection of forty living birds and
two arboreal poreupines were brought back, all
arriving safely and in good health in New York.
All the species of birds are new to the collec-
tion. Besides these, several hundred specimens
of bird skins, embryos, eggs, fish and insects
were collected.
Add
of wt see
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
GREVY ZEBRA, EQUUS GREVYI.
Most interesting among the living birds are
the sun bittern, scarlet ibis, white-faced tree-
duck and kiss-ka-dee tyrant flycatchers, besides
several species of beautiful tanagers.
Perhaps the most important result of the
expedition is the arrangement which was made
with several gentlemen to send shipments of live
birds and animals in the future to the Zoological
Park, at the mere cost of capture and shipment.
Men on board regular steamers plying between
Trinidad and New York were instructed in the
care of birds and the interest of the captains
aroused. It is hoped that the wonderful bird
life of South America may, before long, be rep-
resented by a splendid series in our Zoological
Park. C. W. B.
A RARE ZEBRA.
HE Zoological Park has very
quired a fine male specimen of a most
uncommon equine species known as _ the
Grevy Zebra, (Equus grevyi), so named in
honor of an ex-President of France. It is not
recently ac-
only one of the rarest zebra species, but it is
also one of the largest and most showy. It is
strongly characterized by its large size, its com-
plete suit of very narrow black and white
stripes, of generally uniform width, and its
large ears. Its stripes extend quite down to its
hoofs.
This very handsome animal is found in south-
ern Abyssinia and northern Somaliland. Thus
far, practically all the specimens that have
reached Europe and America have come from
Abyssinia, and several of them have been sent
out by King Menelik. The total number in
captivity, outside of Africa, is probably about
fifteen. The value of Equus grevyi has been
high, usually $2,000 per head, or even more,
but there is likelihood that this figure will sen-
sibly diminish.
For the present, our specimen will be found
in the Antelope House. We now exhibit five
species of equines, as follows: Grevy zebra,
Grant zebra, Chapman zebra, Persian wild ass
and Prejevalsky horse. Wieiaehie
Supplement to the
ZOOLOGICAL
POCIE TY BULLETIN
Published by the New York Zoological Society.
July, 1908
THE PASSING OF THE WHALE.
By Freperic A. Lucas.
Curator in Chief of the Museum of Arts and Sciences of the Brooklyn Institute.
HE attention of all persons interested in
the conservation of the animal resources of
the world, is especially directed to the article by
Mr. Lueas on “The Passing of the Whale,”
published as a supplement to the present number
of the Burietin of the New York Zoological
Society. It is a truthful statement by one of
the best-informed students of the subject. The
valuable whale is unquestionably going fast—
faster than the valuable fur seal—and soon may
be classed nith the sea otter, American bison
and other wealth-producing animals whose com-
mercial value has been lost to man. As a source
of wealth the whale is the most important of all.
Steps have been taken by the Zoological So-
ciety to place the information contained in this
article before legislative bodies in many parts
of the world.
The Society as a scientific association devoted
to the preservation of wild animals, earnestly re-
quests the careful consideration of it by every
legislator into whose hands it may come.
God Tl.
The New York Zoological Society at its An-
nual Meeting in January adopted a resolution
relative to the protection of whales by interna-
tional agreement.
The idea that the preservation of whales was
necessary and desirable was new to many mem-
bers of the Society. This was perhaps natural
as whales and whaling industries do not come
under the observation of the average citizen.
Yet whales as economic animals have been and
They
are of the greatest possible interest zoologically,
continue to be of immense value to man.
since they are the largest of existing animals.
One species—the Sulphur-bottom whale—attains
a length of eighty feet, being of greater size
than the extinct dinosaurs, the largest of the
wonderful animals of the past.
From a strictly American viewpoint the whale
deserves serious consideration as it was half a
century ago the basis of an industry which
brought great wealth to the New England
States.
was most important there were over six hundred
In the days when the whale fishery
American ships and many thousands of men
regularly engaged in that industry.
During a period of nearly fifty years prior
to about 1872 the value of whale oil and whale-
bone landed by American vessels, amounted to
more than 270 millions of dollars.
Subsequently the whaling industry as con-
The
present method of whaling from shore stations
ducted from vessels gradually declined.
is of quite recent introduction.
It is a startling fact that nearly all species
of whales are threatened with early extinction
by reason of the destructiveness of modern
methods of whaling, practiced chiefly from sta-
tions located on shore.
The protection of whales is therefore neces-
sary if any whales are to be left for future sup-
ply. How rapidly whales of all kinds, save
possibly the Sperm whale, are disappearing
before the attacks of man, may be inferred from
a glance of the shore-whaling industry and par-
ticularly at that of Newfoundland, whose sta-
tistics are most readily available and where the
effects of modern methods are most apparent.
446
Before 1903 we have no data as to the num-
ber of whales taken along the coast of New-
foundland and can only say that the value of
whale products rose successively from $1,581 in
1898, to $36,428 in 1900, and $125,287 in 1902.
Making a rough estimate, based on the value
of the products of the whale fishery, one may
say that this 350
whales, more probably about 500, since prior to
The first whal-
methods
represents not less than
1902 the waste was very great.
ing station in which modern were
adopted was established in 1897 and its success
was so great that in 1903 four others had been
erected and three more planned, although but
three steamers were then employed. R. T. Mc-
Grath in the Report of the Newfoundland De-
partment of Fisheries for 1903, gave it as his
opinion that no more applications for factories
should be granted for some years to come, say-
ing “Two factories are about to be erected, one
at Trinity and one at Bonavista—during the
coming year. This will make eight factories
in all, viz., Balena, Aquaforte, Snook’s Arm,
Chaleur Bay, Cape Broyle, Bonavista and Trin-
ity. In my opinion no further applications
should be granted for some years. If licenses
are given without restriction, it will result in
complete depletion of this industry within a
short time; whilst if judiciously dealt with, it
will be a profitable source of revenue, and a
great assistance to the laboring people of the
colony for many years to come.” This advice,
however, was not heeded, the only restriction
placed on whaling being that stations should
not be nearer one another than twenty miles
and that but one steamer should be employed.
These restrictions were practically of no avail
as one steamer was all that could then be em-
ployed to advantage and a run of twenty miles
is nothing to a 12-knot vessel. So whaling
stations rapidly multiplied until by 1905 eight-
een were in operation, occupying all the more
favorable locations about Newfoundland, Labra-
dor and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and fifteen
steamers were employed. The effects of this
over-multiplication were felt at once, and while
in 1903 three steamers took 858 whales, or an
average of 286 each, in 1905 fifteen steamers
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
took but 892 whales or an average of only 59
a vessel.
In 1903 3 vessels took__.......
“1904 10 a oo ges = eee WAG)
~ 1905515 ss sof Se Se 892 z
“1906 14 re pa ne Te 429 e
“1907 14 of ope eee 481 iy
3935 whales
Taken between 1898-1902, esti-
mated. "5 se2ecn tne Beene ee 350 “
4285 whales
Thus in ten years more than 4,000 whales
have been captured in the immediate vicinity of
Newfoundland. The effect was disastrous and
caused the ruin of the smaller companies, the
chief sufferers being the smaller shareholders
who had invested their entire capital.
One of the arguments in favor of indiscrim-
inate whaling has been the theory that whales
had the whole world to draw upon and that the
depletion in any one locality would soon ke sup-
To a slight
extent this may be true for there seems some rea-
plied by overflow from another.
son to believe that whales do now and then pass
from the Pacific to the Atlantic* but on the
whole whales are restricted in their range as
other animalst and extermination in one place
means extermination in that locality for all
Another fallacy was the belief that the
supply of whales was practically limitless and
time.
that one might “slay and slay and slay” con-
tinuously. There is not a more mischievous
term than “inexhaustible supply,” and certainly
none more untrue. So we see our inexhaustible
forests on the verge of disappearing, our inex-
haustible supplies of coal and oil daily growing
less, and the end of the inexhaustible supply of
whales in sight. Man is recklessly spending
the capital Nature has been centuries in ac-
*Capt. Bull states that a Sulphur-bottom whale
shot on the coast of Norway contained a harpoon
fired into it on the coast of Kamchatka and that a
Humpback killed off Aquaforte was found to have in
the flesh an unexploded bomb lance fired from a San
Francisco whaler in the Pacific.
+For example, the Sulphur-bottom is not found or
occurs as a straggler on the East coast of Newfound-
land; although once common on the South coast.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
cumulating and the time will come when his
drafts will no longer be honored. It matters
not whether the vessel is a bucket or an ocean,
one can only take out as much water as it con-
tains and where all is outgo and no income, it
is merely a question of time when one or the
other will be emptied.
The history of the Newfoundland whale fish-
ery merely repeats what has taken place every-
where the whale has been hunted, the only dif-
ference being that owing to the limited area
covered and the use of modern appliances re-
sults have been reached more quickly than in
the days of sailing vessels and hand harpoons.
It is a matter of record how the Right whale
was successively swept from the Atlantic coasts
of Europe and North America, then from the
North Pacific and finally from the Southern
Seas, and what has happened in the case of this
species will happen in the case of others.{ The
great Bowhead, owing to its restriction to a
portion of the Arctic seas, and the ease with
whick it may be taken, is in a worse plight
than his smaller relative and it is quite possible
that the present generation will see its actual
extermination.§ And yet this monster once flour-
ished in such numbers that for nearly three cen-
turies its capture gave employment to hundreds
of vessels and thousands of men. How abun-
dant this species actually was we can only sur-
mise from the former size of the whaling fleet
and the statistics of its catch, though the old-
time wood cuts showing the chase of the whale
seem not to exaggerate its abundance. The
American whaling fleet at the time of its great-
est activity numbered from 500 to more than
600 sail, while in England, our most active com-
petitor, from 25 to 60 vessels cleared from the
port of Hull alone and several other towns con-
tributed to swell the Arctic fleet which com-
prised from 150 to 250 vessels.
+The writer is quite aware that this species still
survives and, owing to the cessation of whaling for
some years, has even increased in some localities.
This increase is now being taken and in a year or two
the species will again be at a low ebb.
§The possible extermination of the Right and Bow-
head whales was foreseen as early as 1850, and com-
ments made on the large number of whales lost by
sinking and on the evil results of killing the Right
whale on its breeding grounds.
BULLETIN. 4AT
The imports of whalebone into the United
1805 to 1905 were 81,985,655
Averaging 2,000 pounds per whale, a
States from
pounds.
rather high estimate, this would represent no
less than 40,804 Right and Bowhead whales
taken by American whalers.
Taking the port of Hull, England, we know
partly by the actual returns and partly by esti-
mates based on the yield of oil, that the ships
of this port between 1722 and 1820, took in
Davis Strait and on the East Ccast of Green-
land, no less than 10,207 whales and a fair esti-
mate of the total English catch would be about
20,000 Right and Bowhead whales, so that in
two centuries not less than 50,000 were killed
by English and American whalers alone.
But this is only a portion of the catch taken
in the north, for as early as 1660 the Dutch sent
500 ships to the Spitzbergen fishery alone, and
by the end of the century the number had risen
to 2,000.
small that now-a-days they would be looked
Even though many of these were so
upon as mere boats, the total catch prior to 1750
must have mounted into the thousands.!
The contrast of these figures and the returns
for the past two years show to what a low ebb
the whales of this part of the world have been
reduced, for in 1906 the catch of the Dundee
fleet was but seven, and in 1907 only three
whales were taken, one of these even being a
yearling.
The catch of the San Francisco fleet was
20 in 1906, and 82 in 1907, but the success of
the past year is the direct outcome of failure the
year before, and the number of Bowheads taken
this year will undoubtedly be small.
Nothing can possibly prevent the extermina-
tion of the Bowhead but the discovery of some
perfect substitute for whalebone, and there seems
not the slightest probability that this will be
done, so that this huge creature will be one of
the many victims immolated on the altar of
fashion. Meanwhile it is worth noting that
there is not a specimen of this whale in the
United States and very few in the world and
~ {According to Wieland the number of Bowheads
taken by the Dutch between 1669 and 1758 was
57,590.
448
that some of the money being spent in futile
endeavors to reach the North Pole might much
better be devoted to chartering a whaler and
securing one or two examples of the Bowhead
before it is too late.
The Right whale was the first to be commer:
cially exterminated, that is so reduced in num-
bers that its pursuit was no longer profitable,
because it frequented the shores of temperate
regions and there brought forth its young. It
required but few years to wipe out the Cali-
fornia Gray Whale as it was confined to a com-
paratively small area and the decimation of the
others is but a matter of time.
The great Bowhead as we have just seen, is on
the verge of actual, not merely commercial, ex-
termination and is liable to be blotted out of
existence at any time and other species will fol-
low unless something is done to preserve them.
For many years certain species of whales,
notably the Sulphur-bottom, enjoyed more or
less immunity from pursuit, due to the diffi-
culty of taking them by methods then in vogue
and the small profit yielded when they were
taken. But when the present appliances for
taking whales were perfected the death knell
of these whales was sounded and unless some
measures are taken to protect them, they, too,
will suffer the fate of the Bowhead.
Whaling stations are being established the
world over wherever the conditions are favor-
able; there are several on the Pacific coast, sev-
eral on the coast of Patagonia, and while in
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
the have
been placed on the Norwegian whale fisheries,
deference to fishermen, restrictions
other stations have been opened in Iceland and
the Feroes. There is some whaling from New
Zealand and South Africa, and concessions have
been granted for other parts of the world. This
does not include whaling for Sperm whales and
Humpback carried on from various Atlantic
and South American ports. Moreover the rapid
decline of the Newfoundland whale fishery has
led some of the companies to send their steamers
south in winter, accompanied by a large
steamer fitted out for cutting in whales and try-
ing out the oil, thus acting as a floating whaling
station that may be moved from place to place
as occasion requires or favorable conditions
offer.
We speak of the decline of the whaling in-
dustry when it is really the passing of the
whale, for there can be no industry in the
of the
planting, only reaping,
proper sense word when there is no
no attempt to provide
for the harvest to be gathered.
Whales can be protected and protected very
easily but it can only be done by international
agreement. When we are far enough advanced.
many industries like whaling and sealing, now
on the verge of extermination, may be pursued
for all time. This may be very difficult to
bring about, but may be accomplished in time.
The pity of it is, from a purely practical stand-
point, that animals which can so readily be pre-
served, should be swept out of existence.
ae
ZOOLOGICAL
SOC LEY | BULLETIN
No. 31 Published by the New York Zoological Society October, 1908
NORTH FACADE AND DOME OF THE ELEPHANT HOUSE.
ELEPHANT
HOUSE
Park, the most important single feature is
the “new” Elephant House.* Of ten years
of building work, it is the climax; and it is fit-
tingly crowned with a dome. It is situated on
the site prepared for it by Nature, and chosen
twelve years ago, on the axis of Baird Court,
and in the open space midway between the Court
and the Wolf Dens. In effect, it connects the
two great groups of installations of the north-
ern and southern regions of the Park, which un-
til now have been slight-
ly separated.
In several important
particulars the Elephant
House is unlike all other
buildings in the Park.
It is high; it is entered
at the center of each
side, instead of at each
end; it is built entirely
of stone; it has a main
roof of green tiles, and
has a lofty dome coy-
ered with glazed tiles
laid in an_ elaborate
color pattern of browns
and greens. The dome
is finally surmounted by
a “lantern” of elaborate
tile work, also in colors.
Excepting the dome, the
whole exterior structure
is of smoothly dressed
Indiana limestone. Each
> the building operations in the Zoological
* We have been calling it
“new,” because previous to
its completion, the thou-
sands of visitors who in-
quired for “the Elephant
House” were directed to
the Antelope House, where
the elephants were tempo-
rarily quartered.
HEAD OF INDIAN ELEPHANT, SOUTH FACADE.
The Sculptor, A. Phimister Proctor, at Work.
entrance consists of a lofty and dignified arch-
way, in which the doors are deeply recessed;
and each of these arches is grandly ornamented
by animal heads, sculptured in stone. The lines
of the exterior of the building are imposing.
The color effects of the interior are particu-
larly pleasing. The large, flat bricks of the
Gustavino arch system are in their natural col-
ors, and form a blending of soft brown and
buff shades that not only avoids monotony,
but is pleasing and restful to the eye. Com-
bined with the vaulted
ceilings of the main
halls and the cages there
are a few strong arches
of mottled buff brick
which harmonize per-
fectly with the ceiling
tiles of the main dome.
This scheme of vaulted
ceilings is so new that
few persons ever have
seen a finished example.
Both the main dome,
and the arched ceiling
below it, have been con-
structed by Gustavino
without the employment
of either the steel raft-
ers or ribs which one
naturally expects to see
in such structures.
The animal sculptures
on the Elephant House
are of commanding in-
terest and importance,
and well worthy of the
stately building that
they adorn. In the
sculptor’s competition
which was held last year,
the work of Messrs.
A. P. Proctor and
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
INDIAN ELEPHANT “GUNDA” IN HIS NEW QUARTERS AT THE ELEPHANT HOUSE.
Charles R. Knight was so nearly equal in
merit that it was impossible to choose between
them, and for this reason the work was divided,
one-half of it being awarded to each. Mr. Proc-
tor has executed for the south entrance, two large
heads of the Indian elephant and an Indian
rhinoceros, while Mr. Knight has modeled the
three heads of African elephant and African
rhinoceros that ornament the north entrance.
All these are fine examples of wild-animal sculp-
ture, and well illustrate the extent to which the
realism of Nature may be fitly applied to a
modern building, in place of the grotesque and
conventionalized sculptures that hitherto have
enjoyed the favor of architects. I think it is
safe to say, in America at least, that the day of
grotesque “architectural” animal sculpture has
passed.
The cornice, or frieze, of the main central
building of the Elephant House is ornamented
by about twenty sculptured heads of the rhino-
ceros, tapir and hippopotamus. In the interior
of the building, each column in the lines of cage-
fronts bears a small elephant head, in high re-
lief, sculptured in stone.
Each of the eight immense cages, that are to
contain elephants and rhinoceroses, has been de-
signed to frame and display its living occupant
as perfectly as a frame fits a picture. The
vaulted ceilings and large central skylights are
particularly well adapted to cages for extra-
large animals, and the lighting is quite perfect.
The front of each cage—24 feet—is spanned
aloft by a single Gustavino arch, and is unspoiled
by intermediate columns. Each cage is 24 x 24
feet, which is ample for elephants and rhino-
ceroses of the largest size. To a height of 6
feet the walls are lined with plates of quarter-
inch steel; and nothing less powerful than a
locomotive could break through or break down
the front bars and beams. The outside doors
are marvels of strength and smoothness in action.
They are of four-inch oak, reinforced with quar-
ter-inch steel plates, and on the inside they are
strengthened against attack by three heavy moy-
able beams of steel.
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ZOOLOGICAL
Yeas:
SOCIETY
BULLETIN. ABE
Vt
Qs
AFRICAN TWO-HORNED RHINOCEROS, “VICTORIA.”
The Zoological Society has two animals of this species, a male and a female.
On the south side of the building are four
cages for elephants, on the north are two cages
for rhinoceroses, and two for hippopotami. At
each end of the building are two smaller cages.
for tapirs or young elephants or rhinoceroses.
The hippopotamus cage is provided with a bath-
ing tank, and so are two of the tapir cages. As
usual, this building is heated by hot water, and
thoroughly ventilated.
Of course each indoor cage has for its occu-
pant a spacious open-air yard, in which the ani-
mal may wander at will without the ability to
harm any person or thing. For the elephant
yards there are two fences. The extra heavy
inside fence of steel bars is to prevent the ele-
phants from reaching visitors, and the outside
fence, of 2-inch round bars seven feet high, is
to prevent visitors from reaching the elephants.
The yards and fences cannot be completed ear-
lier than May, 1909, but they will be ready upon
In several of the
yards some very elaborate and extensive con-
crete floor work will be necessary to preserve
valuable oak trees from the injury that would
surely follow the iaying of ordinary macadam
the coming of warm weather.
raised.
almost un-
paving. The concrete floors are to be
to leave the roots of certain trees
touched.
The total cost of the Elephant House was
$157,473 exclusive of the fences, yards and
walks. The building has been erected by the
F. T. Nesbit Company, with Mr. John C. Cof-
fey as superintendent of construction, and it is a
fine, perfect and thoroughly satisfactory piece
of work. It is doubtful if the City of New York
has ever before secured so fine and large a build-
ing as this for the really small sum that this
one has cost. It is impossible to name _ the
date on which it will be received by the Society.
occupied, and opened to the public, but in all
probability it will be about November 1, 1908.
Wis Dae
New Mammals :—Since July 1, the following
important animals have been received:
1 Indian Elephant. 2 Otters.
1 Chimpanzee. 1 Cacomistle.
1 Orang utan. 1 Brown Lemur.
1 Malay Tapir. 3 European Roe Deer.
3 Clouded Leopards. 14 Squirrels.
ZOOLOGICAL
FEMALE
A SCARED ELEPHANT.
N September 10th the Society purchased at
Luna Park, Coney Island, a female Indian
elephant that is about twelve years of age,
seven feet, seven inches in height, and weighs
£,500 pounds. On September 18th, when that
animal became both panic-stricken and contrary-
minded, she furnished the most exciting episode
that has yet occurred in the Zoological Park.
The members of the Zoological Society will no
doubt be interested in knowing the real facts
in this rather remarkable case.
The causes of “Luna’s” mental disturbance
lay in the fact that naturally she is of a timid
disposition, and was suddenly and_ without
warning taken from her old haunts, from her
three companions, and from her favorite keeper
at Luna Park, to entirely new surroundings,
and strange keepers.
For nearly a week she endured the change
quite bravely, but at last her nerves gave way
before a trifling cause. She was frightened by
the sight of the pumas in their cage near the
Small-Mammal House, wheeled about, and
started to find a safe retreat. The open door of
the Reptile House looked inviting, and she
SOCIETY
INDIAN ELEPHANT
BULLETIN.
“LUNA.”
headed for it, taking her two keepers along
with her. Of course Keepers Thuman and Bay-
reuther did their utmost to restrain her, but she
paid no attention to their hooks, and deliberate-
ly walked into the building. Evidently she
thought it was a barn, and possibly she hoped
to find within it the three companions she had
left in the big and gloomy elephant-barn at
Coney Island.
The Reptile House contained about fifty
visitors, and naturally the sight of the huge
animal walking around the eastern end of the
turtle-crawl, created consternation. One woman
fainted from fright, and was promptly carried
into Mr. Ditmars’ office, placed in a chair and
revived. Another woman fell while attempting
to run away, and cut her forehead against a
guard-rail. In a very few minutes the elephant
was led out of the building, without having oc-
casioned any damage to it, or to any person; but
when she reached the open air she again became
panic-stricken. Then, to the amazement of
everyone who saw her, she squeezed through the
south door of the Tortoise House, and was there
found by the Director, trembling with nervous-
ness and fright.
ZOOLOGICAL
Attempts were made to calm her with food,
but she was too excited to eat. In about fifteen
minutes she became dissatisfied with the com-
pany of the giant tortoises, and squeezed out
into the open air. Strong efforts were made
to lead or drive her southward toward her
home in the Antelope House, and in due process
she was started on three different walks leading
in that direction. Each time after a hundred
feet had been covered her hysteria returned, and
she resolutely wheeled from the course. ‘Twice
she attempted to re-enter the Reptile House and
was prevented, but the third time she made good
her second entrance, dragging her keepers with
her.
Once more she was halted in the main hall,
turned and led out. During the next half hour
Keepers Thuman and Bayreuther sought to coax
or compel her to go southward to the Antelope
House; and first and last, she was tried on five
different walks and roads. Finally she made a
determined break for the Reptile House, and in
spite of all opposition, went in a third time.
By that time Keeper Thuman was well nigh
exhausted, and it was plain that an end of some
kind must be reached immediately. The Di-
rector at once ordered that “Luna” be chained
for the night in the main hall of the Reptile
House, fronting the doorway; and in quick time
this was accomplished. From her shackled
front feet two long chains were run out right
and left, and firmly secured to the bases of two
guard-rail posts. In that position she was held
all night, and remained quiet and well-behaved
until morning. q
It was hoped that the quiet hours spent in
the Reptile House would calm “Luna’s” nerves,
and that in the early morning she would consent
to return to her stall. But the workings of her
mind were past finding out, and it was decided
to keep her front feet well shackled together.
No sooner was one of her anchor chains loosened
than the most exciting incident of this episode
occurred.
“Tuna” swung over to the limit of her re-
maining chain, within reach of the small table
cases of lizards ranged along the south side of
the main hall, and deliberately began to wreck
them. She pushed off three of the cases, then
overturned the table and wrecked four more.
While Keeper Thuman was frantically endeavor-
ing to control her, she deliberately set both
front feet upon the guard-rail, and broke down
a section of it.
By a great effort, “Tuna” was then driven out
of the building, and in less than fifteen minutes
thereafter her front feet were anchored to a
tree, her hind legs were closely tied together,
SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 455
she was thrown, “hog-tied” and securely an-
chored, fore and aft. She struggled long and
valiantly, but after a time gave up. Straw was
brought and put under her head, and she was
left to think matters over. During the day, the
Saturday crowds of visitors inspected her briefly
and with mild interest, then went their way to
see other animals.
At three o'clock “Luna’s” favorite keeper,
Richard Richards, arrived from Luna Park, and
the elephant immediately recognized him. At
the Park’s closing hour, one of the young Afri-
can elephants was brought from the Antelope
House, to be used as a guide for “Luna” on the
journey back to her quarters in the Antelope
House. Her leg bonds were transformed into
ordinary hobbles, and she was permitted to rise.
With her own keeper at her head, she quietly
followed “Kartoom’”’ to the Antelope House, en-
tered her stall, and the incident was closed.
In a very few hours, “Luna” again settled
down into a quiet, well-behaved beast. On the fol-
lowing day Keeper Thuman made her lie down,
rise, and place him upon her back.
Keeper Thuman displayed great courage and
persistence in his long struggle with “Luna,”
and once he narrowly escaped being injured, by
accident. It is a satisfaction to be able to re-
port that from first to last the elephant mani-
fested no ill-temper toward anyone; and but
for her spiteful breakages in the Reptile House,
all of which were quite unnecessary, we could
easily forgive both her panic and her stubborn-
ness. Vivo “Ute Lek
A LARGE SEA TURTLE.
O: September 7th, the Aquarium received
another specimen of the great harp turtle
or leather-back, (Dermochelys coriacea),
weighing 840 pounds, nearly 100 pounds more
than the one received in June.
This we believe to be the largest specimen of
a sea turtle on exhibition anywhere, at least we
do not know of an example in any American
or European Museum which exceeds it in size.
It is not likely that any species of sea turtle
exceeds 1,000 pounds in weight. The Aquarium
gets one or more harp turtles every summer.
They generally die during shipment, or within
a few days after arrival, and are turned over to
the Museum. When captured along the coast.
fishermen report them as weighing from 1,000
to 1,500 pounds, but on the scales they shrink
to 700 or 800. Although the harp turtle does
not feed in captivity, the present specimen has
broken the Aquarium record by living two weeks.
But its keeper is not hopeful. CoH:
456 ZOOLOGICAL
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
EDITED BY THE DIRECTOR
Elwin R. Sanborn, Asst. Editor
Published Quarterly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall St., New York City.
Copyright, 1908, by the New York Zoological Society.
No. 31
OCTOBER, 1908
Subscription price, 50 cents for four numbers.
Single numbers, 15 cents.
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS.
Officers of the Society.
President -
Hon. Levi P. Morton.
Executive Committee -
Pror. HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN, Chairman,
JoHN S. BARNES, Mabison GRANT,
Percy R. PYNE, WILLIAM WHITE NILEs,
SAMUEL THORNE,
Levi P. Morton, ex-officio.
General Officers :
Secretary, MADISON GRANT, 11 WALL STREET.
Treasurer, PERCY R. PYNE, 30 PINE STREET.
Director, WiLLIAM T. HoRNADAY, ZOOLOGICAL PARK.
Director of the Aquarium, CHARLES H. TOWNSEND, BATTERY PARK.
Board of Managers :
EX-OFFICIO,
The Mayor of the City of New York, Hon. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.
The President of the Dep’t of Parks, Hon. HENRY SMITH.
, Class of 1909. Class of 1910. Glass of 1911.
Levi P. Morton, F. Augustus Schermerhorn, Henry F. Osborn,
Andrew Carnegie, Percy R. Pyne, James W. Barney,
John L. Cadwalader, George B. Grinnell, William C. Church,
John S. Barnes, Jacob H. Schiff, Lispenard Stewart,
Madison Grant, Edward J. Berwind, H. Casimir De Rham,
William White Niles, George C. Clark, George Crocker,
Samuel Thorne, Cleveland H. Dodge, Hugh D. Auchincloss,
Henry A. C. Taylor, C., Ledyard Blair, Charles F. Dieterich,
Hugh J. Chisholm, Cornelius Vanderbilt, James J. Hill,
Wm. D. Sloane, Nelson Robinson, George F, Baker,
Winthrop Rutherfurd, Frederick G. Bourne, Grant B. Schley,
Frank K. Sturgis, W. Austin Wadsworth. Payne Whitney,
THE RUBBISH WAR.
During the past three years, the rubbish
wilfully and inexcusably thrown upon the walks
and lawns of the Zoological Park had become
more and more irritating to the nerves of those
responsible for cleanliness and good order.
During that period, however, we were so busy
with the annual rush of construction work that
we had no time in which to make a determined
campaign against it.
Last spring, however, the auspicious period
arrived, and the war that so long had been in-
tended was formally declared. To-day we are
prepared to write the first chapter of its history.
The making of wholesale arrests in the Zoo-
logical Park, and the haling of a large number
of pleasure-seekers before the night court, was
painful to contemplate, and would have been
still more painful to carry into effect. We de-
cided to avoid those measures, as far as might be
possible, by a preliminary campaign of educa-
tion. To this end we carried out the follow-
ing program:
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
In 1907, we finished the placing of about 100
well-appointed rubbish baskets. If the whole
truth must be told, the “Bronx Park Basket,”
an imitation tree-stump in metal, with a movable
basket inside, was invented by the Director, with
special reference to its use in public parks.
Over each basket was placed a sign, saying
“Deposit Here All Refuse.” Many other signs
had been posted, previous to 1907, forbidding
the throwing of rubbish on the walks.
On May 25th, 150 special cloth signs, printed
in English, Yiddish, Italian and German, for-
bidding the scattering of rubbish, and direct-
ing that it be placed in the baskets, under pain
of punishment for neglect, were posted so con-
spicuously that it was impossible for a visitor
to enter the Park without seeing at least one.
On May 29th, a manifesto by the Director
appeared in several of the newspapers of New
York City, formally declaring war on the rub-
bish-throwing habit, and warning all possible
offenders to obey the law of the City, or suffer
arrest and punishment. For the publication of
our communication, and editorial articles there-
on, we are indebted to the following newspapers:
The Times, Public Opinion,
The Tribune, Morning Telegraph,
Staats Zeitung, Vogue,
North Side News, The Independent,
Bronx Sentinel, Columbia (S. C.) States
The Herald, Colorado Springs
Standard-Union, Gazette,
Jewish Daily News, Providence (R. I.)
Jewish Morning Journal, Tribune,
L’Araldo Italiani, Plainfield (N. J.)
Courrier des Etats-Unis, | Courier.
The support received from the Tribune and
Times was exceedingly valuable and helpful.
and is most gratefully acknowledged.
On Sunday, May 30th, hostilities began in the
Park. Ten men of our force were specially de-
tailed to do patrol duty, and instructed to ad-
monish all throwers of rubbish, and compel them
instantly to pick up whatever they threw down.
It was ordered that the campaign for the educa-
tion of the public should be carried on without
making arrests, so long as substantial progress
mas perceptible. At the same time, however,
officers were in readiness to act, and had the law
been resisted, arrests would have swiftly fol-
lowed. The Commissioner of Police granted
us two extra policemen, and Captain George C.
Liebers, of the 68th Precinct, entered heartily
into the campaign with all the extra men that
he could spare. The Society and the general
public are greatly indebted to Mr. Hermann W.
Merkel, an officer of the Park staff, and also a
special police officer, for the vigor with which
ZOOLOGICAL
he entered into this campaign, and the splendid
success of his labors. It would be impossible
to say too much in praise of his continuous ef-
forts to preserve order in the Park, and to ren-
der every portion of our grounds thoroughly safe
for women and children.
The results were immediate and very gratify-
ing. Within a month the amount of waste
paper, fruit skins and lunch boxes thrown upon
the walks and lawns, and under benches, dimin-
ished about seventy-five per cent. Within two
months the decrease amounted to about ninety-
five per cent. of the original total; and all this
without the making of even one arrest! It was
found necessary, however, to prohibit absolute-
ly all persons from sitting or lying upon the
grass, for the reason that it was found quite im-
possible to prevent such persons from leaving
rubbish behind them. Owing to the presence of
300 park benches within our grounds, it is not
at all necessary for anyone to lounge upon the
grass.
Last year, on every Monday morning the Park
was a disgraceful sight, and it required the labor
of ten men until about two o'clock in the after-
noon to gather up the rubbish. Now, by ten
o'clock on Monday mornings, four men make the
Park thoroughly clean and presentable. What
is still more important, the Park is clean during
nearly the whole of Sunday, instead of becom-
ing by noon of that day a distressing scene of
disorder under foot.
An important lesson has been learned. It has
been clearly observed by many persons, that the
disorderly period attracted disorderly crowds!
When the reform was fully established, the dis-
orderly element seemed to withdraw, and go
elsewhere, and there followed a great influx of
visitors of a better class, who believe in law and
order, and prefer to go only where they can
enjoy cleanliness!
Our warfare has received from the best ele-
ment in New York, constant encouragement.
We have on file many letters commending our
efforts, and wishing us success. Beyond ques-
tion, the people of this city pay for, and are en-
titled to, clean streets and clean parks! Those
who disgrace New York by strewing rubbish
broadcast, in spite of warnings, should be stern-
ly dealt with. Our streets still are garnished,
in the gutters, with waste paper; and the bad
habit that leads to it should be taken in hand
by the Police Department, and broken up. The
first step should be the posting of about 5,000
warnings, printed on linen, as an educational
effort. The laws on the subject are ample.
The unhindered throwing of rubbish in streets
and in parks promotes a spirit of lawlessness
SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 457
and disorder that easily leads to more serious
offenses. In view of all that this city is spend-
ing and doing for the comfort and pleasure of
the people, the lawless ten per cent. should be
forced to obey the Jaws of decency and good
order. Weal Ele
TWO SUBSCRIPTIONS.
In the last issue of the BuLietin, subscrip-
tions amounting to $3,510 for the special animal
fund were acknowledged. It now affords us
much pleasure to report the receipt of a sub-
scription of $500 from Mr. Nelson Robinson.
which brings the total up to $4,010, and quite
fulfils the expectations under which a fund of
$4,000 was asked for.
We also gratefully acknowledge a special sub-
scription of $250 from Mrs. Frank K. Sturgis,
to be devoted to the experiments of Mr. C. Will-
iam Beebe, Curator of Birds, in the practical de-
termination of the influences affecting the colors
of birds. It will be remembered that Mr.
Beebe’s paper on “Geographic Variations in
Birds with Especial Reference to the Effects of
Humidity” was published by the Society as Vol.
I, Number 1, of “Zoologica,” and among orni-
thologists generally it created a profound sen-
sation.
MISNAMING OF THE ZOOLOGICAL
PARK.
Thanks to the persistent efforts of a few men
in this city, the New York Zoological Park is
now called by the newspapers of the United
States generally “Bronx Zoo,” “Bronz Zoo,”
“Bronx Park Zoo,” and other combinations equal-
ly offensive. We cannot felicitate our friends
on having made the corrupted name of an an-
cient Dutchman greater than that of the city that
has given the people of this whole nation a first
rank zoological park. It is extremely desirable
that the Zoological Park should be called by its
right name, and we invite all of the many friends
and admirers of the Park to cooperate with us
in suppressing the extremely inappropriate and
ill-sounding names cited above. Our citizens
should all be proud that the name “Zoo” is inap-
propriate, if only because the Park is planned
on a seale which so far exceeds that of any other
civie collection in the world.
The attendance at the Aquarium has already
passed the two million mark. This year will
far exceed any previous year in this respect.
Labor Day brought over 21,000 visitors.
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
MALE SOUTH AMERICAN CONDOR.
NEW WORLD VULTURES.
By C. WitiiamM BEEBE,
CURATOR OF BIRDS.
Part I.
HE very name of vulture has come to ex-
press unpleasant things and to symbolize
evil ways and characteristics. Few people
associate these birds otherwise than with sur-
roundings of ill-smelling carrion, but this is most
unfair, both to birds in a wild state and to those
in captivity. Although it would perhaps be
difficult to frame an encomium on all their ways
of life, yet vultures are interesting birds and
if given opportunity, prove to be as clean feed-
ers as their more noble brethren—the eagles and
hawks. If given a choice between two pieces of
meat, one fresh and the other spoiled, a vulture
will invariably choose the former.
Vultures occupy a unique position in the econ-
omy of nature. Although strictly carniverous
in diet, they are unable to kill prey for them-
selves. They have the strong, hooked beak of
other raptores, but their toes and claws lack the
strong muscles that give to eagles such formid-
able means of attack. Thus the vultures live
Tantalus-like, ever in sight of abundant food
and yet unable to satisfy themselves except by
the accidental death of some creature.
To cope successfully with these hard condi-
lions, vultures have acquired certain peculiar
characteristics. Their prey falls to them in often
large quantities but at very irregular intervals,
and they are able to take advantage of a time
of plenty and gorge themselves to repletion, de-
vouring a surprisingly large amount of food.
On the other hand, they possess remarkable
powers of fasting, and can retain their strength
during a period of five or six weeks abstinence
from food.
The third characteristic of vultures relating
to their predatory handicap is their wonderful
eye-sight. There is little doubt that this sur-
passes even that of the hawks and eagles, and
probably represents the highest development of
the power of vision of any living creature. It
has been proved conclusively that they find their
food by the sense of sight alone, and indeed ap-
parently lack the sense of smell.
During a trip to a wild part of Mexico I once
noted an incident which illustrates this unusual
vision, and gives a hint of the extreme compe-
tition for food which vultures must ever endure.
At the edge of a stream, I once undertook to
prepare an armadillo for the pot. His tough
skin made it a rather difficult and engrossing
task, and for some twenty minutes I did not
look up from my work. While on my way to
the water I had thoughtlessly noticed a single
black speck high up overhead, so usual a sight
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
SOUTH AMERICAN CONDOR.
Head of male bird.
that I hardly remembered it. When at last I
arose from my completed work and stretched
my cramped limbs, every dead tree and boulder
within a wide area held its complement of vul-
tures—black and turkey. It was most un-
canny. Their skinny necks were stretched out
toward me; many score of red and ebony heads
peered through leaves and over rocks and dead
limbs, forming a ring of watchful, silent specta-
tors. Overhead the sky was quartered in every
direction by dozens of others. Within a few
minutes all these birds had come, each guided by
the suggestive descent of some brother vulture,
who in turn had well interpreted his neighbor’s
actions. All were waiting patiently for the ex-
pected feast. And what a feast! It was the
“loaves and fishes’ over again without any
chance for a miracle. Nearly two hundred
birds as large as small turkeys were eagerly
waiting for the moment when I should leave to
them the remains of one small armadillo!
The collection of New World vultures in the
New York Zoological Park is at present com-
plete—that is to say, all five genera of this
group are represented by living specimens.
The vultures of the Old World are very hawk-
like, so much so that they are placed in the
same order with those birds of prey. But the
vultures of our own hemisphere are sufficiently
distinct from all other groups to deserve an or-
der of their own, CATHARTIDIFORMES.
Perhaps the most marked difference is the ab-
sence of a voice in the vultures of the Americas.
due to the absence of a syrinx—the avian vocal
organ. The Old World birds can scream and
voice their emotions in sound, but our vultures
BULLETIN. 459
must live ever silent, or utter only the hiss of
escaping breath. The single family Cathartidae
includes the following genera:
I. South American Condor (Sarcorhamphus
gryphus).
Il. King Vulture (Gypagus papa).
III. Black Vulture (Catharistes urubu).
IV. Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura).
V. California Condor (Pseudogryphus cali-
fornianus ).
The completeness of our collection, together
with the interest which these little appreciated
birds present, has led to the making of a
résumé of their habits as far as these are known.
THE SOUTH
AMERICAN CONDOR.
A pair of these splendid birds was received
at the Zoological Park November 30th, 1899.
The female died shortly afterward, but the
male is still in perfect health, after nine
years of life in New York City. This species
has been known to live thirty-three years in
captivity. Our bird has been a constant source
of attraction to visitors and, peacock-like, en-
joys showing himself off to admiring throngs.
He has lived outdoors summer and winter, ap-
parently as comfortable in the coldest blizzard
as in the hottest summer weather. His chief
trait, characteristic indeed of all the larger
species of vultures, is a curious spirit of play.
exhibited in antics about his keeper or mani-
fested toward other birds in the big flying cage.
Formerly his summers were spent in this huge
enclosure, where he never made any attempt to
injure other birds or even to feed upon the body
of any one accidentally killed. At last, how-
ever, his play became too rough. He would
seize a flamingo by one wing and dance around
and around, pulling the terrified bird about, and
sometimes throwing it down. For the last few
KING VULTURE.
Head of the male bird.
460 ZOOLOGICAL
years, the Condor has been kept in his winter
cage throughout the year. At midnight on a
snowy winter’s night I have watched this bird
play by himself for a half hour in the moon-
light; dancing on the snow, throwing about one
of his own giant quills and chasing his shadow;
a strange performance explained in no natural
history, and one which seems all the more re-
markable when we think of this great vulture
as the accepted type of a slothful gourmand.
The Condor in the Park is remarkably strong
and when it becomes necessary to transfer him.
three men are required to hold the great bird
fast in a wolf net. He refuses to touch carrion
but will eat fresh meat and fish. Like all vul-
tures, he has no grasping power in his feet and
claws, and thus his method of feeding is to
stand upon his prey, take a firm grip with his
powerful hooked beak and pull strongly up-
ward until a small piece of flesh is torn away.
Like other vultures, the flight of the Condor
is magnificent, soaring for hours, often hundreds
of feet above the highest snow-capped peaks of
its native mountains, or swiftly descending
thence to the distant speck which its marvellous
vision marks out as food. In contrast to others
of its family, the South American Condor seems
to possess certain predatory instincts. Several
individuals are said to band together at times
and, rushing at some animal standing near a
precipice, frighten it into stampeding to its
death, when the birds descend to feed upon its
body. This may be the result of the extremity
of hunger driving the birds to. take desperate
measures to avoid starvation.
Tle Condor lays one or two large white eggs
upon a narrow ledge of some inaccessible cliff
Sixty-two years ago an egg was laid and in-
cubated in the Zoological Gardens of London—
the only recorded instance of this species breed-
ing in captivity. The chick hatched in fifty-
four days but lived only six weeks. From ob-
servations of young Condors it seems probable
that the nestling spends six or seven months in
the nest before it is able to fly. The great
wing quills of the Condor come into vogue now
and then in the millinery trade, and many thou-
sands of birds are slaughtered yearly to supply
this shameful demand.
The courtship of the Condor begins about
the first of the year, and extends through-
out February. Lacking a mate of his own kind.
the bird in our collection shows off to the female
griffon vultures or bald eagles. He half raises
his splendid wings, curving them around so that
all the white markings are brought into view;
then he struts back and forth before the object
of his attentions. The head is brought forward
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
KING VULTURE, FEMALE.
and downward while the neck is strained up-
ward in a pronounced curve, the colors of the
skin showing brightly at this season. Succes-
sive hisses are uttered, the spasmodic exhalation
of the breath vibrating throughout the whole
bird. At last, with a final prolonged hiss, he
sinks down upon his tarsus, closes his wings and
the performance is over. Although his eyes are
open during the display, he seems in a kind of
trance, and takes no notice of what
around him.
goes on
The strange attitudes which this bird often
assumes during sleep are as remarkable and
characteristic as is his pronounced playfulness.
When perching, his head and wings will some-
times hang straight down—the bird apparently
dead and about to fall to the earth. Or again
when a visitor perceives this great bird prone
upon his back with feet in air, wings half open
and beak agape, a hurry call is naturally sent
to the keeper to remove the body of his defunct
charge; but in a fraction of a second the Con-
dor will spring upon his feet, as much alive as
ever.
The word Condor is the Spanish equivalent
of the native Peruvian Cuntur. It inhabits the
Andes of Ecuador, Peru, Chili, and Patagonia
north to the Rio Negro. The size of the Con-
dor has been greatly exaggerated by writers.
No less a personage than Alexander von Hum-
boldt was led to believe that these birds some-
times had a spread of wing of fifteen feet. As
a matter of fact, with the exception of the Cali-
fornia Condor, the South American bird has the
greatest expanse of wing of any American land
bird, but the average spread of a full grown
male is only nine to nine and one-half feet.
ZOOLOGICAL
The male is distinguished by a large fleshy
comb or caruncle which adorns the head. The
bare head and neck are wrinkled and of a dull
reddish or leaden color, while the glossy black
plumage of the body is surmounted by a fluffy
collar of softest, whitest down. The body
plumage is entirely black, while the exposed
portions of the wing feathers are white,—a
striking pattern when the bird extends its wide
pinions to the morning sun.
THE KING VULTURE.
As the Condor reigns supreme among the
great peaks of the southern Andes, so the King
Vulture dominates the lowland forest regions.
Its range is therefore much more extensive
reaching Paraguay in the south, becoming most
abundant in Brazil and showing its splendid
form high in air as far north as Mexico. By
preference it haunts the wooded banks of rivers
and the depths of impenetrable swamps, but
from its lofty, aerial outlook it commands many
square miles of varied territory, and will be
found wherever a promise of a feast comes with-
in its keen range of vision.
The name of “King” is given it because of a
wide-spread belief among the native Indians
that all other vultures stand in awe of it, and
that they invariably remain in the background
until the royal appetite is appeased. When
wild its food is chiefly carrion—but not appa-
rently from choice, since in captivity it seems
to prefer fresh meat.
Although not uncommon in some parts of its
range, little has been recorded concerning the
life history of the King Vulture. Two white
eggs are laid, and the nest is said to be occa-
sionally placed in the hollow of a dead tree.
During the first two or three years of life the
colors are dark and obscure, but when fully
adult the King Vulture is gorgeous. The head
and neck are variegated with bare patches of red
and yellow, while prominent folds and wrinkles
of skin extend around the crown and down the
neck. A bright yellow caruncle decorates the
base of the beak and the iris is of a conspicu-
ous white hue.
ISS
MIDWAY I.
UNDER/U. 8. NAVY med
DEPARTMENT. 5
“Cy
/
NATIONAL PARKS AND GAME PRESERVES, AND BIRD REFUGES.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
and right to bring the desired preserve into ex-
istence. The law referred to expressly clothes
the President of the United States with power
to preserve any monumental feature of nature
which it clearly is the duty of the state to pre-
serve for all time from the hands of the spoilers.
Already several “national monuments” have
been preserved by executive order, of course
with the previous concurrence of a number of
high departmental officers who by law are em-
powered to sit in judgment on all such pro-
posals.
With the enthusiastic approval and assistance
of Representative William E. Humphrey, of
Seattle, Dr. Palmer set in motion the machinery
necessary to the carrying of the matter before
the President in proper form, and kept it going,
with the result that on March 3, President
Roosevelt affixed his signature to the document
that closed the circuit.
Thus was created the Mount Olympus Na-
tional Monument, preserving forever 600,000
acres of magnificent mountains, valleys, glaciers,
streams and forests, and all the wild creatures
living therein and thereon. The people of the
state of Washington have good reason to rejoice
in the fact that their most highly-prized scenic
wonderland, and the last survivors of the wapiti
501
in that state, are now preserved for all coming
time. At the same time, we congratulate Dr.
Palmer on tthe brilliant success of his initiative.
THE SUPERIOR NATIONAL GAME AND FOREST
PRESERVE.
The people of Minnesota long have desired
that a certain great tract of wilderness in the
extreme northern portion of that state, now well
stocked with moose and deer, should be estab-
lished as a game and forest preserve. Unfortu-
nately, however, the national government could
go no farther than to withdraw the lands (and
waters) from entry, and declare it a forest re-
serve. At the right moment, some bright genius
proposed that the national government should
by executive order create a “forest reserve,”
and then that the legislature of Minnesota
should pass an act providing that every national
forest of that state should also be regarded as a
state game preserve!
Both those things were done,—almost as soon
as said! Mr. Carlos Avery, the Executive Agent
of the Board of Game and Fish Commissioners
of Minnesota is entitled to great credit for the
action of his state, and we have to thank Mr.
Gifford Pinchot and President Roosevelt for the
executive action that represented the first half
of the effort.
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NATIONAL BIRD REFUGES, ESTABLISHED 1903-1908.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
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SUPERIOR NATIONAL GAME AND FOREST PRESERVE.
The new Superior Preserve is valuable as a
game and forest reserve, and nothing else. It is
a wilderness of small lakes, marshes, creeks,
hummocks of land, scrubby timber, and prac-
But the
wilderness contains many moose, and zoologi-
tically nothing of commercial value.
cally, it is to all practical purposes a moose
preserve.
In 1908 Mr. Avery saw fifty-one moose in
three days, Mr. Fullerton saw 183 in nine days,
and Mr. Fullerton estimates the total number of
moose in Minnesota as a whole at 10,000 head.
In area it contains nearly 909,743 acres, and
its boundaries are shewn (for the first time in a
periodical) on the accompanying map. The
creation of this great preserve was finished on
April 13, 1909.
In this connection, it is of interest to notice
briefly another national game preserve of recent
creation, and to publish a map showing its lo-
cation.
THE GRAND CANON NATIONAL GAME PRESERVE.
Even to most persons who are interested in
conservation work it will be fresh news that in
northern Arizona the Government has estab-
lished a game and forest preserve equal in scenic
wonders as well as in area to the Yellowstone
National Park. It is called the Grand Cafion
National Game Preserve, and it consists of the
Kaibab Plateau and Buckskin Mountain on the
north, the first portion of the cafion of the
Colorado, and also a great area southward there-
of. It contains, in round numbers, 2,019,000
acres, or 3311 square miles. It includes all of
the area formerly comprising the “Grand Cajon
National Monument,” and fully twice as much
more.
The country south of the Colorado Cajion is
comparatively well known, but to most Amer-
icans the Kaibab Plateau is a veritable terra
incognita. It is in that wild and rugged region
of broken country, rocks, hills, valleys, brush
and a splendid pine-clad mountain plateau loom-
ing up over all, that “Buffalo” Jones has located
his herd of American bison and “‘cattaloes,”’ for
his latest experiment in breeding a valuable
strain of bison blood into range cattle. For-
tunately for those interested, there has recently
been published about that region a book of
thrilling interest. It is Zane Gray’s “Last of
the Plainsmen,”’ published by the Outing Pub-
lishing Company. It is valuable as a general
view of a wild and almost unknown region, and
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
27 Miles
6Miles
z 6 Miles
MT. OLYMPUS NATIONAL PRESERVE.
also as a record of the almost incredible ex-
ploits of Mr. Jones in catching alive nine pumas,
by strength of nerve, arm and lasso!
Already the Grand Cafion Preserve contains
a few mountain sheep, many mule deer,—and
far too many “mountain lions.” Buckskin
Mountain and its environs would make a fine
sanctuary for elk, but it would be necessary to
introduce them. The lower slopes would graze
ten thousand bison, but very few persons would
ever see them. With the lapse of time—and
cattaloes—it will be in order for the National
Government to purchase outright the pure-blood
bison of Mr. Jones and his partners, and let
them alone where they are, to found another
national herd.
HOPE FOR THE ANTELOPE.
OTH Montana and Wyoming have recently
enacted new laws providing absolute pro-
tection for the prong-horned antelope for a
series of years. This is a great achievement,
for the reason that the chain of protection for
that species is now nearly complete. In no
503
state or territory is it now legal to hunt ante-
lope, at any time; and the penalties for the law-
breakers are severe.
It is now in order to work for the enforce-
ment of the antelope laws; and the first thing
to do is to reach all ranchmen of antelope coun-
tries with a strong appeal to their patriotism
and humanity for the creation of a new cowboy
sentiment in behalf of antelope preservation.
On January 26 the Arizona Daily Star pub-
lished the news that after an absence of nearly
20 years a band of antelope, containing nearly
50 head, had been seen in Pima County, between
the Comobabi and Baboquivari Mountains.
This is one of the results of the ten years of
close protection that Arizona wisely has accord-
ed her most interesting desert species. All
honor to Arizona!
The laws for the antelope are now sufficient.
The next thing to provide is for their enforce-
ment. We must reach the stockmen, and ask
them to do that which no one else can do! If
they will say, “Cowboys, there must be no more
killing of antelope. We wish you to protect
them, at all times, and in all possible ways !’’—
then protected they will be!
There are yet remaining alive probably 5,000
antelope, all told; but we hope that the days of
antelope hunting have ended forever. The rem-
nant bands should now be as safe from attack
by man as are the animals of a zoological park.
The boys of the West should be taught in their
schools that it is a sin to kill an antelope. Too
many thousand square miles of Western plains
are now barren and lifeless because the beauti-
ful prong-horn is gone from them. With range
cattle and sheep swarming on ten thousand hills,
the poor little “saddle” of the prong-horn is no
longer needed by anyone as human food.
The antelope is one of our greatest American
zoological curiosities;—unique, odd, isolated.
It has no near relatives anywhere on this earth.
Let it alone, and it will take care of itself, and
harm nothing. As an ornament to gray and
melancholy wastes, as beautiful wild-life amid
barrenness, as the companion of the plainsman,
and as the great American oddity, it deserves
to live and be let alone.
It is greatly to the national credit that we
now are able to publish to the world the news
that in every portion of its range throughout
the United States the prong-horn is absolutely
protected, and for it there is no open season.
If we can but maintain this condition, and stop
unlawful killing by the residents of antelope
territory, it may really happen that the Amer-
icans of A. D. 1935 will find the antelope still
living in our land.
504
THE FUTURE OF OUR FAUNA.
By Maotson Grant.
HE growth of sentiment in favor of so-
called protection of game has been extreme-
ly rapid in the United States in recent years,
but unfortunately the destruction of the game in
question has proceeded in most cases with even
greater celerity. The object of the first game
laws was usually the establishment of close sea-
sons, covering for the most part those months
during which the young were born and nour-
ished. To these close seasons were soon added
restrictions regulating the number of animals to
be killed and the mode of hunting, forbidding
for example, crusting moose, hounding deer, and
the use of swivel guns for ducks. These meas-
ures in turn proved inadequate to prevent the
rapid diminution of game, so that finally the
market itself was attacked, and the trade in
skins and meat was either prohibited or strictly
limited.
About this time it became evident that some
species were either locally exterminated or on the
verge of extinction, and there began to appear
on the statutes of various states, laws forbidding
the killing of certain animals for various
periods, usually about five years. Some of
these laws were effective where the district in
which the prohibition was put into effect ad-
joined one where game still abounded, and from
which a supply could be drawn. Little by lit-
tle, in this way, the public became accustomed
to the fact that in certain places certain ani-
mals could not be legally killed at any season,
and this naturally led to the next step, viz.—
the complete stopping of the killing or capture
of all animals in certain restricted localities
known as game refuges or sanctuaries. These
refuges, the writer believes, are the final solu-
tion of game protection. All the other expe-
dients and devices named must prove to be in-
adequate, except in certain favored localities
like Long Island for deer, and perhaps Maine
and the Maritime Provinces for moose. Sooner
or later the development and population of the
country at large will reach a point when there
will be no room for the larger forms of mam-
malian life, although there is no reason why
game-birds and fish should not continue to
abound. These larger forms therefore can only
be handed down permanently in refuges like the
Yellowstone Park, and these must be established
throughout the length and breadth of North
America, especially in regions where forest re-
serves are necessary for the control of the water
supply. Whatever hunting the future genera-
tions will enjoy must be on the borders of these
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
reserves, which, if successful, will provide an
overflow of game sufficient to stock ‘the sur-
rounding country.
The fact is, that the time is close at hand
when we must abridge, or altogether take away
the old right to bear firearms and use them on
all living creatures. In place of this we must
substitute Old World conditions, which appear
to be consistent with the preservation of abun-
dant wild-life living on friendly terms with a
dense human population, as in India. This is
an ideal condition which we Americans must en-
deavor to establish in this country, if we wish
to continue to enjoy the spectacle of animated
nature around us. To bring about such a
change in public opinion is a gigantic undertak-
ing, and it may be necessary in many places to
go through, in our characteristic national way,
the process of complete destruction of the ani-
mals we have, and the restocking of the country
with new and perhaps in many cases with for-
eign and less attractive forms.
To avoid this last misfortune, the continua-
tion of the native wild stock through the medium
of game refuges is absolutely essential. The
Adirondacks, for instance, where nearly every
native and most of the visitors feel it obligatory
to carry around a repeating rifle and to use it
on every living thing in season, and on pretty
nearly everything except deer out of season,
consist now of almost lifeless forests and lakes.
If we could once for a definite period of years
do away with the habit of rifle carrying, we
probably could restore a great deal of the pris-
tine beauty of the North Woods. The natives
there have advanced to an imperfect belief in
game protection, but still regard “varmints” or
vermin as something to be destroyed on all oc-
casions, and used as living targets. ‘The defi-
nition of the word vermin most popular in the
Adirondacks, seems to be the one recently used
in Congress where a western representative
stated that, “the term vermin included every-
thing that could not be eaten, differing thus from
game, which was edible.”
The New York Zoological Society is prepared
to continue to support and urge such further
restrictive measures as may be from time to
time found desirable, but it believes that, look-
ing a generation or two into the future, the only
true and permanent solution lies not so much
in further legislation, but in a strict and con-
tinuous enforcement of existing laws; and most
particularly in the creation throughout the
country in all desirable spots, especially in
mountains and on islands, of sanctuaries for
wild-life, where neither rifle, nor fire, nor dog
may menace the safety or disturb the breeding
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
of the wild creatures. Lastly, the Society be-
lieves in discouraging and limiting the use of
firearms throughout the country at large. The
necessity for carrying firearms has now passed
away forever. In fact, it has lasted too long in
the United States, as a comparative study of the
development and civilization of our western
states with those of western Canada, will easily
demonstrate.
From the day when man became man and
walked erect, some four or five hundred thou-
sand years ago, down ‘to our own day and gen-
eration, he has been engaged in a ceaseless bat-
tle with his fellow inhabitants of the earth.
Down to the dawn of the historical period, this
battle, waged at first against the sabre-tooth
tiger, the cave bear and the hyenadon, was more
than doubtful, and only man’s co-operation with
his fellows, his protection by fire, and his use
of dogs as hunting allies, gave him the victory.
The struggle continued with renewed violence
whenever man entered upon new territory. Cen-
tury by century his organization became better
and his weapons more effective, until during
the Neolithic period, his superiority over the
brutes became definite. From that period,
man’s advance to the complete mastery of the
globe has advanced by leaps and bounds, and
this generation has the unique privilege of
standing literally at the close of this long bat-
tle, and at the opening of the new period, which
is immediately ahead of us, when man will share
the earth only with such survivors of the world’s
fauna as he may choose to tolerate. From pres-
ent appearances the only exception to this will
be imsects and rats. On this generation then
rests the responsibility of saying what forms of
life shall be preserved, in what localities, and on
what terms. Let us not delude ourselves for a
moment by believing that primitive hunting con-
ditions can ever be restored. The bison and the
sheep, the antelope and the wapiti, as game ani-
mals have already disappeared or are doomed. So
far as wild hunting is concerned, the best that
can be hoped for are the highly artificial condi-
tions which prevail on the continent of Europe
to-day, and these are not attractive to anyone who
has known the free life of the true woodsman.
Let us not suppose for a moment that our pres-
ent game laws, or any improvement or modifica-
tion of them, can ever permanently provide
hunting in the face of the commercial necessi-
ties of the future, but let us rather bend our
energies to selecting certain portions of our na-
tional domain, and establish and strictly main-
tain sanctuaries for some portion of the wild
things that have come down to us from the past.
BULLETIN. 505
THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S WORK
FOR WILD LIFE.
By Henry Farrrizitp Osporn.
HE grand object to which the Zoological
Society has chiefly devoted itself during the
past ten years, namely a great Zoological
Park, depends for the future on the preserva-
tion of wild animal life, because, without re-
newals from the wilderness, our collections will
gradually die out and disappear.
In spreading the love of animals we have al-
ready made thousands, perhaps millions, of new
friends for wild life. Now we propose to unite
them all in a great campaign of conservation.
This BuLLETIN is not our first gun, but it is our
first broad-side.
Our work will be mainly directed to the state
and public lands of North America, but we shall
also co-operate with the great conservation
movement in all parts of the world, through a
special committee backed by the sentiment and
funds from the Society and our future endow-
ments.
Tree preservation in the United States is
pressing, but it is less pressing than animal
preservation. Trees can be replanted or pre-
served from seeds, but an animal once gone is
lost to the world forever. Nature has been at
work millions of years creating some of these
exquisite pieces of mechanism and_ beauty.
There is at least a million years’ history back
of the prong-horned antelope, which is on the
danger line to-day. We find its diminutive for-
bears existing on the plains of South Dakota,
before the Rocky Mountains were completely
formed, and when fig-trees and the bread-fruit
flourished in Montana.
The Virginia deer has even an older known
pedigree, two million years back, perhaps. This
long and noble ancestry gives fresh force to the
appeal for preservation.
Laws enacted in the very best spirit will not
absolutely protect. They will help, but in very
many of the outlying districts, where the rare
game still seeks a refuge, there is no one to
enforce the law, and very little sentiment in its
favor. Animals are destroyed not for sport but
for meat. In the Hell Creek region of Mon-
tana, which a few years ago abounded in prong-
horned antelope, mountain sheep and_black-
tailed deer, the destruction has been entirely for
meat, and we must admit it is but natural that it
is so. The least defensible form of butchery is
the extermination of game in the name of sport.
The meat-hunter is solitary, he works through-
out the year, he knows his distant neighbors
will not inform upon him, and that in any case
506 ZOOLOGICAL
he will not be punished. This is the actual
situation at the very few remaining frontier
points, and this is why this Society, while back-
ing up legislation, proposes to put the main
brunt of its fight on
ANIMAL REFUGES.
Every territory and every state should have
animal refuges for the different kinds of wild
life remaining within its borders; and ‘these
refuges will soon become the absolute guarantee
of the survival of animals like the beautiful
prong-horned antelope, which is now on the
verge of extinction, and almost certainly the next
animal to disappear unless instant measures are
taken.
There are two districts in our mind among
many others, which are particularly designed by
nature as refuges. One is the Hell Creek re-
gion itself, untillable, uninhabitable, a chaos of
canons, supporting only a few head of cattle,
and that at great risk during every severe sea-
son. This is an ideal home for mountain sheep
and black-tailed deer, and even for buffalo and
prong-horned antelope. '
Another preserve region we have visited, is on
the head-waters of the Niobrara River or Run-
ning Water, in western Nebraska, on the ranch
lands of James H. Cook, one of the western
pioneers, who is willing and ready to devote his
lands and his life to the noble work of conserva-
tion. This is an ideal home for the prong-
horn and the buffalo, with water, shelter and
grass. Prairie, plains and bottomlands combine
in the same region—which is also one of the
great historic crossing grounds of the migrations
of buffalo before the northern and southern
herds were divided.
These are two practical examples of the pos-
sibilities of the game refuge plan, which our
committee will take into consideration. Like
all great movements, the first step is the crea-
tion of a strong and earnest sentiment, and the
establishment of a sound and practical policy.
To this sentiment the present BuLietrn is
chiefly devoted, and to the exposition of what has
and what has not been done.
THE CASE OF DAVID’S DEER.
UT for the enterprise of His Grace the
Duke of Bedford, Pére David’s Deer, for-
merly of Manchuria, would now be as ex-
tinct as the dodo. The Boxer war destroyed
the last known specimens that lived in China,
and all those living ten years ago in the zoolog-
ical gardens of Europe are now dead.
David's Deer is a Jarge and handsome animal,
with a long tail, and queer-shaped antlers of
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
good size. It owes its name to the fact that it
was first brought to the attention of zoologists
by Father David, a Catholic missionary, in
China. Of this species there are living to-day
precisely twenty-eight individuals; and all of
them are in the matchless collection of hoofed
animals owned and maintained by the Duke of
Bedford, at Woburn Abbey, England, thirty
miles northwest of London. That collection is
strictly private, and is to be seen by no one save
on the invitation of its owner, and by his co-
operation.
Zoologically, as well as otherwise, it is risky
and dangerous to preserve in one basket the
whole of a lot of particularly valuable eggs. In
no form of close captivity could David’s Deer
be safer, or more immune from epidemic dis-
eases, than in Woburn Park. But, at the same
time, the eggs are all in one basket. If rinder-
pest should break out in England, if the foot-
and-mouth disease, or the “game disease,’ or
tuberculosis should enter Woburn Park (which
Heaven forbid!) it might go hard with David’s
Deer. If Germany should invade England—as
so many staid Englishmen fear she might or
could do,—the herd of David’s Deer at Woburn
Park might easily be butchered to make a sol-
dier’s holiday, as was the herd of 200 in the Im-
perial Park south of Pekin.
We have respectfully suggested to the Duke
of Bedford that it would be a wise and generous
act if he were to place an adult male and two
females from his herd of David’s Deer in some
great wilderness preserve, we care not where it
might be, to become as wild and mayhap as
fruitful as the three English red deer that so
wonderously stocked Waipura Island in New
Zealand, and without any deterioration through
in-breeding. Three animals located in the right
spot, under intelligent and skilful management
in the beginning, might easily rehabilitate the
species in a wild state, and restore it to the
world’s fauna.
Of course no one can say in a moment just
where such an effort might best be made. It is
certain, however, that four elements are neces-
sary of success: A climate that is not too severe;
abundant food and water; a variety of cover, on
hills, valleys and plains and probably swampy
ground; absolute protection from predatory ani-
mals, and from dangerous men, generally.
It is possible that all these conditions could
be found in some of the deer forests of Scot-
land; but it is doubtful whether in all Scotland
one could be found in which the David’s Deer
would not be in great danger of being shot by
mistake. I think such an effort should be put
forth only in a fenced preserve, of large size, in
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
which no shooting is ever allowed. The Mon-
tana National Bison Range, or the Wichita
Bison Range, might answer well; though the
climate of the former might prove too rigorous
for animals that have been reared in captivity in
the milder climate of England. The logical
conclusion is the Wichita National Bison Range
containing twelve square miles of as fine deer
country as any deer ever saw.
LEND A HAND TO GLACIER PARK.
N the wild and picturesque mountains of
northwestern Montana, there is a region that
is splendidly provided with rugged peaks, deep
valleys, coniferous forests, glistening glaciers,
mirror lakes and mountain streams. It is of no
direct commercial value to man. The most per-
sistent miners and prospectors have given it up
as worthless to them, and it contains no agricul-
tural lands worthy of mention. By reason of
the depth of its winter snows, it is wholly un-
suitable for grazing purposes.
Indirectly, however, the very snows and
streams that now render that region impassable
in winter and early spring constitute an asset of
real value to the people of this country who live
below it. To preserve that value to the utmost,
and devote it to the greatest good of the great-
est number, there is now before Congress a bill
to convert 1300 square miles of that mountain
region into a forest reserve to be called Glacier
National Park.
The area selected contains sixty glaciers and
250 lakes, and as a source of water supply it is
surpassingly fine. Cut off the forests, however,
and that region will be a constant menace, and
a source of disastrous floods below. Of the de-
sirability of preserving those forests, there can
be no question. But how about the game?
Senator Carter’s bill, which died in the House
last winter, did not provide for the wild crea-
tures, probably because he fears that to have it
do so would provoke opposition to the bill as a
whole. Even the best game-protectors must
carefully consider ways and means.
The proposed park contains a fair number of
mountain goats and mountain sheep, four mem-
bers of the deer family—moose, elk, mule-deer
and white-tail—and a few black and grizzly
bears. There are six species of grouse, many
other birds of exceptional interest, and an abun-
dance of trout of three species.
During the past five months, the columns of
Forest and Stream have contained three illus-
trated articles on Glacier Park in which its fea-
tures and its contents have been set forth with
BULLETIN. 507
The dates of the
issues are January 9 and 23, February 20.
We are troubled by the fact that Senator Car-
ter’s last bill did not propose to make of Glacier
Park a wmild-life preserve! Evidently the Sen-
ator felt that with that feature included, his bill
might be defeated. But will it? Let us see.
In 1900 the Lacey bill, for the better protec-
tion of birds, became a law, by an overwhelming
majority,—chiefly because a large number of
good citizens wrote to their members of Con-
gress and demanded the passage of that bill
without any further postponements or delays.
As soon as the members of Congress were defi-
nitely assured that “their people” desired the
Lacey Bird Law, it went through on a whirl-
wind of votes.
Now, then, if the people of the United States
desire that Glacier Park be made, and also made
as an absolute game preserve, the may in which
they can secure that end is by saying so to their
members of Congress, next December, when the
bill mill start anew!
We believe that the making of the Glacier
Park forest and game preserve would be directly
in the interest of all the people of the United
States; and not only those of to-day, but the
generations of the future. There is nothing to
be gained by postponing the effort in behalf of
the wild life of Glacier Park. If there must
be a campaign to secure its protection, by all
means lets have it now, and make one job of it!
The wild life of that region, game and all, must
be preserved; and that is all there is in the way
of a question about it.
We call upon you, and your newspaper if you
have one, to consider this matter, and decide
whether or not you, as a broad-minded, patriotic,
far-seeing citizen, have a Duty in the matter.
If you decide that you have, then write to your
Congressman next December, and state your
views and your wishes. On all such matters,
you will find that the men who compose our Con-
gress and our state legislatures are willing to
enact into law anything reasonable that the peo-
ple desire in the line of permanent conserva-
tion of our natural resources.
We have no right, either legal or moral, to
destroy the wild life now on this earth, or to
permit it to be destroyed. We are its guardians
and trustees; and the men of the future will hold
us accountable for the manner in which we
guard their inheritance, and transmit it to them.
admirable fullness of detail.
508 ZOOLOGICAL
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
Edited by the Director of the Zoological Park.
Elwin R. Sanborn, Asst. Editor.
Published Quarterly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Single Numbers, 15 Cents; Yearly, 50 Cents.
Mailed free to members.
Copyright, 1909, by the New York Zoological Society.
No. 34 JUNE, 1909
Officers of the Society.
President -
HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN.
Executive Committee:
MADISON GRANT, Chairman,
JOHN S. BARNES, SAMUEL THORNE,
PeEercy R. PYNE, WILLIAM WHITE NILES,
Levi P. Morton, Wm. PIERSON HAMILTON,
HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN, Ex-Officio.
General Officers :
Secretary, MADISON GRANT, 11 WALL STREET.
Treasurer, Percy R. Pyne, 30 PI
Director, WILLIAM T. HORNADAY
Director of the Aquarium, CHARLES H. TOWNSEND, BATTERY PARK.
Board of Managers -
Ex-Officio,
The Mayor of the City of New York,. . . . HON. GEORGE B. McCLELLAN.
The President of the Dep’t of Parks,. . . . HoN. HENRY SMITH.
Glass nf 1910. Glass of 1911. Glass nf 1912.
F. Augustus Schermerhorn Henry F. Osborn, Levi P. Morton,
Percy R. Pyne, E Andrew Carnegie,
George B. Grinnell, John L. Cadwalader,
Jacob H. Schiff, John S. Barnes,
Edward J. Berwind, Madison Grant,
George C. Clark, William White Niles,
Samuel Thorne,
. Casimir De Rham,
Hugh D. Auchincloss,
Charles F. Dieterich,
Cleveland H. Dodge, James J. Hill,
C. Ledyard Blair, George F. Baker, Henry A. C. Taylor,
Cornelius Vanderbilt, Grant B. Schley, Hugh J. Chisholm,
Nelson Robinson, Payne Whitney, Frank K. Sturgis,
Frederick G. Bourne, James W. Barney, George J. Gould,
W. Austin Wadsworth Wm. PiersonHamilton Ogden Mills
Permission is given to quote in print any of
the matter contained in this issue, with the usual
credit to the Zoorocican Socrery BuLuietin.
Editors are reminded that every article that ap-
pears in print in behalf of mild-life protection
directly aids the general cause.
WILD-LIFE PROTECTION.
This number of the Butierry is wholly de-
voted to the cause of wild-life protection, be-
cause the duties of the hour demand it. One of
the three great objects for which this Zoological
Society was founded is “the preservation of our
native animals.” In this field, we began active
work in 1897, the second year of our existence.
Notwithstanding the great labor that has been
involved in the creation of the Zoological Park,
—and its practical completion in eleven years,—
the Society has constantly engaged in work de-
signed to protect and perpetuate “our native
animals.” Altogether we have expended about
$6,000 in this line of work.
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
But the situation has constantly grown more
acute, and to-day the need for men to enforce
existing game laws is greater than ever before.
The Zoological Society is in great need of funds
with which to put men in the field, and keep
them there actively and aggressively at work.
This need emphasizes once more the necessity
of raising immediately a permanent endowment
fund, from the income of which we can pay the
cost of wild-life protection work. If some one
would place in our hands such a fund as that
left by Mr. Wilcox, 2. e., $331,000, for the cause
of bird protection, it would go very far toward
preserving for future generations of Americans
some of the wild species that now are threat-
ened with practical extinction.
THE DUTY OF INSTITUTIONS TO
WILD LIFE.
It is an amazing fact that of all the scientific
institutions of America two only are actively en-
gaged in the promotion of measures for the
preservation and increase of wild life. The ex-
ceptions to the rule of absolute passivity are, so
far as known, the New York Zoological Society
and the American Museum of Natural History.
Of course we speak only to the extent of our
knowledge; and if there are other exceptions to
be noted, we will welcome them.
The amount of highly specialized “investiga-
tion” work that is being done by and through
our zoological and educational institutions, is
very great; but thus far no man has had the
hardihood to speak in print regarding its real
and practical value to the world. The amount
of abstruse technical scientific publications that
annually is turned out in America, is enormous.
Our government pays for a quantity of it, and
private fortunes meet the bills of the remainder.
We do not complain about it; because our
withers are unwrung; but the facts are of use
here to point a moral.
While all this high-class scientific work has
been going on, year after year,—at New York,
Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston,
Iowa City and elsewhere,—various bodies of
unscientific men and women have been engaged
in a constant warfare with wild-life annihila-
tors of a hundred different kinds. Even down
to 1896, the scientific ornithologists of America,
as a body, had done absolutely nothing in the
cause of bird protection; and to-day, also, there
are many ornithologists who for years have
drawn their annual bread and butter from orni-
thology, who seem to care nothing about our
birds save to write papers and books about their
dead remains.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
With the passage of the Lacey Bird Law,—
chiefly through the efforts of G. O. Shields,
John F. Lacey, the Audubon Societies and Theo-
dore S. Palmer,—the United States government
entered actively into the very necessary practical
business of wild-life protection. To-day, the
Biological Survey is a great power for good in
this direction; and the quicker the game-protec-
tion department of it is provided by Congress
with more money, the better for us all.
It is quite time that the sportsmen of America
should have substantial and continuous help in
the warfare they are waging in behalf of wild
life. It is time for all the institutions of this
country that are in any way interested in zoo-
logy to wake up, and take an active part in the
warfare that is going on! The amount of accum-
ulated zoological knowledge is now so great that
we need fear no fact famine in the near future,
not even if every zoologist in America should en-
list for ten years of active campaigning in be-
half of wild life. If the National Museum, the
Smithsonian, the Philadelphia Academy of Sci-
ences, the New York Academy, the Carnegie
Institutions of Washington and Pittsburgh, the
Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Boston
Society of Natural History, the Field Museum
and the Chicago Academy of Sciences, were to
actively engage in wild-life protection for say,
ten years, can anyone doubt the enormous prac-
tical benefit that would result?
There are certain duties which civilized men
and women can not evade, and be respectable.
For zoologists to ignore the slaughter of wild
life is wholly wrong; and when we say only
that, we put the case very mildly. Jt is the
bounden duty of the broad-minded and humane
men of to-day to take active measures toward
securing, for the men of the future, a fair in-
heritance of the marvellous wild life that still
exists on this continent, but which an army of
annihilators is trying hard to destroy.
It is a most singular fact that the true protec-
tion of wild life are now, and always have been,
the sportsmen and hunters who theoretically
should be destroyers, instead of preservers; and
it is perhaps more singular still, that those
whose whole life’s work is devoted to the study
of animals are so callous and indifferent to its
perpetuation.
Let no closet naturalist believe for one mo-
ment that there is no work for him to do, in-
dividually. In one hour’s time one practical
worker in this field can lay out tasks that would
keep an army of men busy for a year. Men
and money are needed, and the whole North
American continent is the battle-ground. The
present is no time for timid, half-way measures.
BULLETIN. 509
Each institution of those named above should
put into the field at least one active and efficient
worker, keep him there, and pay the cost of his
campaign work. ‘To do any less than this is to
fail in a solemn duty.
SUCCESS OF THE BISON SUBSCRIP-
TION FUND.
Immediately following the passage by Con-
gress in May, 1908, of the bill appropriating
$40,000 for the lands and fencing of the pro-
posed Montana National Bison Range, the pres-
ident of the Bison Society (W. T. Hornaday),
set out to raise $10,000 by subscription. That
fund was necessary to enable the Society to ful-
fil its pledge to the government that it would
furnish the nucleus herd as a gift, as soon as
the range was ready to receive it.
It was decided that the subscription should be
national in scope; and accordingly the people of
every state and territory were invited to partici-
pate, in sums from one dollar upward. The
call was sent to 150 mayors of cities and forty-
eight boards of trade,—but without securing
even one dollar through any one of them!
In view of the fact that the New York Zoo-
logical Society already had presented a herd of
bison to the national government, the members
of that Society were not called upon to sub-
seribe, save through the membership of a few in
other organizations. At the same time, three
members of the N. Y. Z. S. generously helped to
close the canvass with large subscriptions, to the
great relief of the chief canvasser. Mr. Charles
E. Senff gave $1,000, Mr. William P. Clyde
$500, and Mr. Andrew Carnegie $250.
The campaign for the bison fund lasted nine
long months, but finally closed in February,
1909, with a total of $10,560.50. It contained
a number of surprises; chief of which were the
following:
The West,—with but slight exceptions,—was
remarkably unresponsive, and makes a pitiable
showing in the total. The East has cheerfully
borne 80 per cent. of the burden.
The women of America subscribed more than
one-tenth of the entire sum; and a lady of Mas-
sachusetts (Mrs. Ezra R. Thayer, of Boston),
raised one-twentieth of the whole fund!
The funds now in hand are sufficient to pur-
chase forty-two pure-blood bison, and deliver
them upon the range. The government is now
acquiring and fencing the twenty-eight square
miles of range that were selected by the Bison
Society, and it is hoped that the fence will be
completed in time that the nucleus herd can be
delivered next October.
510
The Bison Society has been greatly benefitted
by the terminal facilities afforded its president
in the New York Zoological Park, and desires
to record here an expression of its gratitude.
A showing of the entire bison subscription, by
states, is as follows:
SUMMARY OF SUBSCRIPTIONS.
INE WE VOL Kui te eens oh oo ed rll Lecelienes Aoalhye $5,213.00
Massachusetts . 2,320.00
Minnesota .......... 1,054.00
Pennsylvania 503.00
Montana ..... 366.00
TUUN SONG): Soo eeaecceecscees 177.50
District of Columbia... 149.00
Connecticut -... 97.00
New Jersey .- 92.00
California 91.00
Michigan ..... 83.00
Ohio 72.00
Missouri ~.......... 53.00
New Hampshire 53.00
@JsTa hho rane ees ee a eee econ eee eee 48.00
Rhodes Jislam dl, eee. ee ee ee 39.10
Nebraska 32.00
England ... 25.00
Colorado . 15.00
Arizona 15.00
Florida 10.00
Maryland 8.00
Washington 7.50
Eran cemeesats 6.90
Towa .-......- 6.00
Wyoming 5.00
Kentucky 4.50
Maine) s 2 --- 4.00
West Virginia 4.00
“Amomymous” .........--------------- 3.00
‘South mCarolinay eee 1.00
Louisiana ...... 1.00
Vermont ......:. 1.00
ES TUIS HMR OMIT Ta reseee esate eae neers cence 1.00
STIG) es Ue ee se Se eee eer ere $10,560.50
EX-PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S’ REC-
ORD IN WILD-LIFE PRESERVATION.
A MONG other things left behind him of
which he and his friends may well be proud,
ex-President Roosevelt has gone out of of-
fice with a most enviable record as a promoter
of measures for the protection of wild life. Of
course those who knew him best expected much
of him, but it is safe to say that even the most
hopeful anticipations have been surpassed.
In one short article it is quite impossible to
enumerate more than a very few of the measures
that should be named in this connection. It is
safe to say that during the whole of his six years
as president, no measure calculated to benefit the
wild life of North America ever was put before
him without receiving his instant sympathy and
consistent support. He never ignorantly and
parsimoniously killed an act for the perpetua-
tion of the bison, nor left the gray squirrel a
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
prey to gunners because it was too much trouble
to sign the bill that had been passed in its be-
half,—as did an executive officer of a most im-
portant state.
Even the briefest enumeration of the wild-
life measures favored and promoted by ex-Presi-
dent Roosevelt must include the following:
The Alaska game laws of 1902 and 1907.
The establishment of the Wichita Game Ref-
uge, Oklahoma, in 1902, and the acceptance of
the bison herd in 1907.
The establishment of the Yellowstone Park
bison herd in 1902.
The increased attention given the big game
in the Yellowstone Park, including the vigorous
prosecution of poachers in 1907-08.
The creation of the Grand Cajfion
refuge, in Arizona, 1906.
The order prohibiting hunting or trapping
of game on the Fort Niobrara Military Reserva-
tion, Nebraska, 1908.
The passage of the bill providing for the
Montana National Bison Range in 1908, and
two supplementary measures in 1909.
The creation of 53 Federal Bird Refuges,
1903-1907.
The creation of the Mt. Olympus National
Monument, Washington, 1909.
The creation of the Superior National Forest
and Game Preserve, Minnesota, 1909.
The meting of the North American Conserva-
tion Commission, and its declaration for game
protection, 1909.
Is not this record sufficient of itself to make
a reign illustrious? We think it is.
SOME OF THE IMPORTANT THINGS TO
BE DONE FOR THE PROTECTION
OF WILD LIFE.
( ONDEMN as unsportsmanlike and unfair
game
the use of the noiseless gun in killing wild
life.
Establish Glacier National Park, as a forest
and game preserve.
Establish the Appalachian National Forest
Preserve,—saying nothing at present about the
game!
Work for the enactment of a perpetual close
season on all the antelope, caribou, mountain
sheep and mountain goats in the United States,
wherever situated.
Encourage Colorado in the creation of a
State Game Preserve in Estes Park.
Discourage the use of wild game as necessary
food for civilized man.
Discourage the killing of shore birds (Order
Limicole) as “game,” and “food” for man.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Discourage the indiscriminate carrying of fire-
arms.
Prohibit in all states and territories the car-
rying of guns by unnaturalized aliens.
Prohibit, in all states and territories, all
Spring shooting; and begin the campaign in
Towa.
Acquire Cat Island, Gulf of Mexico (near
Pass Christian, Miss.) as a bird preserve.
Provide for every state and territory a gun
license law.
THE RIGHTS OF OWNERS OF ANIMAL
PRESERVES.
ae believe that every owner of a private
game preserve is entitled to the right to
kill the game that he owns and main-
tains, whenever he pleases, provided such kill-
ings do not interfere with the execution of laws
for the protection of game and other wild life
outside of private preserves. We believe that
this is not only good law, but also good com-
mon sense.
If an owner of a private menagerie of show
animals has a right to kill a bad deer during the
close season,—which he undoubtedly has,—it is
only logical to conclude that the owner of a deer
pasture should have the same right. The owner
of a game park may kill his dog—if that painful
duty seems imperative—but according to the
present laws of many states, he has no right to
kill one of his own deer, save in the open season
for deer.
This situation is absurd, and therefore can
not long endure. The raising of deer or pheas-
ants or mallard ducks in fenced enclosures, for
the market, should now be placed on the basis
of a legitimate industry. There is no good
reason why an owner of a deer preserve should
not kill one of his deer whenever he chooses, pro-
vided he does not sell the carcass, or give it
away outside his preserve, during the close sea-
son; but the sale of the flesh in the close season
is a different and far more serious matter.
A sensible law covering this point would give
much encouragement to the breeding of deer and
game birds, and to the establishment of more
private game preserves. There are many good
reasons for the creation of a new basis for this
industry, provided it can be accomplished with-
out promoting the illegal killing of wild stock.
It is there that the shoe pinches hard.
There is one grave difficulty that must be
overcome before it becomes possible to legalize
either the killing or the selling of home-grown
game during the close season. It is well known
BULLETIN. 511
that every unscrupulous game dealer will be
quick to take advantage of any relaxation of
existing laws to traffic illegally in wild game
illegally killed. The only objection to the pas-
sage of laws that will be fair and liberal for
the preserve owners lies in the overshadowing
menace of the game-dealer and lawless con-
sumer.
If any man can propose a system that will
permit the preserve owner to kill and market
surplus pheasants or deer during the close sea-
son, without having the privilege immediately
and successfully used as a cloak for the illegal
slaughter of wild game, let him bring it forth
in his state legislature.
REFUGES FOR BIRDS.
ROUND the coast of the United States,
Atiere is gradually being extended a chain
of insular bird sanctuaries that means much
to the avifauna of North America. Prior to
January 1, 1909, twenty-five national bird
refuges had been created by executive order and
proclamation, chiefly along our sea-coasts. They
provide specially protected breeding-grounds
for the brown pelican, gulls, terns, skimmers,
shore-birds of various species, herons, egrets,
ducks and numerous other species. It is im-
possible to overestimate the zoological value of
these sanctuaries, or to praise too highly the
wisdom that brought them into existence.
The accompanying map shows all the littoral
bird sanctuaries that were created prior to 1909;
but during the present year 26 more island pre-
serves have been proclaimed. The list of the
federal bird reservations established previous to
1909 is as follows :—
LIST OF FEDERAL BIRD RESERVATIONS.
Pelican Island, Florida, March 14, 1903.
Breton Island, Louisiana, October 4, 1904.
Stump Lake, North Dakota, March 9, 1905.
Huron Island, Michigan, October 10, 1905.
Siskiwit Island, Michigan, October 10, 1905.
Passage Key, Florida, October 10, 1905.
Indian Key, Florida, February 10, 1906-
Tern Island, Louisiana, August 8, 1907.
Shell Key, Louisiana, August 17, 1907.
Three-Arch Rocks, Oregon, October 14, 1907.
Flattery Rocks, Washington, October 23, 1907.
Quillayute Needles, Washington, October 23, 1907.
East Timbalier Island, Loujsiana, December 7, 1907.
Copalis Rock, Washington, October 23, 1907.
Mosquito Inlet, Florida, February 24, 1908.
Tortugas Keys, Florida, April 6, 1908.
Klamath Lake, Ohio, August 8, 1908.
Key West, Florida, August 8, 1908.
Lake Malheur, Ohio, August 18, 1908.
Chase Lake, North Dakota, August 28, 1908.
Pine Island, Florida, September 15, 1908.
Matlacha Pass, Florida, September 26, 1908.
Palma Sola, Florida, September 26, 1908-
Island Bay, Florida, October 23, 1908.
Loch Katrine, Wyoming, October 26, 1908.
512 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
A SPORTSMAN’S PLATFORM.
FIFTEEN CARDINAL PRINCIPLES AFFECTING WILD GAME AND ITS PURSUIT.
Proposed by William T. Hornaday, April 17, 1908.
1. The wild animal life of to-day is not ours, to do with as we please. The original stock is
given to us in trust, for the benefit both of the present and the future. We must render an account-
ing of this trust to those who come after us.
2. Judging from the rate at which the wild creatures of North America are now being de-
stroyed, fifty years hence there will be no large game left in the United States nor in Canada out-
side of rigidly protected game preserves. It is therefore the duty of every good citizen to promote
the protection of forests and wild life, and the creation of game preserves, while a supply of game
remains. Every man who finds pleasure in hunting or fishing should be willing to spend both time
and money in active work for the protection of forests, fish and game.
3. The sale of game is incompatible with the perpetual preservation of a proper stock of
game; therefore it should be prohibited, by laws and by public sentiment.
4. In the settled and civilized regions of North America, there is no real necessity for the
consumption of wild game as human food; nor is there any good excuse for the sale of game for
food purposes. The maintenance of hired laborers on wild game should be prohibited, every-
where, under severe penalties.
5. An Indian has no more right to kill wild game, or to subsist upon it all the year round, than
any white man in the same locality. The Indian has no inherent or God-given ownership of the
game of North America, any more than of its mineral resources; and he should be governed by the
same game laws as white men.
6. No man can be a good citizen and also be a slaughterer of game or fishes beyond the nar-
row limits compatible with high-class sportsmanship.
7. A game-butcher or a market-hunter is an undesirable citizen, and should be treated as such.
8. The highest purpose which the killing of wild game and game fishes can hereafter be made
to serve is in furnishing objects to overworked men for tramping and camping trips in the wilds;
and the value of wild game as human food should no longer be regarded as an important factor in
its pursuit.
9. If rightly conserved, wild game constitutes a valuable asset to any country which possesses
it; and it is good statesmanship to protect it.
10. An ideal hunting trip consists of a good comrade, fine country, and a very few trophies
per hunter.
11. In an ideal hunting trip, the death of the game is only an incident; and by no means is
it really necessary to a successful outing.
12. The best hunter is the man who finds the most game, kills the least, and leaves behind
him no wounded animals.
13. The killing of an animal means the end of its most interesting period. When the coun-
try is fine, pursuit is more interesting than possession.
14. The killing of a female hoofed animal, save for special preservation, is to be regarded as
incompatible with the highest sportsmanship; and it should everywhere be prohibited by stringent
laws.
15. A particularly fine photograph of a large wild animal in its haunts is entitled to more
credit than the dead trophy of a similar animal. An animal that has been photographed never
should be killed, unless previously wounded in the chase.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 513
REMARKS ON THE SPORTSMAN’S PLATFORM.
Up to this time it appears that no declaration of principles ever has been submitted to the
sportsmen of the world, or even to those of America alone, for their endorsement and adherence.
Because of this fact, and in the hope of a result useful to all, I have the honor to submit the en-
closed Sportsman’s Platform, for such endorsement as it may be able to win on its own merits.
It is my belief that much strength may be gained for the general cause of game protection by
a definite agreement between the sportsmen of the world on the cardinal principles that apply
everywhere to the pursuit and the preservation of large game. Such an agreement would be re-
ceived in all law-making bodies with respectful consideration, and if sufficiently comprehensive
it might prove of great value in campaigns for better game laws, for the education of the general
public, and for the creation of new game preserves.
These fifteen cardinal principles have been drawn up to cover not only the conditions that
exist to-day, but also to meet others that seem of certain development in the near future.
For the
countries of Asia and Africa it is easy to substitute for “Indian” the word “native.”
The adoption of this Platform by sportsmen’s organizations, and by unattached sportsmen, is
respectfully invited; and a careful register will be kept of all who advise me of their endorsement.
ADOPTIONS.
The following organizations have formally adopted the Sportsman’s Platform as their code
of ethics, and published it in their club books :—
Camp-Fire Crus or America, New York, Dec. 10, 1908.
ship, 260.
Tue Lewis anp Crark Crus, Pittsburg, Pa.
J. O. Reaume, President.
William M. Kennedy, President.
Tue Norru American FisH anp Game Prorective AssocraTion, January 20, 1909.
Membership about 400.
Vio abe Jel,
Ernest T. Seton, President. Member-
Sixty members.
Hon. Dr.
An international organization. Adopt-
ed at the Toronto Convention, after a full discussion of Plank 5.
Tue Rop anp Gun Cuus, Sheridan County, Wyoming, May 1, 1909. George Lord, President;
Dr. F. A. Hodson, Vice-President.
ganized May 12. Twenty members.
Seventy-four members.
Tue Camp-Fire Crus or Micuiean, Detroit, May 20, 1909. Gustavus D. Pope, President.
Or-
CONVICTION OF SONG-BIRD KILLERS.
INCENZO SACCO and Antonio Guadagno,
V iio were arrested by Deputy Game-Warden
John J. Rose, of the Zoological Park force,
for killing song-birds for food, as described in
Buiietin No. 32, page 473, were finally tried
and convicted, and sentenced to ten weeks in the
penitentiary. If the fines to which the men
were liable had been paid, according to law, they
would have amounted to about $450. The of-
fenses referred to were committed in New York
City, within three miles of the Zoological Park.
MISS CAROLINE PHELPS STOKES.
HE wild birds of America have lost a good
Peed On April 26, 1909, Miss Caroline
Phelps Stokes passed from earth.
It is fitting that all friends of birds, and of
wild life generally, should know that only a few
months before her death, Miss Stokes completed
the establishment with the New York Zoological
Society of a special endowment fund of $5,000,
the income from which is to be expended annu-
ally in measures designed to promote the pro-
tection and increase of our native birds. So far
as we are aware, this is the second bequest of
the kind ever made in this country, and the So-
ciety will scrupulously carry out the wishes of
the lamented founder of the fund.
NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL PARKS
AND GAME PRESERVES.
June 1, 1909.
IN THE UNITED STATES.
Area.
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.................. 2,142,720 acres.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National and
Minlitamyeeeleni ness Ce sess eee essere eereeeeceencas 651951 eee
Sequoia, California ... 160,000 <‘
Yosemite, California 967,680 ‘
Mt. Rainier, Washington-_ Oss OU
Crater Lake, Oregon............ 159,360 ‘“*
2,019,000 *“*
600,000‘
Game Canon Game Presery
Mt. Olympus National Monument..
Superior Game and Forest Preserve 909,743 “
Wichita Forest and Game Preserve. ee SrAlan
Wichita National Bison Range..........................- 9,760
Montana National Bison Range, fenced range,
for captive game herds......-.----...--.--..- 20,000 “‘
IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES.
Rocky Mountains Park, Alberta 2,764,800 acres.
Yoho Park, Alberta....... 1,799,680 “
Glacier Park, Alberta... eee 1,474,560 <“*
Buffalo Park, Alberta (for captive bison) ........ 384,000 “
Elk Island Park, Alberta, (for captive bison)...
Jasper Park, Alberta ...... EEE oon CES
East Kootenay Preserve, British Columbia........
Yalakom Mountains,
Columbia
514
WILLIAM DUTCHER.
“THERE are three men who will be remembered
gratefully by millions of Americans for a century
after the ephemeral celebrities of to-day have been
forgotten en masse. It is well that these men should
be fully known and appreciated while they are alive.
Dr. Trroporr S. Parmer, Assistant Chief of the
Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture,
is always to be found where the fight is fiercest. He
is an expert on game laws, a shrewd and careful man-
ager, a trained diplomat, and also a_ resourceful
fighter. Whenever state workers get into a fierce
campaign, Dr. Palmer is appealed to for aid. He has
appeared in the legislatures of perhaps twenty dif-
ferent states, and helped to win many a campaign for
wild life.
It was he who relentlessly and tirelessly pursued
the infamous Binkley and Purdy gang of poachers
in the Yellowstone Park, and with the vigorous back-
ing of the Department of Justice dealt the poachers
a crushing blow. The four poachers who once were
so bold and defiant were utterly ruined, one being
to-day in the penitentiary, and the other three fugi-
tives from justice. This victory was of far-reaching
importance.
Besides his active campaigning for good laws, and
against bad ones, Dr. Palmer the Government’s
expert on the making of reserves for big game, and
island refuges for birds. The new Mt. Olympus game
and forest reserve in Washington is his latest and
most important achievements, and in every sense it is
a monument to him, none too great to stand as a per-
petual memorial of the man and his work.
Mr. Witr1am Dutcuer, of New York, President
and general manager of the National Audubon So-
ciety, deserves all the honor the lovers of birds, and
the recipients of their beneficial services, ever could
bestow upon one individual. His career began in 1898,
as chairman of the A. O. U. Committee on Bird Pro-
tection. His special work has been the protection of
song-birds, the gulls and terns of the seashore, the
“plume birds” and insectivorous birds, generally.
Inspired by Mr. Dutcher’s zeal and work, the late
Mr. Albert Wilcox bequeathed his entire fortune, of
$331,000, to Mr. Dutcher’s National Association, for
bird protection work, and in 1906 it became available.
The impetus which the income of this fund has given
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
THREE
GREAT CHAMPIONS
OF WILD
LIFE.
BULLETIN.
GEORGE O. SHIELDS.
to systematic work in behalf of birds has been. very
great. Mr. Dutcher now is enabled to keep constant-
ly in the field five splendid workers, where their ser-
vices are most needed, and pay all their expenses.
Fortunately, Mr. Dutcher’s private business is on a
basis so thoroughly automatic that he is enabled to
devote a great deal of his time to managing cam-
paigns in behalf of birds. The Francis bill recently
pending at Albany against “the white badge of
cruelty” was his measure, and as usual the alien mil-
liners were solidly arrayed against him, on the plea
that his bill would hurt their business !
The farmers of America little realize what they owe
to William Dutcher. Perhaps eighty per cent. of
them have not yet heard of him; but with them all
his name should be a household word.
Mr. Grorcr O. Surmetps, formerly editor of Recrea-
tion, now editor of Shields’ Magazine, founder and
for ten years president of the League of American
Sportsmen, bears a name that for many years has
been a symbol of terror to “game-hogs,” and the ex-
terminators of wild life. He did not hesitate to use
drastic methods in influencing the men who shoot
and fish not wisely but too well, whenever their
skins proved impenetrable to appeals to reason and’
decency. By the game-hog element, Mr. Shields has.
been both feared and hated; but his influence in be-
half of wild life has covered practically the whole
United States, and has been of enormous value to:
that cause. He has played an important part in se-
curing new legislation, but also in enforcing protec-
tive laws.
For years this veteran game protector has battled’
early and late, in season and out, tirelessly, and at
times even recklessly, so far as his own fortunes were
concerned, to stop the slaughter of wild creatures,
and reform the inconsiderate and wanton game kill-
ers. The work he did, and still is doing, will live
and be remembered by his countrymen long after his
active labors are done.
During the past four months Mr. Shields has made
a tour across the continent, in which he delivered
seventy-four lectures and over 200 addresses to
schools, each one of which was a powerful appeal ini
behalf of wild life. The tour was practically a con-
tinuous ovation, and its influence upon the public will
be not only great, but continuous.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
THE REAL EXTERMINATORS OF BIG
GAME.
EFORE the International
Conference held in Washington, in an ad-
dress in behalf of wild life, the Directors of
the Zoological Park declared in strong terms
that the men who live in or near to the haunts
Conservation
of big game are the real exterminators of our
finest wild animals. At this moment, a very
aggravating case in point is reported from Fre-
mont County, Idaho, on the western side of the
Yellowstone Park.
During the awful weather of the past winter,
about 500 elk fled to Fremont County, seeking
feeding-grounds by which to until
spring. Practically all of them were slaugh-
tered by the people living there! And this was
done, not only in defiance of the dictates of
mercy and humanity, but also in defiance of
statute law. .At the time that slaughter was
proceeding, the people of Jackson’s Hole (Wy-
oming), and the state of Wyoming, were spend-
ing nearly $7,000 in the purchase of hay, and
in feeding the elk of Jackson’s Hole to keep
them from starving en masse.
The following from the Boise (Idaho) States-
man, of February 25th, and quoted in Outdoor
Life Magazine, is of general interest:—
“E. W. Yoemans has returned from a trip
into Fremont County that took him into the
Teton Basin country and to the borders of
Jackson’s Hole.
““The slaughter of elk in that section is
something appalling, he said. The snow is
deep and the animals are driven down toward
the settlements. They are helpless and can be
picked off with ease. Farmers, not hunters, are
the guilty parties.
“One man told me he knew a farmer who had
killed six of the noble animals. He said he
would have complained if the man had not been
his neighbor. A mail-carrier informed me he
saw forty-two elk struggling through the snow
in single file. Two of the animals had been
severely wounded and were bleeding and stag-
gering. As the animals approach farmhouses
they are mowed down. Elk meat, heads and
hides are on sale in suspicious quantities.
“The game law prohibits the killing of more
than one elk in a season. The conditions in
Fremont County have caused the game warden to
be severely criticised. It is stated that no trou-
ble would be experienced in securing evidence.
So far not an arrest has been made. Mr. Yoe-
survive
BULLETIN. 515
mans brought back with him a copy of the Ash-
ton Enterprise of February 11th, from which the
following is taken:
“Word reached here Wednesday that the day
before six ell had been killed at Squirrel. To-
day a rancher brings word to town that nine
elk cows and calves crossed his place this week
and before they had proceeded three miles all
but one had been killed. Elk meat was also
offered for sale in town to-day, Thursday.”
A GAME-LAW “ACCIDENT” IN
WYOMING.
ERETOFORE, whenever a joker has been
found stowed away in a new game-law, it
has always operated against some wild
game species, contrary to the intentions of the
majority. For example, in 1907, a clause
slipped through the Montana legislature remoy-
ing all protection from the beaver; which was
quickly noted, and made much of by trappers
who gladly would trap and kill the last beaver,
if they could.
But this year, the case is reversed. When the
Wyoming legislature very laudably passed a law
permanently protecting the prong-horned ante-
lope, and it had been duly engrossed and signed
by the governor, a legal stowaway was discoy-
ered in its midst. To the horror of the elk
hunters, it was found that both the elk and
mountain sheep had been named as species for
which there should be no open season! And
this with thousands of otherwise killable elk
Park! No wonder
Jackson’s Hole has put on mourning.
The inclusion of the ell was of course un-
necessary, and also decidedly unfortunate.
With 30,000 elk in Wyoming, there is no need
for a perpetual close season; and there is no
around the Yellowstone
need to break up the legitimate business of guid-
ing law-abiding elk hunters. In feeding 20,000
starving elk last winter, the people of Jackson’s
Hole have done well; and ‘is we must not for-
get.
As for that mountain-sheep clause, however,
we rejoice with exceedingly great joy! The
sheep of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Col-
orado must have absolute and permanent pro-
tection, or they are doomed to quick eatinction!
It has not come one moment too soon; and the
people of Wyoming should hold that law on the
sheep just where it is, forever.
516
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
THE WICHITA NATIONAL BISON HERD ON ITS RANGE.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE MONTANA NATIONAL BISON RANGE, FROM THE EAST.
Proposed Buffalo Range from the direction of Mission Mountains. The highest point is Quilseeh, 4,800 feet.
To the left is Wheewheetlchaye,—Red Man’s Ridge.
THE WILD ANIMALS OF
HUDSON’S DAY
AND THE
ZOOLOGICAL PARK OF
OUR DAY
BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, Sc. D.
* ™ ip ay
IWIN
mS
ca)
PUBLISHED BY THE
HUDSON-FULTON COMMISSION
IN COOPERATION WITH THE
NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1909 COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION, SEPT. 25 TO OCT. 9, 1909
THE HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION COMMISSION
Appointed by the Governor of the State of New York and the Mayor of the City of New York
and chartered by Chapter 325, Laws of the State of New York, 1906
LIST OF OFFICERS
President
GEN. STEWART L. WOODFORD
Presiding Vice-President
MR. HERMAN RIDDER
Vice-Presidents
Mr. Andrew Carnegie Mr. John E. Parsons
Hon. Joseph H. Choate Gen. Horace Porter
Maj.-Gen. F. D. Grant, U.S. A. Hon. Frederick Seward
Hon. Seth Low Mr. Francis Lynde Stetson
Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan Hon. Oscar S. Straus
Hon. Levi P. Morton Mr. Wm. B. Van Rensselaer
Hon. Alton B. Parker Gen. Jas. Grant Wilson
Treasurer
MR. ISAAC N. SELIGMAN
No. 1 William Street, New York
Secretary Assistant Secretary
MR. HENRY W. SACKETT MR. EDWARD HAGAMAN HALL
Art and Historical Exhibits Committee
MR. J. PIERPONT MORGAN, General Chairman
Sub-Committee in
Charge of Scientifie and Historical Exhibits
DR. GEORGE F. KUNZ, Chairman
401 Fifth Avenue, New York
Mr. Samuel V. Hoffman Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn
Mr. Archer M. Huntington Mr. Philip T. Dodge
Sub-Committee in Charge of Art Exhibits
HON. ROBT. W. DE FOREST, Chairman
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke Mr. George F. Hearn
Dr. Edward Robinson Dr. George F. Kunz
Headquarters: TrinuNre Buripine, New York
Telephones: Berkman 3097 and 3098
SPECIAL NOTICE
DURING THE HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION the most important species of Mammals,
Birds and Reptiles of the ZOOLOGICAL PARK that inhabited New York State in Hudson’s day, will be
marked by the official flag of the Commission.
THIS SPECIAL BULLETIN appears in the interests of the Celebration. Editors of newspapers
hereby are given permission to copy from it, for use in newspapers, any of the matter contained herein
save the illustrations that are reproduced by permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons, from the “American
Natural History.”
COPIES OF THIS BULLETIN may be obtained by mail, af 25c. each, postpaid, by remitting to H.
R. Mitchell. Chief Clerk, New York Zoological Park. As long as the supply lasts, it will be on sale at the
Zoological Park entrances, and elsewhere in New York City.
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION NUMBER
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY BULLETIN
PUBLISHED BY THE Hupson-FuLtron CELEBRATION Commission,
IN COOPERATION WITH
Tue New York Zoowuocicat Sociery.
September, 1909
THE WILD ANIMALS OF HUDSON’S DAY.
By Wiruram T. Hornapay,
Dmecror or tHE New Yorx Zoorocican ParK.
PART I—THE BIRDS.*
a frail bark westward across three thou-
sand miles of stormy ocean can know the
thrill that is transmitted by the heliograph flash
of a pair of silvery wings, with the knowledge
that land is near. To the westward trans-At-
lantic voyager, it is always the Herring Gull
that far at sea proclaims the land.
On the wing, this Gull is always beautiful;
but never is its plumage quite so silvery, and
never are its flight-curves so graceful, as when
it greets the tired American who thankfully is
sailing toward the Statue of Liberty and Home.
Other birds sometimes met off shore, are the
deep-water ducks, particularly the Red-Breast-
ed Merganser, with a bill like the serrated snout
of a Gangetic crocodile, and flesh so frankly
and rankly fishy that only the most powerful
human palate can accept it. The Scoters, or
Surf Ducks, once in evidence at sea, now are
rarely seen in the waters adjacent to New York.
Three hundred years ago, before the dark
days of bird slaughter in America, it is reason-
ably certain that New York Bay attracted im-
mense flocks of web-footed wild-fowl. If the
histories of that period do not so record it, then
the historians were remiss. We are certain that
once inside Sandy Hook, the all-too-succulent
Canvasback Duck, and its understudy, the
Redhead, “might have been seen,’ and in fact
were seen, by the discerning mariner. But in
Qee the bold adventurer who has sailed
* All the Illustrations reproduced with this article
are from “Tne American Narurat History,” copy-
right, 1904, by William T. Hornaday, and appear here
by the permission of the publishers, Messrs. Charles
Scribner’s Sons.
an evil moment the baneful eye of the epicure
fell upon the savory Canyasback, and he pro-
nounced it the king of table ducks. From that
hour, its doom was sealed; and today it is al-
most a bird of history.
Let us for the moment try to put ourselves in
Explorer Hudson’s place, and see the birds of
the Hudson River and Valley, as he and his
men saw them.
Surely on the ponds and streams of Manhat-
tan Island they found the exquisite Wood
Duck; for even today an occasional wanderer
returns to its old haunts in the Zoological Park!
Stated in the form of a proportion, the Wood
Duck is to Other Ducks as The Opal is to Other
Gems,—-the most glorious in colors of them all.
The Pintail Duck, however, is more beautiful
in form. The most graceful yacht that ever
floated never was half so exquisitely modeled in
hull and stern and bow as this web-footed water
fairy.
The Mallard Duck is like charity. It suf-
fereth long, and is kind; so it holds on long
after the more sensitive species have been shot
out. It will be our last good wild duck to be
exterminated by the pot-hunters for the starving
millions of wealth,—for whom the fashionable
chef feels that he MUST provide game. or be
disgraced. In the years that have flown, the
quiet bayous of the eastern shore of the Hud-
son have fed and sheltered unto!d thousands of
lusty “Green-Heads,” young and old, and they
were the lawful prey of the hungry explorer and
pioneer.
A hundred years ago, the Osprey, or Fish-
Hawk, bred numerously on the rocky walls of
520
HUDSON-FULTON
CELEBRATION
THE HERRING GULL (1, 2) AND COMMON TERN (3, 4).
the Palisades, and then as now paid toll to the
Lord of the Air, who also nested there. Even
today they are abundant along the Shrewsbury
River, south of New York Bay; but the bay it-
self no longer furnishes gocd fishing-ground for
them.
The Osprey, or Fish-Hawk, is a bird of high-
ly interesting personality. In the first place,
it represents a special development for fishing,
and in structure it is a sort of connecting link
between the Owls and the Falcons. It has legs
that are long and muscular, powerful talons, and
unusual wing-power. It thinks nothing of
dropping a hundred feet straight into ice-cold
water, seizing a fish nearly half its own weight,
and flying five miles with it. It is doubtful
whether any other bird can catch and bear away
fish so large in proportion to its own size.
I have seen Ospreys flying with fish so large—
always carried with the head pointing forward
—that the flight of so small a bird with so great
a load seemed almost incredible. It is no won-
der that a two-pound fish slowly sailing through
the air with an Osprey perched upon it offers a
temptation so great that an Eagle cannot al-
ways resist it; for, like some human beings, the
one thing that an Eagle cannot resist is temp-
tation.
The nesting habits of the Osprey are extreme-
ly interesting. When not disturbed, the bird
uses the same nest, year after year, but each
year adds substantially to the structure. The
sticks used are large, and the nest soon reaches
a breadth and height out of all proportion to
the size of the builder. On Gardiner’s Island,
at the eastern end of Long Island, the protec-
tion afforded the Ospreys nesting there soon
rendered the birds so tame and trustful that
they nested very low down, and finally upon the
ground. Some of the continuous-performance
nests constructed on that island are of enormous
proportions.
Attempts have been made to colonize Ospreys
in the New York Zoological Park, but the birds
always flew away and failed to return.
The White-Headed Eagle, or Bald Eagle,
still inhabits the Palisades, and may be seen
soaring high above the valley of the Hudson.
When you observe a very large dark-colored
bird of prey traveling far aloft, with slow and
stately sweep of wings that are broad and short
and non-vulturine, it is fair to call it an Eagle.
If the head and tail have a gleam like frosted
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
THE CANVAS-BACK DUCK.
silver, then may you know of a verity that the
aerial voyager is our national bird in adult plum-
age. Incidentally, you may also know that it is
one of the handsomest of all living birds of prey.
It is now fashionable for young ornithologists
to deride our national bird, and besmirch his
character, because he exacts tribute of his vas-
sal, the Osprey. But he needs no defense from
me, any more than the fires of Vesuvius need a
janitor to hold an umbrella over them to keep
out the summer rain. Whenever the great
American Eagle really needs defenders, three
million lusty Americans will rush to volunteer
for the campaign.
I think it is true of every continent that the
first birds seen by its explorers——who almost
invariably make their initial entries by the water
routes.—are the web-footed birds of sea and
THE REDHEAD DUCK.
BULLETIN. 521
shore, and the feathered fishers of the river-
banks and lakes. We can safely predicate that
when Hudson first went ashore from the bosom
of his mighty river, he became personally ac-
quainted with the Belted Kingfisher,—he of
the stem-winding voice, the white collar, and
the jaunty cap of blue. It has been gravely
stated in print that “Kingfishers are found near
streams,” and in similar environments may be
seen the slow rise and stately flight of the
Great Blue Heron; but it is on the marshes
that we hear the deep-seated “voice” of the
American Bittern. The traditional “boom”
of the Bittern looks good on paper; but when
it is compared with the real booms of life, it
seems very small. Being most happily unfit
for food and uncursed with desirable “plumes,”
the Heron and the Bittern, even though large,
still are in our midst; but now there are for-
WOOD DUCK.
Male and Female.
eign bird-killers to reckon with, who kill and
eat everything wild, from vireos to vultures.
Even yet in spring and fall the weird cry of
the uncanny Loon, or Great Northern Diver,
is heard occasionally over the upper waters of
the Hudson River. In the early days, this bird
was a frequent visitor to the Hudson valley, and
often nested along the upper waters of the river.
Both in form and in habits the Loon is the most
remarkable and picturesque feathered inhabitant
of the Empire State. It is so much like the
giant Penguins of the antarctic regions that it
seems as if it once had lived there, but having
HUDSON-FULTON
CELEBRATION
PE
eet PEE ee a
= SAN) etme at
Se
ms
cw
he nies -
a yn a ng ep
Waris
THE PINTAIL DUCK.
wings for flight had wisely transplanted itself
to God’s country.
Fortunately for the Great Blue Heron,—
by millions of people miscalled the Blue
“‘Crane,’’—the cruel and insatiate goddess of
Fashion has not yet decreed that Woman, the
merciful and compassionate, shall collect its
plumes for her personal adornment. The well-
defined fishy flavor of the Heron’s flesh protects
it from the evil eye of the epicure; and there-
fore do we still possess this odd and picturesque
bird. True, there is today but one Great Blue
Heron where a hundred years ago there were a
hundred; but we are thankful that the ruthless
savages of civilization have spared us even a few
samples of the original stock. And yet, there
are today State Game Commissioners who are
being importuned to “kill off the Blue Herons,”
—hbecause in a whole summer season half a
dozen of them will kill and eat as many fish as
one greedy fisherman would catch and send to
market in two days!
If there is anything in game-protection that is
supremely annoying, it is solemn talk about the
“great destruction of fish” by herons, kingfish-
ers, ospreys, and Californian sea-lions.
In many of the coves and alcoves of the low,
wet lands flanking the mighty Hudson stream,
the Woodcock and the Wilson Snipe still are
found; but they are now so rare throughout the
Hudson valley that few gunners find it worth
while to hunt them. It is the same old story,—
of inordinate and persistent destruction, down
to the vanishing point. Throughout New York
state, and many other states, also, both these
species should be accorded absolute all-the-
year-round protection for at least ten years. It
is either that or extinction; and which will the
people choose?
Thanks to the splendid efforts of the bird
lovers of New York state, headed by the Audu-
bon Society and William Dutcher, the song
birds are in far better case than the game birds
and water-fowl. I believe that none of the
eastern New York song-bird species of Hudson’s
day have become extinct, nor anywhere near it.
Every spring and summer the sweet wild-wood
melody of the Wood Thrush rings day after
day through the leafy aisles of the Zoological
Park, and like the flash of a fiery feathered
meteor, the Scarlet Tanager streaks through
the woods and across our lawns, close before
BULLETIN.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
THE BALD EAGLE,
524
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
OSPREY.
BITTERN.
our startled eyes. Our dear old friend the
Robin, than whom we love none better, joyous-
ly accepts our protection, and nests within easy
reach of our hands. And only this very spring,
even while our men were working in an elephant
yard, completing the paving, a Robin built its
nest on the frame of the big steel gate of the
elephants’ fence, that swung within close prox-
imity to an active steam roller and a dozen
busy men! And this while the gate daily swung
to and fro. Our men were all very proud of
this vote of confidence, but alas! the work had
to go on. Just as we feared, the bird found the
position untenable, and finally it flew away and
built another nest in a less busy spot. Another
Robin, with more wisdom, built her nest on one
of the corral gates of the Antelope House, and
although the gate is opened widely every day
for the cart to pass through, she successfully
reared her brood.
THE BELTED KINGFISHER.
The Bluebird still comes to us abundantly
in spring, and in the cat-tail marshes along the
Hudson and elsewhere,
“The Red-Wing pipes his o-ka-lee!”
just as it has for a hundred years, and we know
not how many more. And be it remarked here
that amid at least a hundred species of song-
birds now kept in the Zoological Park, indoors
and out, the Red-Winged Blackbird is the most
persistent singer, the most theatrical, and in my
opinion very nearly the sweetest singer of them
all. In our big outdoor cages, wherein the
flocks scarcely know that they are confined, they
sing more joyously and persistently than I ever
heard them in their own cat-tail marshes.
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 525
COMMON MURRE.
The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak is not abun-
dant in eastern New York, and although his
champions claim that he is a bonnie singer, they
can not prove it by the bird himself. But to the
eye he is fine, even though he is “no great hand
at the pipes.”
The Baltimore Oriole, dean of the faculty
of feathered architects, is much too rare; for a
thousand times the number that now visit our
village streets and woods would be none too
many. His swinging nest, preferably hanging
from a down-drooping terminal twig of an elm,
is one of the most wonderful manifestations of
bird-wisdom and architectural skill that America
produces.
Although practically all Americans have now
been educated entirely beyond the killing of
song-birds,—the most valuable friends of every
farmer and fruit grower,—there is danger in the
air. From southern Europe there have come to
this country, for revenue only, hundreds of thou-
sa~ds of Italian laborers by whom every song-
bird is regarded as legitimate prey for the pot!
Every camp or large settlement of Italian labor-
THE LOON.
ers is a center of song-bird destruction. Look
out for them! Curb them! The laws are en-
tirely adequate; please see to it that they are
enforced. By the laws of the state of New
York, no unnaturalized alien may carry fire-
arms; and the penalties for doing so are very
severe. Even in New York city, the Zoological
Society has had to put forth a great effort to
stop the wholesale killing of song-birds, by
Italians, within two miles of our Park!
We greatly regret the fact that throughout
the North generally, the pestiferous English
Sparrow has to a great extent driven out the
House Wren and the Martin. Both those
species loved the haunts and companionship of
man, until the coming of Ahab, the sparrow.
If the latter could be exterminated, the other
two species would immediately return.
Of all the feathered foresters that specially
look after the insects that damage forest trees,
the most showy and picturesque are the
Golden-Winged and Red-Headed Woodpeck-
ers. Pcor indeed is the forest or wood lot that
has net at least one of them. The former is
526
GREAT BLUE HERON.
gloriously abundant throughout the valley of the
Hudson, but the latter is at most seasons quite
rare. In my boyhood days I despised the abun-
dance of the Red-Head, and foolishly spurned
it; but the cash value of the woodpeckers gen-
erally is now understood in a way that it was not
forty years ago.
The owls that hooted in the woods of Manhat-
tan Island three hundred years ago still main-
tain their lines of descent. In spite of guns,
traps and poison, the Great Horned Owl, the
Barred and the Screech Owl will not down.
AMERICAN WOODCOCK.
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
All three persist today, even in the
Borough of the Bronx. Only four
years ago I was one night assaulted
in Mosholu Parkway by a Screech
Owl who rashly leaped to the con-
clusion that I was an ornithologist,
and therefore dangerous both to her
brood and her nest. Half a dozen
times she dashed by on angry wing,
so close to my face that I feared for
my eyes. And it was only last
spring that a Barred Owl came to
grief in the Zoological Park, in this
wise:
On three successive mornings, the
men of the Bird House found that
during the night something with say-
age beak and claws had caught sey-
eral song birds in the outside cages,
through the wire netting, killed them,
and partly devoured them. Swear-
ing vengeance, the keepers cunning-
ly laid a trap on the roof of the
cages, consisting of a dead bird neat-
ly surrounded with an environment
of limed sticks, like a score of lead
pencils. In the cold, gray dawn of
the morning after, the avengers
found, helplessly flopping around on
the cage roof, the Barred Owl bird-murderer,
with limed sticks all over him, wondering what
had happened to him, and why he was quite
unable to fly.
Not for long was he left in doubt; for the
keepers of song-birds believe in the survival of
the fittest.
Throughout the Hudson valley, but not
counting the Adirondacks, the ground game-
WILSON’S SNIPE.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
ROBIN.
BLUEBIRD.
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD.
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK.
528
birds are to be reckoned with the things that
have been, rather than the things that are.
While it is true that the Ruffed Grouse and
the Bob White are not by any means extinct
in eastern New York, so very few remain they
are hardly to be taken into account. Elsewhere
in New York state, there are localities in which
the shooter may find some of these birds to
shoot; but here he can only “hunt” for them,
and sagely wonder why they exist no more. It
is high time to enact a ten-years close season
for both the species named above.
The breeding of wild birds in captivity is now
attracting much attention, and the propagation
of gallinaceous game birds in preserves, as a
legitimate industry, is directly in line with the
preservation of our small remnant of Bob-White,
Ruffed Grouse and Pinnated Grouse.
There are two habitants of the Hudson Valley
that we could lose only with keen regret, but
both are gradually fading away. The nocturnal
Whippoorwill is known by his picturesque and
far-reaching twilight song,—or whistle,—for
the call surely belongs in the whistle class, and
it is easily imitated by any good whistler.
When the mantle of night has fallen over the
few country places that remain in the East, and
the busy world is still, those who dwell in sum-
mer near quiet woods often hear a loud, clear
and altogether melodious whistle from some-
where near the barn. As plainly as print it
says, with sharp emphasis, “Whip-poor-Will;”
and repeats it many times. Before each regular
call there is a faint “chuck,” or catching of the
breath, strong emphasis on the “whip,” and at
the end a clear, piercing whistle that is positive-
ly thrilling.
Sometimes the bird will perch within thirty
feet of your tent-door, and whistle at the rate
of forty whippoorwills to the minute. Its call
awakens sentimental reflections, and upon most
persons exercises a soothing influence. It has
been celebrated in several beautiful poems and
songs.
This bird—like the next species to be men-
tioned,—is strictly insectivorous in its food
habits, and renders excellent service to man. In
perching it chooses a large and nearly longitud-
inal limb, on which it sits lengthwise, in close
imitation of a bark-coyered knot.
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
The Night-‘‘Hawk,’’ is closely related to the
preceding species, but is very far removed from
the real hawks. The Whippoorwill is known by
being heard, through darkness, but the Night-
Hawk strongly appeals to the eye. When the
western sun is far down, and the evening air is
still, watch for a dark-colored bird with long
and sharp-pointed wings gracefully cleaving
the air three hundred feet above the earth. If
it has a large white spot under each wing, and is
busy catching insects in mid-air, of a surety the
bird is a Night-Hawk.
But for one thing, we could wish that we could
have been the official naturalist of the “Half-
Moon,” and seen all the birds that Hudson saw;
and that is;—we would much rather be alive to-
day. Thanks to many factors, the Hudson val-
ley has not yet been seriously denuded of its
forests; but for all that, the status of wild bird-
life within it has greatly changed for the worse.
The waterfowl and the gallinaceous game-birds
have been almost annihilated; and of the herons,
egrets, plovers, sandpipers, and large bird forms
of every kind, it is probable that less than one
one-hundredth now remain.
To a great extent, this is the inevitable re-
sult of the settlement of a virgin wilderness by
a seething mass of predatory, bird-killing, wild-
life-destroying human population; but at the
same time the cultivated fields and fruit trees
have brought a population of insectivorous birds
probably much greater than that which existed
here in the days of the forest primeval.
Of the birds that were abundant four hundred
years ago, the Great Auk, Labrador Duck and
Passenger Pigeon are now totally extinct. The
Trumpeter Swan, Carolina Parakeet, Whoop-
ing Crane and Heath Hen are on the verge of
extinction, and very soon will join the Great
Auk and the Dodo. In exchange for the North
American species that are wholly or nearly
acquired—what? Ahab, the
English Sparrow, and the Starling,—no more.
gone, we have
Today the lovers of wild life are engaged in
a hand-to-hand struggle with the grand army
of annihilators, to save at least a respectable
remnant of our wild life and forests for the mil-
lions of Americans who come after us. It will
be well for us if we so discharge our obligations.
that posterity will not have cause to heap curses
upon us for our improvidence, and for our dere-
liction in the duties of good citizenship.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 529
\ PS
vm Flex fn 2 ee,
BALTIMORE ORIOLE AND NEST.
HOUSE-WREN.
PURPLE MARTIN. SCARLET TANAGER.
530 HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER.
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER.
Copyright, 1902, by W. L. UNDERWoAnn
SCREECH-OWL. BARRED OWLS.
ZOOLOGICAL
GREAT HORNED OWL.
With “horns” laid back in anger.
EASTERN RUFFED GROUSE.
The finest gallinaceous game bird of the northeastern United
States. Still fairly abundant in the Adirondacks, and the
wilder portions of the Catskill region. It is much in need
of a ten-year period of absolute protection.
SOCIETY BULLETIN.
531
THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT.
The warfare for the protection of wild life
should be just as constant and unremitting as is
the manufacture of cartridges. If anyone who
reads the literature of the wild-life protection-
ists is impressed by the repetition of the argu-
ments and exhortations set forth, let him re-
member that the men who make guns and car-
tridges work constantly, and know no such thing
as weariness. A competent authority has esti-
mated that in the United States there are sold
each year about 500,000 shot-guns and 7,000,-
000 loaded cartridges!
More than this, every year sees new and more
deadly guns invented and placed upon the mar-
ket, for the more rapid and effective slaughter
of wild creatures. The great desire of the gun-
maker is to give the game absolutely no chance
to escape. To-day the perfection of long-range
sporting rifles is so great it is difficult to find a
man or twelve-year-old boy so unskillful that he
cannot go out into the haunts of big game and
kill a good “bag.” Several American women
have killed huge elephants in Africa, and many
a boy in his early teens has killed his moose in
Maine, Canada or New Brunswick,—all through
the deadly perfection of modern repeating rifles.
BOB-WHITE.
532
HOW TO BRING BACK THE BIRDS.
In the restoration of depleted wild life, Na-
ture is kind and long-suffering. Up to a cer-
tain point, man’s destructiveness is forgiven, and
the damage is repaired. But the slaughter must
not go too far, or the damage will be beyond
repair.
One of the most remarkable of the mental
traits of wild creatures is the marvelous quick-
ness with which they become aware of the fact
that they are protected, and that within certain
boundaries their lives are secure. When pro-
tection is declared they forgive and forget the
slaughterings of the past, and begin life anew.
When peace has been established, even the
wildest and wariest birds, such as wild ducks
that have been long harried by gunners, learn of
it in an incredibly short time.
In the Dakotas, during the close season the
wild ducks live near the haunts of man in a way
that the killing season quickly renders fatal.
To country dwellers, many ways are open
whereby they can increase the volume of bird
life. Let us enumerate a few of them:
Every farm and wood lot should be posted by
the owner or occupant, sternly forbidding all
shooting and trapping thereon.
Every country dweller should see to it, by
force of arms if necessary, that throughout his
sphere of influence the laws protecting wild life
are strictly enforced.
Certain wild birds should be fed, especially in
winter. For the Bob-White and Grouse, put
out corn and wheat screenings. For the Wood-
peckers. Nuthatches, Chickadees and others of
the hardy “winter residents,’ nail to the tree-
trunks many strips of fat pork and chunks of
suet. The services that those birds render your
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
trees are well worth the cost of fifty pounds of
pork.
The Ducks, Snipe and Woodcock need only
wet ground, water and protection.
To encourage Wrens, put up nest-boxes with
holes so small that the English Sparrow can not
enter them. A silver quarter will give you the
right size for a Wren hole; but punch holes in
the bottom of the can or box, so that all water
that runs in will also run out.
Shoot the English Sparrows from your prem-
ises, and better birds will take their places.
If a bold-hearted Robin elects to try winter-
ing near you, feed him in winter, without fail.
It is safe to say that many species of our song
and insectivorous birds could easily survive the
cold of our winters if they could obtain a con-
stant supply of food. It is not the cold that
drives them South, but the annual failure of
their food supply.
For all game birds, the great action to be de-
sired and sought is the enactment of ten-year
close seasons, covering wide areas. To this the
men who think only of to-day, and scoff at “the
future,’ will strenuously object. They would
rather annihilate the remnant to-day than have
an abundance ten or twenty years hence. But
they represent the spirit of destruction, and
wastefulness of the resources of Nature. We
are in no way bound to respect their views or
their wishes. If the annihilators were given
free rein, twenty-five years hence would see the
United States as barren of bird life as the Desert
of Sahara.
During the past ten years the champions of
bird life have made their influence widely felt.
In many a hard-fought contest the destroyers
have been routed, horse, foot and dragoons; and
we believe that on the whole, the American peo-
ple have “not yet begun to fight” for their birds.
Uy, ss cee =—
AP «
NIGHT-“HAWK.”
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
Painted by CaRL RUNGIUs.
WHITE-TAILED DEER.
THE WILD ANIMALS OF HUDSON’S DAY.
PART II1—THE MAMMALS.*
HE wild mammals today inhabiting the
Hudson valley are but a pitiful remnant of
the original stock that flourished here three
hundred years ago. Head by head, they rep-
resent merely the individuals that man, the cruel
annihilator, has not been shrewd enough to find
and kill. They do indeed represent the sur-
vival of the fittest in “civilized” environment.
Think of a civilization so cruel that it must
curb, by the stern hand of the Law, many of its
members from killing does and fawns, from
slaughtering gray squirrels and song birds for
“food,” from robbing birds’ nests, and exter-
minating wild life, generally.
So far as wild life is concerned, there are no
greater savages, living or dead, than five per
cent. of the people who wear the garb of “civil-
ization.”
~All the illustrations reproduced with this article
are from “Tne American Naturat History,’ copy-
right, 1904, by William T. Hornaday, and appear here
by the permission of the publishers, Messrs. Charles
Scribner’s Sons.
We repeat that every wild animal now alive
in the state of New York owes its existence to
its own skill in hiding, and in living in defiance
of dangers and difficulties. The only species
that has been for even a score of years under the
law’s protection is the White-Tailed Deer,
or Virginia Deer, which, but for its marvel-
ous cunning and skill in woodcraft would long
ago have been exterminated with the elk and
moose that once inhabited the Adirondacks.
Of course the White-Tailed Deer flourished
abundantly in the days of the “Half-Moon.”
We can imagine that almost anywhere along the
Hudson where the banks were generously
planted with brush and timber, three centuries
ago a hunter could have landed on the shore and
in an hour brought back a deer. Even during
the past two years, two wild White-Tails have
been caught alive while swimming in the Hud-
son River, and one is now on exhibition in the
Zoological Park.
So far as we know, the only wild game of the
Hudson valley that came aboard the “Half-
1 OTTER: 2.
FISHER.
Moon” was the flesh of a White-Tailed Deer.
It was when that venturesome vessel reached the
head of navigation of the Hudson River, prob-
ably near Troy, that the explorers found the
Indians “very pleasant people.” The Savages
came on board, and brought “a great Platter of
Venison, dressed by themselves; and they caused
him [Hudson] to eat with them; then they made
him reverence’; and after all this had been ac-
complished, on September 23, the “Half-Moon”
started to return down the Hudson. At the
Highlands, other Indians came aboard, and
HUDSON-FULTON
CELEBRATION
3. MARTEN. 4.
“brought some small skinnes with them, which
we bought for Knives and Trifles.”
For two centuries the White-Tailed Deer was
the best wild friend of the American pioneer.
Many a brave family “on the frontier,’ fighting
the wilderness and the Indians for the thing
most dear to the native-American heart,—a free
Home,—would have gone hungry, and perhaps
found life actually insupportable, without the
succulent flesh of the ever-faithful White-Tail.
It was indeed most fortunate for the American
colonists that it was of almost universal distri-
535
BULLETIN.
SOCIETY
ZOOLOGICAL
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HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
AMERICAN BLACK BEAR.
bution throughout the timbered portions of the
eastern United States. It is because of the im-
portant part played by the White-Tailed Deer
in our colonial development that today we give
its portrait the place of honor on our title page.
We are heartily glad that this is the most per-
sistent species of all North American big game.
It does not glory in the exhibition of its fine
proportions at the risk of its life. On the con-
trary, it seeks the densest woods and brush cover
that it can find, noiselessly steals through it
with head and neck carried low and pointing
straight forward, and leaves the honest and
sportsmanlike still hunter only a trail of heart-
breaking dimness. Thanks to wise laws and
their rigid enforcement, the state of Maine to-
day contains perhaps 100,000 White-Tailed
Deer; and the hunting of the male “increase”
furnishes legitimate sport for 3000 men, and an
annual revenue to the state of more than
$1,000,000.
In our beloved Adirondack wilderness, this
deer still exists; but it has been shot far too
much. There are localities that now should be
alive with deer, but in which none are to be
found, save at very long intervals. During the
past ten years, protection has had the curious
effect of bringing a wave of deer migration from
the north down through Connecticut to the
Sound, and down the Hudson valley actually
to the northern boundary of New York City.
We possess a wild female that was caught in
Yonkers !
The first wild-animal products of our coast
that came into the hands of Hudson were furs,
offered in trade by the Indians of the coast.
The historian says that “many brought us Bevers
skinnes, and Otters skinnes, which we bought
for Beades, Knives and Hatchets.”
In the days of the colonists, the first traflic
with the Indians was for their corn and furs.
Beyond all doubt, the first products of the Hud-
son valley that crossed the Atlantic were In-
dian-caught skins of Beaver, Otter, Marten,
Mink and Muskrat. In early times, the
Fisher was also among those present, but never
in great abundance, and it soon ceased to be a
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 537
By permission of Outdoor Life Magazine.
THE PUMA, OR MOUNTAIN “LION.”
Copyright, 1902, by W. L. UNDERWoop. Copyright, 1902, by W. L. UNDERWoobD.
THE RACCOON. BAY LYNX.
538
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
WOODCHUCK.
prominent feature of the fur trade of the mid-
dle colonies. It is but natural that the men
who risked so much in venturing to America,
300 years ago, should desire to carry back some-
thing that could be converted into cash. It was
the animals named above that laid the founda-
tions of the American fur trade, generally, and
of the Hudson Bay and North American Fur
Companies, in particular. It would take long
columns of figures, in large sums, to represent
the part played by the fur-bearing animals
named above in the commercial development of
the American colonies.
But there is one very interesting fact in this
connection that we must set down. Of all the
fur-bearing animals of the Hudson valley, the
most persistent today are the Muskrat and the
Mink. Strange as it may seem, for ten years
they have been to the New York Zoological
Park, jointly and severally, a great nuisance.
For eight years, or during the existence of
several piles of large rocks near our northern
boundary, wild Minks have raided our bird col-
lections, and slaughtered Gulls and other fish-
eating waterfowl at a rate that was most ex-
asperating. From 1900 to 1906 we killed in
the Park, annually, from three to five Minks;
and they killed annually from ten to thirty of
our birds. Now that their shelter rocks are
gone, and the most of the Minks have been
trapped and killed, we have peace.
Muskrats have been so abundant in the Bronx
River and Bronx Lake, within our own grounds,
and have done so much damage to our valuable
aquatic plants, we have made war upon them,
in self-defense. In the winter of 1908-9 a
member of our force caught 23 of them, in our
own waters.
The Otter once was abundant in the Adiron-
dacks, and its range extended thence southward
without a break to central Florida, where it still
persists in living. It still is found occasionally
in the North Woods, but it is doubtful whether
it survives today in the Hudson valley anywhere
south of Troy. So rare is this species through-
out the United States it is no longer possible
to secure alive and unhurt by traps a number
sufficient to stock the largest zoological gardens
of the eastern states. The steel traps, mills and
sewage of civilization are too much for an ani-
mal that is dependent upon streams of water for
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
CANADA PORCUPINE.
its food and its life, and yet is not nearly so
expert in hiding as is the muskrat and the mink.
When abundant and unmolested, the Otter
amuses itself by establishing a “shoot the
chutes” of its own, on a steep and slippery bank,
ending in a water plunge. The Otter “slides,”
and the games played upon them, are well known
to trappers and others who have lived or hunted
where Otters were abundant.
In the time of Hudson, there were probably
two million Beavers living in what is now the
state of New York. About 1670 the Dutch
province of New Netherland annually furnished
to the fur trade 80,000 Beaver skins, and in
1623 the Beaver was formerly incorporated in
the seal of that colony.
In 1860 the Beaver had so nearly disappeared
from the Adirondacks and the Hudson valley
that even in the former locality the total num-
ber alive was estimated at only 60 individuals.
By 1895 this had fallen to “5 or 10.” Since
that date, 34 individuals have been set free in
the Adirondacks, chiefly through the efforts of
Harry V. Radford, and they are slowly restock-
ing the North Woods.
The Black Bear, the Puma and the Canada
Lynx once thrilled, and at times terrorized, the
BULLETIN. 539
colonists of eastern New York; but gradually
they all disappeared from practically every por-
tion of New York save the Adirondacks and the
Catskills. Strange to say, the largest animal
of this trio, the Bear, has been most cunning
and successful in resisting extermination. While
the Puma is entirely extinct in this State, and
the Canada Lynx practically so, the big and
burly Black Bear joyously holds on, both in the
Adirondacks and the Catskills. The familiar
Bay Lynx still is in our midst, and one was
seen in the Catskills, by H. W. Merkel and A.
P. Dienst, in the spring of the present year.
The Raccoon once was an animal of practi-
cally universal distribution throughout the wood-
ed portions of New York state, but its place
in the list of fur-bearing animals has been fatal
to its continued abundance. It still lives, how-
ever, even numerously in places, and still may
be regarded as one of our most common quad-
rupeds of medium size. Firmly and _persist-
ently, it refuses to be exterminated, and so long
as the forests remain, it will live to inhabit
them. Today its fur is really valuable,—be-
cause better furs are so rare.
The members of the Order of Rodents, or
enawers, are today our most abundant wild
FLYING SQUIRREL.
540
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
GRAY SQUIRREL.
quadrupeds; and we are thankful that none of
them yield “fur!” Thus far the rapacious maw
of the “fur trade” has not demanded the skins
of the Woodchuck, Gray Squirrel, Chip-
munk, Flying Squirrel or Red Squirrel,
But whenever any of those species are definitely
placed in the class of fur-bearing animals, their
doom is sealed. At present,—when not easily
found and killed,—they are permitted to live
and make glad the waste places.
Even the finest forest is half dead if it be
destitute of the vital spark that wild-animal
life alone can give.
In cheerful companionship and popular in-
terest, the Gray Squirrel would be worth half
a million dollars a year to the people of New
York—if they would but let it alone! But
EASTERN RED SQUIRREL.
where is the Gray Squirrel today? You may
ride or drive in midsummer from one end of
New York to the other without finding a single
one alive, unless it is in a protected park!
Americans are queer animals. There are
men and boys who still think it is “sport,”
and “hunting,” to shoot squirrels,—under far
less difficulty and danger than would lie in pot-
ting chickens in a farmer’s orchard! And we
Americans actually eat a rodent with flesh so
rat-like that the white men of all other nations
EASTERN CHIPMUNK.
ZOOLOGICAL
decline it.
rels.
It is indeed high time that the Gray Squir-
rel should be perpetually protected, everywhere
throughout this gun-ridden state.
The delightful little Chipmunk is a thing of
beauty, and its cheerfulness is a perpetual joy.
Being very small and commercially valueless, it
has not been pursued quite so persistently as
I refer to the Gray and Fox Squir-
RED FOX.
the larger squirrels and rabbits; but for all that,
the cat and the bad boy have made it rare every-
where outside of parks.
In the Zoological Park, it is really pathetic
to see how quickly the wild creatures respond
to protection, and make friends with those who
will not permit them to be molested. Take the
Gray Rabbit, as an illustration.
Eight years after the opening of the Park,
Gray Squirrels, Chipmunks and Gray Rabbits
had kecome very numerous within it, and almost
fearless! In June, 1909, at midday, a wild
Rabbit very leisurely hopped past me as I came
out of my office, not more than twenty feet
away, quite as confidently as if he owned the
whole place. At fifty feet, all unafraid he halt-
ed close beside a big oak tree, in full view of
fifty persons, leisurely examined the ground,
and presently loped on across the grass into the
shrubbery.
The reason? Our grounds are the only
wooded lands in northern New York City in
which stray dogs, cats, poachers and other ver-
min are not permitted to run at large. Two
years ago our Chief Forester estimated that 75
wild Rabbits were living and breeding in our
grounds. Of chipmunks we have hundreds, and
of Gray Squirrels at least fifty. Needless to
say, the children and all other people who love
animals, are greatly interested by them.
SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 541
The Great Northern Hare, gray in sum-
mer and snow white in winter, and once abund-
ant, is now so rare that only the skilful “‘up-
state” hunter can find one, in swamp or wil-
derness far from the haunts of men. It is a
pity, too; for because of its great scarcity, and
the fact that it does not thrive in captivity, this
fine animal is almost as unknown and mythical
to the vast majority of persons as the gyas-
cutus.
By his continued existence in spite of traps,
hounds, and guns of all sorts, the Red Fox has
ably and satisfactorily demonstrated his right
to live. Any sane person who knows the tre-
mendous difficulties and dangers amid which
any Fox of “civilization” lives and breeds, sure-
ly will not ask, as a serious question, “Do Foxes
reason?’ Excepting the real lovers of nature,
every man’s hand,—and firearm also,—is
against him. The farmer hunts him for re-
venge, the trapper for his pelt, the hunter for
sport. And yet, compared with that wonder-
fully sharp nose, and those keen eyes and ears,
wireless telegraphy is slow and _ uncertain.
Were it not so, there would not be today one
living Red or Gray Fox this side of the Adiron-
dack wilderness; but as it is, both those spe-
cies joyously live and breed, even up to the
very boundaries of the most populous city of
America.
VIRGINIA OPOSSUMS.
In the distribution of the Marsupials. or
mammals with abdominal pouches
young, Nature almost overlooked North Amer-
ica! We have only the Opossum, nocturnal,
sly, and so unobtrusive that in the northern
United States it has reduced self-effacement to
an exact science.
Some naturalists suppose that the most re-
markable thing about this animal is its pouch;
for their
542
but that is not the case. ‘The strangest thing
is that it knows enough to feign death in order
to escape injury. I know, because in my boy-
hood days an Opossum deceived me so com-
pletely and thoroughly that I have not yet
fully recovered from the shock. The animal
very nearly escaped through the trick that it so
skilfully played upon me; and since that day
I have wished a thousand times that I had given
that Opossum its freedom, as a reward of merit.
But I did not think of it in time.
If our wild animals possessed as little reason
and foresight as some men, all of them would
have been killed or starved to death long ago.
PRESENT STATUS OF BIRD STUDY.
During the past ten years, the status of bird-
study in America has undergone an important
change. Yesterday was the day of the old-
fashioned ornithologist,—diligent in the killing
of birds in great numbers in order to study their
geographic, seasonal, sexual and other varia-
tions, and also diligent in the differentiation of
new forms. At the same time, under the shel-
tering guise of “‘scientific purposes,’ hundreds
of thousands of the eggs of wild birds have been
collected by unscientific men and boys, and
stored away in dark cabinets;—to very small
purpose.
The total number of birds and eggs collected
during the past fifty years in the sacred name of
science must be something enormous. Perhaps
two per cent. of the entire slaughter have served
genuine scientific purposes; but we doubt it.
To-day, it is no exaggeration to say that a
large number of the people who are keenly in-
terested in the birds of North America are
weary of the once-popular studies of minute
geographic variations, the making of new sub-
species, and the vexatious changing of scientific
names that, like the brook, seem destined to go
on forever. The English names of our birds
are in fact more stable and useful than those
bestowed by the scientists.
To-day, the demand of the hour is for the
utilization, in practical ways, of the enormous
mass of American bird-lore that has been ac-
cumulated. The unscientific millions desire to
know about our birds the facts that are useful
to man, and helpful to the birds. Very unfor-
tunately, the schools and colleges in which the
foundations of natural-history teaching should
be “truly and firmly” laid, as befits every foun-
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
dation stone, are sadly blundering in the busi-
ness of teaching teachers how to teach. As a
whole, the situation is in a most unsatisfactory
state. But the nature teachers are at least
aware that something is wrong; and that is the
first promise of better things. It is high time
for even the dullest person to see that long and
weary weeks spent on the anatomy of the grass-
hopper, butterfly, beetle and amoeba are not in
line with the desires of bright boys and girls
who want to know which are the most inter-
esting, the most useful and the most injurious
birds, mammals and reptiles of our country.
The study of natural history in public schools
and colleges could be made as musical as
Apollo’s lute; and let us hope that some day it
will be. Meanwhile, there is one great lesson
that all may learn. It is this:
It is not always necessary to destroy wild life
in order to study it. The study of birds can
better begin with a bird book and a pair of
sharp eyes than with a gun and a bushel of
cartridges. The study of birds’ eggs is all
right, provided the birds of today do not have
to pay the whole cost of it in fresh eggs. In
the United States, the killing of birds for “sci-
entific purposes’ is now very rarely necessary,
or justifiable.
The most advanced ornithologists of the pres-
ent day are devoting their best attention to the
study of living birds, and their relations to man-
kind. Practical aviculture is teaching many
new and useful lessons which the study of dry
skins and skeletons never have revealed. Mr.
C. William Beebe, experimenting at the Park
with live birds kept in atmospheres of varying
degrees of humidity, has found that by means
of an unusual degree of humidity it is easy to
create new and startling “‘sub-species,” literally
“while you wait.” It is unnecessary to point
out the reasons why this discovery is of great
practical importance to ornithologists.
Today, the highest duty of every lover of
birds is to help. protect the birds that remain.
Nor is it necessary to have a speaking acquaint-
ance with a bird before taking an interest in pre-
serving it and its kind from annihilation. It is
impossible to afford birds too much protection,
too much immunity from the forces of destruc-
tion. Every child should be taught that. without
the assistance of the birds that destroy annually
millions of noxious insects, rodents, and tons of
seeds of noxious weeds, our country soon would
become a barren waste.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 543
LARGE BIRD-HOUSE AND ITALIAN GARDEN IN BAIRD COURT.
THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK OF OUR DAY.
By Wiix1am T. Hornapay.
Photographically illustrated by ELWIN R. SANBORN.
ESPITE the greed and blood-lust of man,
civilized as well as savage, this gun-ridden
world still contains a marvelous array of
wild life. It is right to speak of the animate
portion of Nature’s works as the animal king-
dom. Man himself is the king of beasts, but
there are many assistant kings and princes and
potentates, some of. which are in certain ways
almost as interesting as himself.
Even in this day of endless travel and travel-
ers, it is not everyone who can go to the ends of
the earth; and of the human millions, only a
very small percentage can make it possible to
see many wild creatures in their haunts. Yet do
people of intelligence desire to know the wild
life of the world; and so we have systematic
collections of animals, living and dead.
The highest function that any wild animal
can serve, living or dead, is to go on exhibition,
as a representative of its species, to be seen
and studied by millions of serious-minded
people.
The imperial City of New York presents to
the world her Zoological Park, and invites man-
kind to behold in it a huge living assemblage
of beasts, birds and reptiles, gathered from
every region of the globe, kept together in com-
fortable captivity, and skilfully fed and tend-
ed, in order that millions of people may know
and appreciate the marvels of the Animal King-
dom. To make a Park and collection worthy
of the fauna of the world, and of the metropolis
of the New World, has been a gigantic task; but
the people of New York have proven equal to
it, and the result is now practically complete.
After three years of planning, and ten years
of very strenuous work, we say that the Zoo-
logical Park is “‘practically eomplete;” and so
54d
it is. Wise men will understand what we mean.
We do not say that nothing more ever will be
added, or that in the future no more improve-
ments will be necessary. The actual work of
building our Zebra House and Eagles’ Aviary
yet remains to be done; but both together are
but a bagatelle, like the building cee a garden
summer-house for a stately mansion that is com-
plete and occupied.
These pages are intended only as an invita-
tion to the world to come, enter in and possess
the New York Zoological Park. They are not
intended as an exhibit of the dry bones of De-
tail. New York has dedicated to Zoology a
princely and priceless domain of land and
water, and she has almost unreservedly entrust-
ed it to the wisdom and judgment and vital
energy of the men who have made the New
York Zoological Society.
On this marvelous site-—the most glorious
handiwork of Nature ever placed within, or
even near, a great City,—the Zoological So-
ciety expended in accommodations for animals
a full quarter of a million dollars. That was
just ten years ago. Having seen this evidence
of good faith, the City of New York then gen-
erously—but not extravagantly or foolishly
opened her treasury, pledged her credit, and
bore the expense of all the remainder of the
permanent improvements. And at the same
time, the City began to furnish annually a sum
of money sufficient to maintain becomingly the
new institution. This was done, not reluctantly
nor grudgingly, but with a big-hearted gener-
osity “that made the gift more precious.” The
work of creating the Zoological Park has not
halted for a single moment since the keel of it
was laid on November 5th, 1906, when the
“Preliminary Plan’ was approved by the Execu-
tive Committee.
The “Preliminary Plan” of the Director was
carefully expanded into an elaborate and beau-
tiful “Final Plan,’ which was approved by
Mayor Strong and the Board of Park Commis-
sioners in November, 1898. It is impossible to
overstate the importance of that exhibit of the
intentions of the Society to the progress of the
Zoological Park. Other builders of American
zoological parks may well follow the example
of New York in having their future develop-
ments planned by competent experts for twenty
years in advance.
In round numbers, the Zoological Society has
expended on the Zoological Park and its ani-
mals about $475,000; and on the buildings and
other “‘ground improvements” the City has ex-
pended a little more than $2,000,000. And
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
what is there to show for all this?
highly condensed answer:
Of large and fine buildings of the first rank,
of brick and stone, there are to be seen the fol-
lowing:
The Elephant House,
Lion House,
Primates House,
“ Large Bird-House,
“ Aquatic Bird-House,
Administration Building,
Reptile House,
Small Mammal House,
Ostrich House,
Antelope House,
“ Small-Deer House,
Pheasants Aviary.
Of buildings of secondary importance
are:
The Service Building,
Asiatic Deer House,
Red Deer House,
Axis Deer House,
“Elk House,
Camel House,
Llama House,
Goats House,
“ Buffalo Barn,
“Feed Barn,
“Wild Horse Barns (2),
Rocking Stone Restaurant,
“Boat House.
Of open-air installations for wild mammals
and birds,—several of them very elaborate and
costly,—there are the following important fea-
tures:
The Bear Dens,
Flying Cage,
“Wolf Dens,
“Mountain Sheep Hill,
“Fox Dens,
“ Sea-Lion Pool,
“ Alligator Pool,
Duck Aviary,
“ Wild-Fowl Pond,
“Otter Pools,
Beaver Pond,
Burrowing Rodents’ Quarters,
Prairie-Dog Village,
Puma House.
Of all the features named in the three lists.
given above, all save four are devoted to the sys-
tematie exhibition of living mammals, birds and
reptiles. The list of secondary buildings gives
not even a hint of the unequaled exhibition
series of open-air ranges, surrounded by steel
posts, steel wire and concrete foundations, that
have so generously been provided for our herds.
This is a
«ce
there
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 545
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NUBIAN GIRAFFES IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
THE AFRICAN ELEPHANTS, KARTOUM AND SULTANA.
of bison, elk, wild sheep, wild goats, ibex, and
deer of all kinds.
It was an English critic who said that our
open-air installations for animals are “at once
the envy and the despair of all European zo-
ologists.” The finest ranges in the world for
captive hoofed animals are those of the Duke
of Bedford, at Woburn Abbey, England; and
the herds within them are both in variety and in
number, wholly beyond compare. But those
herds are not on exhibition, and they can be
seen only by a special invitation from the owner.
It is to be noted here that of the eleven large
and important animal buildings enumerated in
the first class, each one save the Reptile House
is provided with an elaborate and extensive
series of open-air yards in which every habitant
has, in mild weather, a daily opportunity to
spend hours in the sunlight and the open air,
freely exercising or lying at ease in the shade.
The elephants and rhinoceroses, the lions and
tigers, the apes and baboons, the big African
antelopes, the tropical deer, the ostriches and
cassowaries, and even the smallest creatures of
the many in the Small Mammal House, all have
their out-door quarters, and enjoy them to the
full.
For humane men and women there is small
pleasure in the contemplation of living creatures
that are in prisons, and that look and feel like
prisoners, pining behind their bars. Better no
“zoos” and no wild animal collections than
miserable and unhappy prisoners! A badly-
made or badly-kept “zoo,” or zoological garden
or park, is worse than none. But, at the same
time, it is folly for anyone to say that all zoo-
logical gardens and parks are dens of cruelty,
—as is held by a few extreme humanitarians.
The creatures in the collections of the Zoological
Park give unimpeachable testimony to the con-
trary. If our bears, our hoofed animals, our
birds and our apes and monkeys are not posi-
tively happy, and full of the enjoyment of life,
then none are in this world, either captive or
free. Today, the life of every free.wild crea-
ture is constantly filled with alarm, with flyings
from danger, and with the daily struggle for
food, water and safety. Every hunter knows
that after every mouthful of food, the wild ani-
mal or wild bird looks about for dangerous
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 547
enemies; and the ultra-humanitarians take small
note of the millions of wild lives that are pulled
down and destroyed by predatory enemies.
Of the great array of rare and interesting
mammals, birds and reptiles today on exhibition
in the New York Zoological Park, many pages
would be needed to convey of them even a faint
impression. The collections have been formed
strictly on scientific lines. There are no half-
breeds, no “‘curiosities,’ and no freaks of any
kind save a few albinistic individuals.
On July 15th, 1909, an enumeration of the
individuals and species alive and on exhibition
in the Park showed the possession of the fol-
lowing:
TOTAL CENSUS OF WILD ANIMALS IN THE ZOOLOG-
ICAL PARK, JULY 15TH, 1909.
Species. Specimens.
AViammal Sie coe oad es aA 246 743
TESTO SMe eer eee ee ees 644 2816
Rie tilesiae meee ste enr eee 25 1969
] BCs G1 GRR ee 1146 5528
To the average mind, however, these figures
convey but a slight impression, even when we
state that in individuals we have the largest
number (by about 1000) to be found today in
any zoological garden or park.
Regarding the quality of our animal collec-
tions, a few words must suffice.
By way of illustration, what must the visitor
think of a collection of African hoofed animals
that contains a Mountain Zebra and Grant Zebra,
two species of Elephants, a pair of Black
Rhinoceroses, a Hippopotamus, a pair of
Giraffes, a Sable Antelope, a Kudu, a Bakers
Roan Antelope, an Addax, two species of Gnu,
a Beisa, a breeding pair of Leucoryx Antelope,
an Eland, a Waterbuck and a Wart-Hog?
And what shall be said of a collection of deer
that contains a herd of Eld’s Burmese Thameng,
a herd of Barasingha, herds of Indian and of
Malay Sambar; herds of Axis, Sika, Fallow, Red
Deer, Wapiti of two continents, Kashmir Deer
(Hangul), and pairs and singles of at least a
dozen other species?
Consider for a moment the bears,—seventeen
species, represented by 37 specimens, including
four species of the gigantic Alaskan Brown
Bear group, represented by seven specimens.
The collections of apes, baboons and mon-
keys, and of small mammals and large cats, are
quite as rich as those mentioned above.
The collections of birds are fairly bewilder-
ing in variety and zoological richness. When
any Zoological Park exhibits nearly 3000 live
birds, of different kinds and sizes, gathered from
a hundred different localities, there is no need
to comment on the rank of the collection. And
when it contains such feathered rarities as the
California Condor, Harpy Eagle, Bateleur
Eagle, Trumpeter Swan, Whooping Crane,
Sun Bittern, Seriema, South American Trumpe-
ter, Gyrfalcon, Sea Eagle, Yellow-Necked Cas-
sowary, Hyacinthine Macaw, Black Cockatoo,
Black-Backed Pelican, Ptarmigan, and a hun-
dred smaller varieties, its scientific value is be-
yond question.
Of reptiles, the array is very comprehensive.
It contains five species of Rattlesnakes, the
King Cobra, Spectacled Cobra, Bushmaster,
Fer-de-Lance, Puff Adder, five species of Croc-
odilians liberally represented, and Pythons,
Boas, Anacondas, small Serpents, Lizards,
Iguanas, Turtles, Tortoises, Terrapins and Am-
phibians in great variety.
The labeling of the living creatures in the
Zoological Park, with descriptions, pictures,
maps and charts, is far beyond the best results
accomplished in that line elsewhere.
Thanks to the marvelously perfect site of 264
acres that New York City has provided for her
exposition of living wild creatures, and thanks
also to the wise use that has been made of it by
the Zoological Society, the New York Zoological
Park is today the foremost institution of its
kind. It is no exaggeration to say that it is in
a class by itself. Its grounds, its buildings and
out-door compositions for animals, are of un-
rivalled excellence, and in zoological value its
collections are now equal to the best elsewhere.
This plain statement is made with full knowl-
edge of what the world has done in this field.
and what animal collections exist elsewhere.
The elaborate official report of Dr. Gustave
Loisel to the French government (1907-8) has
enabled all the world to know the relative stand-
ing and merits of the zoological gardens and
parks of the world.
This Buxietin has been called for by the
Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission as a
means of placing before the public certain facts
regarding the wild life of eastern New York.
and a zoological institution that as yet is in-
adequately known, even to the people of the
Empire State. If the effort that has been made
here, by the first City of America, were today
anything else than the best of its kind thus far
created, then would we need to apologize for a
failure.
CELEBRATION
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ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 549
POLAR BEAR DEN IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.
THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND ITS WORK.
O institution is greater than the organiza-
tion that created it.
But for the New York Zoological So-
ciety, and the forces that it gathered to its aid,
there would today be no New York Zoological
Park. Even with the finest building materials
ready to the hand of the builder, it is not given
to every man, or every organization of men, to
rear a monumental structure, and finish it ere
the world grows weary of waiting.
Surely the Zcological Society may be regard-
ed as one of the most remarkable of New York’s
many and diverse human products. Organized
in 1895, at a period when to many it seemed as
if New York’s private philanthropy had been
drained to its depths by museums, libraries, hos-
pitals and botanical gardens, the hour of its
birth seemed inauspicious. And to a very great
extent that handicap did exist, and remains upon
the Society to this day! The institutions re-
ferred to above have been endowed bountifully,
by money given in large sums, and therefore
counting up rapidly. But not so this Society.
From 1895 to the present hour, no sum larger
than $5,000 ever has come into our treasury
from one donor at one time; and the only be-
quest ever received was one for $100!
But it was ordained in the beginning that the
Zoological Society should succeed, and do much
with little. The three declared objects of the
Society always have been—the making of a
Zoological Park, the protection of our native
animals and the promotion of zoology.
The first and by far the most serious of these
tasks was undertaken first, and vigorously prose-
cuted. The result is in evidence, and can speak
for itself. The second and third objects have
not been pursued as diligently as the first, be-
cause of the practical impossibility of conduct-
ing three great campaigns simultaneously.
Now, however, the scientific work of the So-
ciety, and its greater work for the protection
of wild life, will be taken up on a new basis.
CELEBRATION
HUDSON-FULTON
550
“SIVUNOO AIV-NddO SLI GNV ASNOH AdOTALNVY FHL
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
The original impulse and effort for the crea-
tion of the New York Zoological Society came
from Madison Grant, then a sportsman and
student of nature, and by profession a lawyer;
and very early in its career the new organization
secured the active support of Prof. Henry Fair-
field Osborn. It is impossible to overstate the
influence of those two men on the Society’s un-
dertaking, and their devotion to the task, year in
and year out. Without them, New York would
have at this time no Zoological Park!
I regard the Executive Committee of this So-
ciety as the most remarkable body of men with
which I ever have come in contact. The man-
ner in which those men of great affairs regular-
ly, and even joyously, left “their mirth and
their employment,’ to spend from two to four
hours at a time in hard-working business meet-
ings, month after month, for thirteen years, was,
to at least one man, both an object lesson and
an inspiration. Talk about civic pride, and the
duties of good citizenship,—the Zoological Park
is a lasting monument to that spirit as it exists
in the 1666 members of this Society; and in
saying this, we only render unto Cesar the thing
that is his.
For eleven years,—1898 to 1909,—the com-
position of the Executive Committee of the So-
ciety remained almost unchanged. Its members
were:
Hon. Levi P. Morton, ex-officio, President of
the Society.
Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn, Vice-Presi-
dent, Chairman for seven years; now President.
Madison Grant, General Secretary.
Charles T. Barney, Chairman for three years,
Treasurer four years.
John L. Cadwalader, Counsel.
William White Niles, Attorney.
Percy R. Pyne, Treasurer.
Samuel Thorne.
Capt. John S. Barnes.
Gen. Philip Schuyler.
The vacancy caused by the death of Mr.
Schuyler has recently been filled by the election
of Mr. William Pierson Hamilton.
During the thirteen years of the Society’s
existence, the Executive Committee has held 169
meetings, and only one of them was without a
quorum.
In 1899 the Zoological Society set the pace
by expending nearly $250,000 of its own funds
in the erection of the Reptile House, the Aquatic
Bird-House, the Bear Dens, Flying Cage and
about eighteen smaller installations for animals.
|
|
BULLETIN.
ii
or
HARPY EAGLE.
be ey
552
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
AMERICAN BISON BULL IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK.
The people of New York looked at the quality
of the work, and saw that it was good. In fact,
the public was surprised, both by the magnitude
of the plan, and the permanence of all improve-
ments. Then the City of New York cheerfully
joined the Society in the remainder of the work.
The Society of course was given absolute control
of the Park, it furnished all plans, and virtually
superintended all improvement work. The
Park Department has stood in a position to safe-
guard all the interests of the taxpayers, and has
awarded and superintended all large contracts
for construction. Throughout eleven years of
rushing improvement business, involving nearly
a hundred contracts, great and small, the busi-
ness of financing and building the Zoological
Park has gone steadily on, without a single
halt or an unpleasant episode between the rep-
resentatives of the City and the Society. In
their turn; Mayors Strong, Van Wyck, Low and
McClellan, and Comptrollers Fitch, Coler,
Grout and Metz have cordially cooperated in
the work. The Park Department of the Bronx
has been most helpful, and we recall with par-
ticular pleasure the cooperation of the three
long-term Commissioners, Moebus, Eustis and
Berry, and their Chief Engineer and Chief
Clerk, Martin Schenck and Gunther K. Acker-
mann.
While it is impossible to mention here even
one-tenth of the generous people who for ten
years or more have loyally supported the Zoo-
logical Society in all its undertakings, there are
a few whom we must name, regardless of space
limitations.
The members of the Executive Committee, the
majority of whom have given the Society liberal
sums of money, have already been mentioned.
We have received substantial aid from An-
drew Carnegie, William Rockefeller, William C.
Whitney, Jacob H. Schiff, Oswald Ottendorfer,
Miss Helen Miller Gould, C. P. Huntington,
William E. Dodge, George J. Gould, J. Pier-
pont Morgan, Col. Oliver H. Payne, Mrs. Fred-
eric Ferris Thompson, Robert Goelet, George F.
Baker, Edward J. Berwind, Frederick G. Bourne,
Charles F. Dieterich, Emerson McMillin, F.
Augustus Schermerhorn, John D. Rockefeller,
William D. Sloane, Mrs. John B. Trevor, Mrs.
Antoinette Eno Wood, William K. Vanderbilt,
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 553
ip iiliisde
THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR.
MOVING THE ALLIGATORS TO WINTER QUARTERS.
554
C. Ledyard Blair, Hugh J. Chisholm, George
Crocker, Cleveland H. Dodge, E. H. Harriman,
Mrs. Philip Schuyler, Lispenard Stewart, Miss
Caroline Phelps Stokes, Mrs. Frank K. Sturgis,
Tiffany and Company, Charles H. Senff, Cor-
nelius Vanderbilt, Samuel D. Babcock, James C.
Carter and Morris K. Jesup.
In addition to the above there are 38 Patrons,
189 Life Members and 1397 Annual Members
whose constant and liberal support fairly en-
titles each one to honorable mention.
In mentioning the men who have made the
Zoological Park, the public owes more than it
ever is likely to know—or to fully repay—to the
intelligence, the judgment, the constant devotion
and the tireless energy of these officers of the
Zoological Park:
H. Raymond Mitchell, Chief Clerk and Man-
ager of Privileges.
Hermann W. Merkel, Chief Constructor and
Forester.
C. William Beebe, Curator of Birds.
Raymond L. Ditmars, Curator of Reptiles.
George M. Beerbower, Civil Engineer.
E. R. Sanborn, Photographer and Editor.
William I. Mitchell, Office Assistant.
E. H. Costain, Captain-of-the-Watch and As-
sistant Forester.
One phase of the business relations between
the city government and the Zoological Society
merits especial notice; and it may well be con-
sidered outside of New York as a lesson in
material progress.
In nearly every city of the world, the up-
building of important institutions either wholly
or partly paid for from public funds, is so
hedged about with safeguards and checks upon
possible dishonesty that oftentimes the rate of
progress is distressingly slow.
During the administration of Mayor Van
Wyck, Comptroller Coler and Park Commis-
sioner Moebus, it was decided that in the mak-
ing of “miscellaneous ground improvements,’ —
a heading which has embraced a-thousand-and-
one undertakings of a nature almost impossible
to “specify” in advance, and put into contracts,
—it was decided that the Zoological Society
should have the utmost liberty permissible under
the law. As a result, we have been enabled to
make double the progress with far less expendi-
ture of money, and with 50% better results,
than would have been possible under a rigid
adherence to the contract system.’ The work
done by men selected solely on their ability and
merits, and directed day by day by our own
officers, has been the salvation of the Zoological
Park; but it was possible only because the city
government had faith in the business ability and
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
integrity of the Board of Managers of the
Society.
All the animals of the Zoological Park are
the property of the Zoological Society, either
having been presented by its members, or pur-
chased out of the profits of the privilege business
created by the Society through Mr. Mitchell,
under our contract with the City. The statis-
tics of the collection have been published else-
where in this BuLLEriIn.
Now that the Zoological Park is practically
complete, the Society must take up more vigor-
ous and extensive work in the field of wild-life
protection, and the promotion of zoology. Much
important work lies in sight, demanding atten-
tion. Nothing short of an endowment fund of
$1,000,000 will enable the Society to do its
whole duty in the two fields that it has as yet
been unable to enter vigorously. The duty of
all zoologists and nature-lovers to the cause of
wild-life protection is conceded by all intelli-
gent men, and requires no demonstration save
practical work in the vineyard. The Society
desires to devote six thousand dollars a year to
wild-life protection; and it is well known that
our fast vanishing wild life needs the effort.
But let it not be supposed that during the
past twelve years the Society has ignored this
cause. On the contrary, ever since 1897 the
Secretary and the Director of the Park have
put forth a continuous series of efforts, covering
game fields in need of work in Newfoundland,
Alaska, British Columbia, Mexico, Montana,
Wyoming and New York. It would be possible
to enumerate several important results achieved
in those fields through the efforts of the Society
and its officers.
Because of the Zoological Society’s satisfac-
tory business methods in connection with the
Zoological Park, the City Department of Parks,
in 1902, requested the Society to assume control
of the New York Aquarium, and place it upon
a permanent scientific basis. The growth and
the character of that institution today are tes-
timonials to the wisdom of the actions which
placed it upon a permanent basis, and selected
Charles H. Townsend as its Director.
On November 9th, the Zoological Society will
enter upon a new period of its history. The
completion of the Administration Building, just
ten years to a day from the opening of the Park,
practically ends the period of strenuous con-
struction, and opens up new fields of labor.
With the aid of the endowment fund that the
Society has a right to expect, important results
may be achieved in the protection of wild life
and the diffusion of useful zoological knowledge.
‘QOUBISIP OY} UF BSnoH S,9}BWIIY GYRI1 94} UO osno}]-pllq ‘94j}UED UL WapseH UBIEI] 439] 84) Uo Zurpying wojeuys;ujwpy
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555
BULLETIN.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
556
HUDSON-FULTON
CELEBRATION
THE HERD ON ITS RANGE.
THE WICHITA NATIONAL BISON HERD.
PRESENTED TO THE NATION BY THE New York ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
It seems strange that the East should under-
take the task of restoring to a permanent basis
in the West an important wild-animal species
that was destroyed by the men of the West.
Greed and blood-lust is not, like the tariff, a
local issue. It is thoroughly cosmopolitan.
Wherever there is found an abundance of wild-
animal life, there will be found also the buz-
zards of commerce destroying life and “wreck-
ing” carcases. It was the men of the West
who got up the wild and bloody orgy of the
buffalo plains, and left behind them only foul
carcasses, poisoned air and desolation.
Strange to say, however, the West has shown
little more than a bystander’s interest in the ef-
fort now being made to establish the American
Bison species on national ranges with such a de-
gree of permanency that it will endure for the
centuries of the future. Most of the appeals of
the Bison Society for contributions from beyond
the head of the Ohio River have fallen on deaf
ears and tightly-closed purses. The West as a
whole has yet to learn what it is to give dollars
for the preservation of wild life; but the record
of Wyoming and Colorado in feeding starving
Elk, last winter, constitutes a fine exception.
For many years, various individuals have
urged Congress to “do something” for the Bison.
I think it was the efforts of Col. “Buffalo”
Jones, of Kansas, that finally resulted in the
establishing of a national Bison herd in the
Yellowstone Park. It cost a mighty effort,
backed by the Biological Survey, to secure
through that grand champion of wild life, Con-
gressman John F. Lacey, of Iowa, the sum of
$10,000 for that nucleus.
Later on, the New York Zoological Society
conceived the idea of a corporate sacrifice in be-
half of the Bison, and proposed to the govern-
ment a partnership arrangement for the found-
ing of a new herd. The Society offered a
nucleus herd of 15 pure-blood Bison as a gift,
delivered on the ground, provided the National
Government would set aside 12 square miles of
fine grazing grounds, on what once was the
range of the great southern herd, fence it in, and
permanently maintain the herd.
The offer was promptly and graciously ac-
cepted, the money involved was immediately
voted, and the fence was erected in a very satis-
factory manner. Without any unnecessary delay.
the Zoological Society selected 15 of the finest
Bison in the Zoological Park herd, and with
most generous aid from the American and Wells-
Fargo Express Companies (who carried the herd
free of all cost), the gift was delivered at the
southern boundary of the Wichita National Forest
and Game Preserve in southwestern Oklahoma.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT IN NEW YORK.
In view of the peculiar difficulties and impos-
sibilities surrounding all attempts to induce our
mountain sheep, caribou and moose to live on
the Atlantic Coast, the successful acclimatiza-
tion of a herd of Rocky Mountain Goats in the
Zoological Park becomes of special interest.
In October, 1905, five kids, then about five
months old, were personally conducted from
Fort Steele, British Columbia, to New York,
and established in and about the rustic Goat
House in the southwestern corner of the Park.
The flock contained three males and two
females,—all of which elected to live and thrive.
They were given two well-shaded yards paved
with macadam, a brushy hillside of dry earth,
and the roof of the barn to clamber over. It
was quickly discovered that in this low altitude,
the Mountain Goat can not endure rain, espe-
cially in winter; and it has been our fixed policy
to house the herd whenever a rain-storm ap-
pears.
On May 20, 1909, one of the females gave
birth to a lusty male kid, which she successfully
reared. Her offspring is now so large, so vig-
orous and so free with his horns, it has been
necessary to saw off the skewer-like tips of his
horns for the general safety of the other mem-
bers of the herd. Little “Philip” is apparently
quite as large and vigorous as any wild male
goatlet of similar age.
Unfortunately for the mother, her maternity
effort at this altitude was fatal to her. After
nursing her offspring to weaning-time, she died
of what was really a general exhaustion of her
vitality.
The four original members of the herd re-
main in perfect health, but the other female has
not yet bred. ‘They continue to be shy of the
human hand, and although they will approach
almost within reach, they will not permit any-
one to handle them, not even their keeper.
The illustration above shows one of the males
with his long, shaggy winter coat not yet fully
developed.
CELEBRATION
HUDSON-FULTON
pias)
A BIT OF LAKE AGASSIZ FROM THE JUNGLE WALK.
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
559
rh TT EPH 786
i i iin tn
GREVY ZEBRA FROM SOUTHERN ABYSSINIA.
TWO RARE ZEBRAS.
Of all living Zebras, the rarest and the most
sought are Grevy’s Zebra, from northern Soma-
liland and Abyssinia, and the Mountain Zebra,
from the mountains of Cape Colony. The for-
mer is comparatively new to the zoological
world, having been discovered and described as
late as 1882, when it was named in honor of the
president of the French Republic, to whom the
type specimen was sent by King Menelik. Of
that rare species, Menelik maintains what is
well-nigh a close monopoly, and few specimens
ever reach the outside world that have not first
passed through his hands.
The Grevy Zebra is distinguished by its large
size, very narrow stripes that extend quite down
to the hoofs, and its large ears.
The Mountain Zebra is a smaller species,
marked by very wide stripes on the hindquarters
only, and narrow stripes elsewhere. It is found
only in the mountains of Cape Colony, and by
the game protectors of that colony, its total
number is estimated at only 400 individuals.
We are fortunate in possessing fine examples
of both the species noticed above.
ZOOLOGICAL PARK VISITORS.
In determining the popularity of any public
institution, it is the inexorable recording turn-
stile that tells the story. Being somewhat re-
moved from New York City’s center of popu-
lation every visitor to the Zoological Park rep-
resents a special effort, and something expended
for car fare. In view of all this, these figures
of our monthly attendance for 1908 are of in-
terest:
1908 Increase.
Jiamuanivg tet ee 42.356 2,887
Reb ruatsyyee ese oreo eee 37,804 10,224
Misr cheese aoe sate 77,841 10,583
April oe eee EERE eace ene a ee eee en 118,584 27,835
1 Ey ieee eaee ceeeen Eeneriie eee ere 182,192 20,706
at Co peet eek ee eee ae 187,656 19,622
vil ieee she irs eee 15 OL. ae ee
agate Poe ee seek ene 190,813 160
September See ae seen oe 153,007 26,487
October ee 120,952 30,2
INO EDD eRe ee ee 91,642 26.463
Mecembers (=e ete ‘511.2 OG ne eee
Total for the year........ 1,413,743
560
LONG-HAIRED CHIMPANZEE “AUGUST”
Pan satyrus schweinfurthi (Giglioli)
Sudan and Uganda.
HOW TO REACH THE ZOOLOGICAL
PARK.
For ten years, many of the newspapers of
New York have constantly endeavored to inform
their readers that the Zoological Park is in the
Bronx! The energy and persistence with which
we are Bronxed, year in and year out, is worthy
of a real public necessity. If there were in New
York City an assortment of zoological parks,
then would we cheerfully accept “Bronx” as a
part of our name; but there is only one Zoolog-
ical Park hereabouts, and Jonas Bronck never
dreamed of founding it.
The Zoological Park (“in the Bronx”) is
most easily reached by the eastern branch of the
Subway. To-day the trains are marked “Bronx
Park” and “West Farms;” but we are informed
that in a short time our trains will be marked
“Zoological Park.’ To reach the center of the
Zoological Park from Wall Street requires about
55 minutes, and from the Grand Central Station
about 40 minutes. The Subway terminus is at
180th Street, only two short blocks from our
Boston Road Entrance, and the Boat House.
HUDSON-FULTON
CELEBRATION
AND BALD-HEADED CHIMPANZEE “BALDY.”
Pan pygmaeus (Schreiber)
Equatorial West Africa.
Visitors coming up on the Third Avenue Ele-
vated should alight at Fordham Station, and
either walk or take a surface car eastward on
Pelham Avenue for nearly half a mile. The In-
terborough cross-town lines on 180th Street, and
also on 189th Street, land visitors near our two
western entrances.
CARRIAGES AND AUTOMOBILES.—
The route from lower New York for carriages
and automobiles is through Central Park, Lenox
Avenue, Macomb’s Dam Bridge, and Jerome or
Washington Avenues to Pelham Avenue, thence
eastward to our new Concourse Entrance, at the
Bronx River bridge. Vehicles with visitors may
enter the Park at that point, and land them at
the steps leading up to Baird Court.
PAY DAYS AND FREE DAYS.—The
Park is free on all days of the week save Mon-
days and Thursdays. On those two pay-days
an admission of 25c. for adults is charged to all
persons who are not members of the Society.
The Official Guide to the Zoological Park,
fully illustrated, can be obtained at all entrances,
for 25 cents.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
PENINSULA BEAR CAPTURED AT
A GREAT COLLECTION OF BEARS.
If properly established, no captive wild ani-
mals more fully repay their cost and keep than
a collection of bears that has been judiciously
formed. It is true that they are very trouble-
some comforts, and that every big bear is a
storm-center; but we like them, for all that.
When comfortably installed in large, clean
yards, with plenty of sunlight, fresh water,
rocks to climb upon and a good variety of food,
they are full of action, and constitute a great at-
traction to visitors.
From the beginning, we have striven to bring
together as many as possible of the species of
bears with which the public is but little ac-
quainted. First we devoted special attention to
the Alaskan Brown Bears,—the giants of the
genus Ursus,—and to-day we have four good
species, with the prospect of a fifth one when a
certain young animal matures. One of these
has come to us from north of the Arctic Circle,
only 300 miles south of Point Barrow (the most
northerly point of Alaska), which is the most
northerly habitat for a bear of this group.
MOELLER BAY, ALASKA PENINSULA.
We have also recently secured—after ten
years of constant effort——a black bear from
South America, which represents the form de-
scribed by Oldfield Thomas as Ursus ornatus
majori. Of our old friend, the Rocky Moun-
tain Grizzly, we have specimens from several
different localities.
The following is a list of our specimens and
species, as the collection stands to-day:
Hybrids, born here.
i
specimens, representing 17 species.
Ze E Ola Garsieeec eee ....Ursus maritimus.
2 Kadiak Bea BE ‘ middendor fi.
2 Yakutat Bears.. dalli.
1 Admiralty Bear eulophus.
1 Peninsula Beat... merriami.
1 Arctic Brown Bear undetermined.
3 Grizzly Bears. horribilis,
9 Black Bears americanus.
1 Syrian Bear syriacus.
2 Brown Bears.. arctos.
2 Hairy-Eared Bears piseator.
1 Himalayan Black Bear torquatus.
1 Japanese Bear....._. japonicus.
2 Yezo Bears.. ferox.
1 Sloth Bear labiatus.
2 Sun Bears....... ee malayanus.
lmAndes blacks Bear cn. se ornatus majori.
562 HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
NORTH FACADE AND DOME OF THE ELEPHANT HOUSE.
Heins & La Farge, Architects.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 563
THE ELEPHANT HOUSE.
Park, the most important single feature is
the Elephant House. Of ten years con-
struction work, it is the climax; and it is fitting-
ly crowned with a dome. It is situated on the
site prepared for it by Nature, and chosen
twelve years ago, on the axis of Baird Court,
and in the open space midway between the Court
and the Wolf Dens. In effect, it connects the
two great groups of installations of the north-
ern and southern regions of the Park which un-
til now have been slightly separated.
We believe that this effort represents high-
water mark in zoological building construction.
It is spacious, well lighted, beautiful in its lines,
both externally and internally, beautifully orna-
mented without being overdone, and also wholly
free from useless extravagance. The interior
lighting and cage “effects” are highly satisfac-
tory, the light upon the animals being quite suf-
ficient, without being too strong and glaring.
It is clearly evident that the animals enjoy their
cages; for were it otherwise, the African rhino-
ceros would not, almost daily, gallop round and
round, and with ponderous agility often leap
into the air.
In several important particulars the Elephant
House is unlike all other buildings in the Park.
It is high; it is entered at the center of each
side, instead of at each end; it is built entirely
of stone; it has a main roof of green tiles, and
has a lofty dome covered with glazed tiles laid
in an elaborate color pattern of browns and
greens. The dome is finally surmounted by a
“lantern” of elaborate tile work, also in colors.
Excepting the dome, the whole exterior struc-
ture is of smoothly dressed Indiana limestone.
Each entrance consists of a lofty and dignified
archway, in which the doors are deeply recessed ;
and each of these arches is grandly ornamented
by animal heads, sculptured in stone.
The color effects of the interior are particu-
larly pleasing. The large, flat bricks of the
Gustavino arch system are in their natural col-
ors, and form a blending of soft brown and buff
shades that not only avoids monotony, but is
pleasing and restful to the eye. Combined with
the vaulted ceilings of the main halls and the
cages there are a few strong arches of mottled
buff brick which harmonize perfectly with the
ceiling tiles of the main dome. This scheme of
vaulted ceilings is so new that few persons ever
have seen a finished example. Both the main
dome, and the arched ceiling below it, have been
Or the building operations in the Zoological
constructed by Gustavino without the employ-
ment of either the steel rafters or ribs which one
naturally expects to see in such structures.
Each of the eight immense cages, that to-day
contain elephants and rhinoceroses, has been de-
signed to frame and display its living occupant
as perfectly as a frame fits a picture. The
vaulted ceilings and large central skylights are
particularly well adapted to cages for extra
large animals, and the lighting is quite perfect.
The front of each cage—24 feet—is spanned
aloft by a single Gustavino arch, and is un-
spoiled by intermediate columns. Each cage is
24 x 24 feet, which is ample for elephants and
rhinoceroses of the largest size. To a height of
6 feet the walls are lined with plates of quarter-
inch steel; and nothing less powerful than a
locomotive could break through or break down
the front bars and beams. The outside doors
are marvels of strength and smoothness in ac-
tion. They are of four-inch oak, reinforced
with quarter-inch steel plates, and on the inside
they are strengthened against attack by three
heavy movable beams of steel.
The ground plan, and all cage and yard ar-
rangements of the Elephant House, were de-
signed by the Director of the Zoological Park.
The architects were Messrs. Heins & La Farge.
The animal sculptures on the southern half of
the building were executed by A. Phimister
Proctor, and those on the north half are by
Charles R. Knight. The building was erected by
the F. T. Nesbit Company, with John C. Coffey
as Superintendent of Construction. The steel
fences enclosing the yards were designed by
George M. Beerbower, Civil Engineer of the
Zoological Park staff, and the macadam and
masonry construction work in the yards and
surrounding walks was performed by our own
force, under the direction of Hermann W.
Merkel, Chief Constructor.
The total cost of the building was $157,473,
and of the surrounding yards, fences and walks
$27,159, making for the entire installation a
total of $184,632. This is $16,000 less than
the original estimate.
The Elephant House contains a surpassingly
fine and valuable collection, consisting of 2 In-
dian Elephants, 2 Sudan African Elephants, 1
Congo African Elephant, 1 Great Indian Rhino-
ceros, 2 African Black Rhinoceroses, 1 Hippo-
potamus, 2 American Tapirs and 1 Indian
Tapir.
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
564
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ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 565
MALE HIPPOPOTAMUS.
HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION
JAPANESE RED-FACED MONKEY AND YOUNG.
IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS FROM
SaBLe ANTELOPE.
GREATER Kupbuv.
Mountain ZEBRA.
Grant ZEBRAS.
CoNnGAN SITaTUNGA.
SPEKE SITATUNGAS.
Duiker ANTELOPE.
mr HM ee ee
TAMANDUA:
tt DD
Wart-Hoe.
Hyarena Doa.
Briack-BackEp JACKALS.
CaRACAL.
CHEETAH.
Hyrax.
Broap-Nosep Crocopi.Le.
PREHENSILE-TAILED ANTEATER.
YOUNG MEXICAN PUMA.
AFRICA IN
1909.
Buiack-Foorep PENGUINS.
Eeyptian GEESE.
BaTeELeur EaGtes.
VULTURINE SEA EaG_es.
TourAcous.
GOLDEN ORIOLE.
Rock Turusu.
TREE PORCUPINE.
LIST OF
INSTITUTIONS HOLDING EXHIBITIONS
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF OR IN COOPERATION WITH SCIENTIFIC, HISTORICAL AND
ART COMMITTEES OF THE HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION COMMISSION
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, Engineering Building, 29
West Thirty-ninth Street. Robert Fulton Exhibition. Consists of paintings, drawings, books,
decorations and furniture, and working models of John Fitch’s steamboat, the first boat operated
and propelled by steam; Robert Fulton’s “Clermont,” the first successful application of steam
to navigation, and John Stevens’ “Phenix,” the first steamboat to sail on the ocean.
The exhibition will be shown in the Council Room of the Society, on the eleventh floor, and
will be open from 9.00 a. m. until 5.30 p. m. during the entire period of the Hudson-Fulton
Celebration, and from 9.00 a. m. until 5.00 p. m. daily until December 6th.
CITY HISTORY CLUB OF NEW YORK, 21 West Forty-fourth Street. Special Exhi-
bition of Illustrations, Photographs, Maps and Plans, relating to the history of the City of New
York, and all of the originals used in the City History Club Historical Guide Book of the City
of New York.
COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, St. Nicholas Avenue and 139th Street.
Hudson-Fulton Exhibit. During the Hudson-Fulton Celebration and for some weeks thereafter,
the College of the City of New York will have on exhibition in its historical museum a collection
of charts, views, manuscripts and relics representing old New York. Among the charts will be
original prints of New Netherlands and New Amsterdam by Nicholas J. Vischer, about 1650;
N. Visscher, 1690; Lotter’s “New Jorck,” 1720; contemporary plans and views of the Revolu-
tionary period showing the movements of Washington and Howe in this vicinity during the Cam-
paign of 1776; Revolutionary battle relics; portraits, residences and letters of old New York-
ers; bronze busts of Washington, Lincoln and Fulton by Houdon and Volk; and other material
suggested by the celebration.
Take Sixth Avenue Elevated Railway to 140th Street, or Broadway Subway to One Hun-
dred and Thirty-seventh Street; also Amsterdam Avenue surface cars to college entrance.
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS, BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN. Through the courtesy of
Commissioner Michael J. Kennedy and his assistant arboriculturist, J. J. Levison, the different
species of trees have been labeled in Prospect Park, from the Plaza to the Willink Entrance;
in Bedford Park; in Highland Park, and in Tompkins Park. An additional small enameled
sign has been hung on those labeled trees that were indigenous to the Hudson River Valley in
1609. The special label reads: “This species is a native of the Hudson River Valley.”
FRAUNCES TAVERN, 54 Pearl Street, near Broad Street. Historic Revolutionary
Building. Built in 1719. Scene of Washington’s farewell to his officers on December 4th,
1783. Restored December 4th, 1907, by the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution.
Open daily, except Sundays, from 9 a. m. to 6 p. m. Special Exhibition of Revolutionary
Relics by the New York State Society of the Sons of the Revolution, who are the owners of
that historical building, September 15th to November Ist.
Take Subway to Bowling Green Station, or Third Avenue Elevated Railway to Hanover
Square Station, or Broadway surface cars.
LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, corner of Pierrepont and Clinton Streets,
Brooklyn, between Brooklyn Bridge and Borough Hall. Open daily, except Sundays, from
8.30 a. m. to 6 p. m. Reference library of 70,000 volumes; manuscripts, relics, ete. Auto-
graph receipt of Robert Fulton and original manuscript volume of Danker’s and Sluyter’s
“Journal of a Voyage to New York in 1679-80.”
Take Subway to Borough Hall, Brooklyn; Third Avenue Elevated Railway to Brooklyn
Bridge, connecting with Bridge cars; or surface cars to Bridge.
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, Central Park East. Main entrance on Fifth
Avenue at Eighty-second Street. Open daily, except Sundays, from 10.00 a. m. to 6.00 p. m.;
in winter to 5.00 p. m.; Saturdays to 10.00 p. m.; Sundays from 1.00 to 6.00 p. m. On Mon-
days and Fridays an admission fee of 25 cents is charged, except to members and copyists. Col-
lections illustrating all departments of Art and Archeology. Special Exhibition of a magnifi-
cent Collection of over 130 of the works of Old Dutch Masters, constituting the finest Exhibi-
tion of this kind ever made. Products of Colonial Art: Industrial Art, Furniture, Pewter of
the 17th and 18th centuries, ete. (Two illustrated catalogues for sale, one of Dutch Exhibit
and one of Colonial Arts; price 10 cents each. Also finely illustrated edition de luxe.)
Take Fifth Avenue stages or Madison Avenue surface cars to Eighty-second Street, one
block east of Museum; connection with Subway at Forty-second Street, and with Elevated Rail-
way and West Side surface cars at Fifty-ninth Street.
NATIONAL ARTS CLUB, Twentieth Street near Irving Place (Gramercy Park). This
house was formerly the residence of Samuel J. Tilden, and is situated one block east of the birth-
place of Ex-President Roosevelt. Open daily from September 20th to about October 18th,
1909, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Special Loan Exhibition by the National Arts Club, in coop-
eration with the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society.
Three centuries of New York City: Special Exhibition of Paintings, Photographs, Draw-
ings and other interesting materials, illustrating the growth and progress of New York from
the time of Henry Hudson to the present day. (Catalogue for sale.)
Take Fourth or Madison Avenue surface cars to corner of Fourth Avenue and Twentieth
Street, one block west of Club-house. Subway Station at Eighteenth Street and Fourth Avenue,
three blocks away.
NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN, Bronx Park. Museums open daily including Sun-
days from 10 a. m. to 5 p. m.; Conservatories from 10 a. m. to 4 p.m. Grounds always open. —
In the Grounds and Conservatories exhibits of Plants, Shrubs, Trees, and Natural Woodland;
in the Museums, Plant Products utilized in the Arts, Sciences and Industries. All plants grow-
ing on Manhattan Island and Hudson River Valley at the time of Hudson’s arrival are marked
with the letter “H.” (Special illustrated catalogue for sale.)
Take Third Avenue Elevated Railway to Bronx Park (Botanical Garden). Subway pas-
sengers change at 149th Street; also reached by Harlem Division of the New York Central
Railroad from Grand Central Station, Fourth Avenue and Forty-second Street.
NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 226 West Fifty-
eighth Street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. Open daily, except Sundays, from 10.00
a. m. to 5.00 p. m., until November Ist. Special Exhibition of old Deeds, Manuscripts, Books,
Portraits, ete., relating to the history of the United States up to and including the War of 1812.
(Catalogue for sale.)
Take Broadway surface cars to corner of Fifty-eighth Street. Subway station at Cotumbus
Circle (Fifty-ninth Street), two blocks distant; Sixth Avenue Elevated station at Ninth Avenue
and Fifty-ninth Street, three blocks away.
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, corner of Seventy-seventh Street and Central
Park West. September 25th to October 30th, open daily from 9 a. m. to 5 p.m. Robert Ful-
ton Exhibition, of the New York Historical Society, in cooperation with the Colonial Dames of
America. (Catalogue for sale.)
Take Sixth Avenue Elevated Railway to Eighty-first Street and Columbus Avenue, or sur-
face cars traversing Central Park West; also reached by any Columbus Avenue surface car to
Seventy-seventh Street.
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, Lenox Branch, Fifth Avenue and Seventy-second
Street. Open daily, except Sundays, from 9 a. m. to 6 p. m. Special Exhibition of Prints,
Books, Manuscripts, etc., relating to Henry Hudson, the Hudson River, Robert Fulton, and
Steam Navigation. (Special illustrated catalogue for sale; price 10 cents.)
Take Fifth Avenue Stages, or Madison Avenue surface cars to Seventy-second Street, one
block east of Library; connection with Subway at Grand Central Station and with Elevated
Railway and West Side surface cars at Fifty-ninth Street.
REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH. The Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the City
of New York will make an exhibit in the chapel of the Church of St. Nicholas, Fifth Avenue
and 48th Street, during the week of the celebration, 9 to 5 daily.
This church was organized A. D. 1628, and the exhibit will comprise articles connected
with its long history.
VAN CORTLANDT HOUSE MUSEUM, in Van Cortlandt Park. This fine colonial
mansion, built in 1748, with furniture of period, is one of the oldest houses within the area of
Greater New York; it is in the custody of the Colonial Dames of the State of New York. Open
daily, 9.00 a. m. to 5.00 p.m. Special Exhibition of Mezzotint Portraits of men prominent in
political life prior to the Revolution; Wedgwood’s Medallion Portraits of Illustrious Person-
ages; Cartoons and Caricatures of political events, ete. (Special illustrated catalogue on sale.)
Take New York Central Railroad from Grand Central Station; Sixth Avenue Elevated
Railway, connecting at 155th Street with the Putnam Division of the New York Central Rail-
road; or Subway trains marked Van Cortlandt Park.
WASHINGTON’S HEADQUARTERS (The Jumel Mansion), Roger Morris Park,
Edgecombe Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-second Street. Built about 1760. Under the
Department of Parks. Exhibition by the ladies of the Washington Headquarters Association,
Daughters of the American Revolution. Open free daily, including Sundays, from 9 a. m. to
5 p.m. Special features: Collection of Colonial furnishings, objects and pictures; also the
Bolton Collection of War Relics of the Revolution.
Take Amsterdam Avenue surface cars; Sixth Avenue Elevated Railway to One Hundred and
Fifty-fifth Street, or Broadway Subway to One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Street.
ZOOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK
‘
HOLDING EXHIBITIONS UNDER THE AUSPICES OF OR IN COOPERATION WITH SCIENTIFIC, HISTORICAL AND ART
COMMITTEES OF THE HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION COMMISSION
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, Seventy-seventh Street, from Co-
lumbus Avenue to Central Park West. Open daily, except Sundays, from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m.
Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. Always free. Special Exhibition during the Hudson-Fulton Cele-
bration, from September Ist to December Ist. Original objects showing the life and habits of
the Indians of Manhattan Island and the Hudson River Valley. (Special illustrated catalogue
for sale, price 10 cents.)
Take Sixth or Ninth Avenue Elevated Railway to Eighty-first Street, or Subway to Seven-
ty-ninth Street; also reached by all surface cars running through Columbus Avenue or Central
Park West.
BROOKLYN INSTITUTE, Eastern Parkway. Open daily, except Sundays, from 9 a.
m. to 6 p. m.; Sundays from 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30 p. m. Free
except on Mondays and Tuesdays when admission fee is charged of 25 cents for adults and 10
cents for children under six years of age. Collection illustrating various departments of Arche-
ology, Mineralogy and Ethnography. Special Exhibition relating to past and present life of
Indians on Long Island. Portrait of Robert Fulton painted by himself, the property of Col.
Henry T. Chapman and loaned by him to the Museum. Open September 1st to December 31st.
(Illustrated catalogue for sale.)
Take Subway Express to Atlantic Avenue, or Flatbush Avenue Trolley from Brooklyn
Bridge. St. John’s Place surface car from Atlantic Avenue or Borough Hall.
CHILDREN’S MUSEUM (Brooklyn Institute), Bedford Park, Brooklyn Avenue. Col-
lection illustrative of the fauna of Long Island. Open free to the public from Monday to Sat-
urday (inclusive) from 9 a. m. to 5.30 p. m., and on Sunday from 2 until 5.30 p. m.
NEW YORK AQUARIUM, in Battery Park, under the management of the New York
Zoological Society. Open daily, including Sundays, from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. until October 15th.
(October 16th to April 14th, from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m.) This building was erected in 1807 by
the United States Government as a fort and after the War of 1812 was called Castle Clinton;
later, as Castle Garden, it was the scene of Jenny Lind’s triumphs, and from 1855 to 1890 it
was the portal of the New World for 7,690,606 immigrants. This is the largest aquarium in
the world and contains a greater number of specimens and species than any other. All tanks
containing fish indigenous to the Hudson River will be so marked.
Take Elevated Railway to Battery Place Station, or Subway to Bowling Green Station;
also reached by all surface cars which go to South Ferry.
NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK, under the management of the New York Zoological
Society, in Bronx Park. Open daily, including Sundays, from 9 a. m. until an hour before sun-
set (November 1 to May 1 from 10 a. m.). Free, except on Mondays and Thursdays. when an
admission fee of 25 cents is charged. Exhibition of a splendid collection of Animals, Birds
and Reptiles. The fauna of Henry Hudson’s time on Manhattan Island and in the Hudson
River Valley will be indicated by the flag of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration. (Special illus-
trated catalogue describing same for sale.)
Take Subway trains marked “Bronx Park Express” to terminus at 180th Street, or Third
Avenue Elevated to Fordham Station. The entrances are reached by numerous surface cars.
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Administration Bldg.,8.D 4 Elephant House, 20 ....F <
Alaskan House, 32 -H3 Elk Range 21 i2
Alligator Pool, 36. .H 4 Feed Barn, 27 ..
Antelope House, 50.....J 3 Flying Cage, 4
Bear Dens, 37 . 5 Fountains, Drinking.
Beaver Pond, 29 . G5 D2.H2,M7 Puma and Lynx
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28 A .G
Bird House, Aquatic 5.,D
Bird House, Large, 7.. D 3
Fountain, Rocketeller,l3D4 House 33 A ........1f
G 2 Raccoon’s Tree, 44 A ,.
12 Reptile House, 34
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Bison, 51 . - 35 . ..12 Riding Animals, 6
Boat House .-M 6 Lydig Arch, 47 15 Rocking Stone 45
f Buffalo Herd, 52 . ..J 6 Mammal House, Small, Sea Lion Pool, 12,
Burrowing Animals, 1B) Seb ean .H38 Service Bldg., 28
Cage, Flying, 4 .. .-C3 Mountain She 4.14 Soda Fount’s. * D!
Camel House, 39 2 Nursery, 18.. E
Deer, Asiatic, 1.. Istrich House, I
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Deer, Axis and Sika C 2 Pavilion, Shelte 4
Deer, Fallow, 53. K 4 Pheasant Aviary, 40..
Deer, Red, 10 D 2 Polar Bear Den. 37 ....H
Deer House. Small, 49..J 2 Prairie Dogs, 41........ I3 Wolf Dens, 22.......
| Duck Aviary, 3 C3 Primate House, 17,....E 4 Zebra Houses, 14 ....
Tortoise Yards........
Totem Pole, 32 ....e00+
Turkeys, Wild, 33.....
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“THE MATTHEWS-NORTHRUP WORKS, BUFFALO, N. Y. COPYRIGHT, 1907, N. Y. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK IN 1909
LATEST OFFICIAL MAP
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY BULLETIN
No. 36
Published by the New York Zoological Society
October, 1909
REPORT ON
EUROPEAN
TRIP.
By Raymonp L. Dirmars.
ITH a special fund of two thousand dol-
lars for the purchase of mammals, birds
and reptiles, the writer left New York on
the 8th of last May, for a tour of the Zoological
Gardens of England, Holland, Belgium, France
and Germany, and an inspection of the animal
markets in those countries. Besides the fund
for the purchase of animals, needed for our col-
lections, the writer took with him a large series
of reptiles to be used in exchange with the Zoo-
logical Gardens of London, in obtaining similar
specimens for the Park. The east-bound pas-
sage was made on the S. S. “Minnetonka” of the
Atlantice-Transport Line. A trans-shipment
from the Red D Line steamer “Philadelphia”
from Venezuela, which lot was made up of mam-
mals and birds collected and donated to the
London Zoological Gardens by Captain Albert
Pam was taken charge of by the writer, when
the collection arrived in New York and cared
for together with his shipment of reptiles. The
writer arrived in London without losses during
the voyage.
The animal market in England during the
spring and early summer of 1909 was the poor-
est in some years. A thorough canvass of all the
shops in London, Southampton, Plymouth and
Liverpool, resulted in but few purchases of
MOUNTAIN ZEBRA; FEMALE.
568 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
SALT-MARSH CROCODILE.
mammals, although a fair series of reptiles was
obtained. A month later, after returning from
the Continent, the writer found conditions some-
what improved, and two weeks steady work,
spent among the animal shops of London and
Liverpool, and watching the arrival of incoming
vessels, from the Indian and African ports, re-
sulted in an interesting series of purchases. A
very large and valuable collection of reptiles was
gathered.
On the Continent the conditions were much
the same. There was a marked scarcity of
primates and miscellaneous small mammals. A
large series of important and showy reptiles was
purchased of Hagenbeck, at Stellingen, (Ham-
burg). At the model menageries of Ruhe and of
Reiche, at Alfeld on the Leine, some rare hoofed
animals were collected, among these being a
Mountain Zebra, Equus zebra; a fine male ex-
ample of the Greater Kudu, Strepsiceros capen-
sis, a pair of Speke’s Sitatunga, Limnotragus
spekei, and a male Bontebok, Damaliscus pygar-
gus.
Review of the Animals, Birds and Reptiles
Purchased.
The writer’s purchases for the Park made a
shipment of forty-eight cages, which were
placed aboard the Atlantic-Transport, S. S.
“Minnehaha,” which left London on the 3rd of
July. The shipment was made up of over four
hundred specimens, representing one hundred
and eleven species. For the care of this big,
miscellaneous lot of mammals, birds and reptiles,
the writer necessarily arranged for a great
variety of food to be placed on the steamship
and owing to very courteous cooperation on the
vessel, he was enabled to so utilize the ship’s
refrigerators, that the food remained in perfect
condition throughout the passage to the home
port; this relating to the meat, fish and soft
fruits, during a period of nine days transit.
The writer was fortunate in finding aboard the
vessel several experienced hostlers returning
with stock from the London Horse Show. These
men were soon trained to assist him in the clean-
ing of the cages, although all feeding operations
were personally performed by the writer, this
work consuming about three hours, daily. | While
the entire shipment was insured for full value
in London, there were no losses during the trip.
Among the mammals brought over is an in-
teresting series of viverrines, including the
African Kusimanse, Crossarchus obscurus, Suri-
cate, Suricata tetradactyla, North African
Genet, Genetta vulgaris, Small Indian Civet,
Viwerra civettina, Large African Civet, Viverra
civetta, White-faced Paradoxure, Paradozxurus
musanga, and the 'Two-spotted African Palm
“Cat,” Nandinia binotata. All of these species
are new to our collection. Among the canines
are a pair of Black-Backed Jackals, Canis meso-
melas, and a Thibet Fox, Vulpes vulgaris al-
pinus, the latter an exceptionally rare and beau-
tiful animal. A pair of almost black, South
American Skunks, Mephitis suffocans, are
among the Carnivores.
The most interesting animal added to the
Park collection is a Cape Hyrax, Hyrax capen-
sis. Although this animal looks much like the
American woodchuck, in fact has all the gen-
eral outlines and actions of a big rodent, it has
long been classed by zoologists among the
hoofed animals. It is characterized by the
front teeth of the upper jaw, which protrude in
tusk-like fashion. Though of chunky build it
ZOOLOGICAL
SOCIETY BULLETIN.
NILE CROCODILE.
is an agile climber, and is gifted with a par-
ticularly vigorous temper. This animal was
purchased from a London dealer, and is the
first of its kind to be exhibited in the Zoological
Park.
Owing to the scarcity of Primates in the
European markets, the writer obtained but few
monkeys and lemurs. Among these animals his
most important purchases were a Coquerel’s
Dwarf Lemur, Microcebus coquereli, and a pair
of Golden Marmosets, Midas rosalia. The lat-
ter is a beautiful species, covered with long,
silky hair, of a uniform golden color. Owing
to the hair falling in a mane over the neck and
shoulders, the species is sometimes called the
Lion Marmoset. This was another species
quite new to the Park collection.
A fine series of the larger Egyptian Jerboa,
Dipus aegyptius, was obtained for the Small
Mammal House. These curious rats make a
lively exhibit. Two females and a male of the
Coypu Rat, Myocastor coypus, were also among
the rodents. A pair of Vulpine Phalangers,
Phalangista vulpina, a pair of Sooty Phalang-
ers, P. canina, Mauge’s Dasyure, Dasyurus
viverrinus maugei, the Common Dasyure, D.
viverrinus, Bridled Kangaroo, Onychogale
frenata, and a fine example of the Tasmanian
Devil. Sarcophilus ursinus, made up the list of
marsupials. The latter was included in the
material from the Zoological Gardens of Lon-
don, offered in exchange for a list of reptiles
taken over.
In the series of birds brought over are the
following: Patagonian Burrowing Owl, Speoty-
to cunicularia, Tawny Owl, Syrnium aluco,
Bleeding-héart Pigeon, Phlogoenas luzonica,
Pied Flycatcher, Muscicapa atricapilla, Jack-
ass Penguin, Spheniscus demersus, Varied Hem-
ipode, Turnix varia, Satin Bower-bird, Ptilon-
orhynchus violaceus, Carrion Crow, Corvus
corone, Rook, Corvus frugilegus. With one or
two exceptions these birds formed part of the
exchange list from the Zoological Gardens of
London.
It was among the reptiles that the most suc-
cessful and elaborate series of purchases were
made. Over fifty species new to the Park are
now on exhibition in the Reptile House. For
the first time since the opening of the Reptile
House, we have a highly interesting series of
the poisonous snakes of Australia, which we are
exhibiting in a_ specially constructed case.
Three species are exhibited—the Purple Death
Adder, or Australian Black Snake, Pseudechis
porphyriacus, the Gray Death Adder, Denisonia
superba, and the Tiger Snake, Brachyaspis
curtus.
Of these the Purple Death Adder is repre-
sented by a young male specimen. This is a
handsome species, of a lustrous purplish-black,
with a row of scarlet scales on each side of the
body. There are six specimens of the Gray
Death Adder, all fully grown (about five feet
long) and looking much like our American
“coachwhip snake.” The Tiger Snake is rep-
resented by two mature specimens, each about
twenty-four inches long. This reptile derives
its name from the tawny bands that encircle
the yellowish body. All of these snakes slight-
ly dilate the neck, when angry, in cobra fashion.
They are vicious, highly active and very poison-
ous. Of the three the Purple Death Adder has
the most extensive range, being found over a
great part of the Continent of Australia. The
Gray Death Adder inhabits Southern Australia
and Tasmania. Of the three species the Tiger
Snake is particularly interesting. It attains a
maximum length of two and one-half feet, is
very common in Western Australia and owing to
570 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
several phases of its make-up, is thought to rep-
resent the ancestral stock (terrestrial) from
which sprung the poisonous marine serpents of
the East Indies.
In addition to the exhibit of poisonous Aus-
tralian serpents, two fine examples of Australian
pythons, the Diamond Snake, Morelia spilotes,
and the Carpet Snake, Morelia variegata, were
placed in the collection. Of closely allied
species, a beautiful young Regal Python, Py-
thon reticulatus, from Borneo, two specimens of
the Congo Python, P. sebae, a Madagascar Boa,
Boa madagascariensis, and a Madagascar Tree
Boa, Corallus madagascariensis, were added.
The latter named species stand as spectacular
types of freak distribution. In their structure
they are wonderfully like the South American
members of the Boide, which they also resemble
in size and coloration. With South America
the headquarters of the Boaine snakes, and the
tropics of the Eastern Hemisphere, the habitat
of the pythons, it seems remarkable that the
Island of Madagascar should contain these two
species of showy boas, absolutely separated from
all allied forms.
A very good series of the harmless serpents
of Europe was obtained, which collection has
been grouped as one of the features of the Rep-
tile House. The following species of snakes
are represented in this series: English Grass
Snake, T'ropidonotus natrix, Spotted Grass
Snake, J. natriz asteptrophorus, Dalmatian
Water Snake, 7. natrixv murorum, Tessellated
Water Snake, 7. tessellatus, “Viperine’’ Water
Snake, 7’. viperinus, Dahl’s Snake, Zamenis
dahlii, Smooth Snake, Coronella austriaca, Cat
Snake, Tarbophis vivax, Leopard Snake, Colu-
ber leopardinus, Four-Rayed Snake, C. quatour-
lineatus, and Aesculapian Coluber, C. aesculapii.
The latter named species is of great historical
interest. In the time of the early Romans it
was believed to be the messenger of Aesculapius,
the God of Healing. Its appearance was al-
ways considered the omen of some gracious ac-
tion on the part of that particular deity. This
belief gained such strength that writers of an-
cient history record the fact that the Legions
carried a number of these sacred reptiles on their
great expeditions.
Besides the species of European snakes a full
series of the Continental lizards was obtained.
The handsomest species among these is the Oc-
cellated Lizard, Lacerta occellata, from southern
Europe. The large males are of spectacular
coloration—bright green with blotches of rich
blue on the sides. The larger examples bave a
head slightly over two inches in width. Showy
lizards of India, Africa and Australia were also
added to the collection. The star specimen
purchased is a huge Ceylonese Monitor, Vara-
nus salvator, over seven feet long and with claws
as large as those of a leopard. During the
time the writer was finishing his purchases in
England, this big lacertilian was placed on ex-
hibition in the Reptile House of the London
Zoological Gardens, where his great size, ac-
tivity and habit of swallowing eight to ten hen
eggs entire, attracted much interest. The Mon-
itor is now on exhibition in a large cage on the
main floor of our Reptile House, immediately
west of the cage containing the big pythons.
Chameleons of several species, Spiny-Tailed
Lizards, Glass
“Snakes,” Slow
“Worms” and the like
figure among the bet-
ter known lizards ob-
tained.
With the purchase
EGYPTIAN JERBOA,
os
ZOOLOGICAL
of an elaborate series of
tortoises and turtles, the
outside yards of the Rep-
tile House are stocked
with the best collection
exhibited since the open-
ing of the Park. The
most showy of the new
chelonians are the Radi-
ated Tortoise, Testudo
radiata, three specimens
from Madagascar, and
four specimens of the
Leopard Tortoise, 7’. par-
dalis, from Abyssinia.
Over a dozen species, of
five genera, are rated
among the new aquatic
chelonians.
In the purchase of crocodilians the writer was
fortunate in obtaining a half-grown example of
the Broad-Headed Crocodile, Osteolaemus te-
traspis, from Sierra Leone, the bony head of
which causes it to be quite characteristic. In
addition to this species were a young Nile
Crocodile, Crocodilus niloticus, a Salt-Marsh
Crocodile, C. porosus, from Sumatra, and a
young example of the Broad-Snouted or Horned
Caiman, Caiman latirostris, from the Amazon.
The Horned Caiman is also a great prize. Like
the Broad-headed Crocodile it is for the first
time exhibited in our Reptile House.
The writer feels particularly proud of the
collection of batrachians obtained abroad. The
result of the addition of representative series of
toads, frogs, salamanders and newts, are several
grouped exhibits on the main floor of the Rep-
tile House—features we have long needed, as
the batrachians, with their varied strange forms
and brilliant colors are always of great interest
to the public. An enormous Japanese Giant
Salamander was bought of Carl Hagenbeck and
now occupies a commodious tank. A case con-
taining a number of species of Tree Toads has
been arranged and attracts much attention.
This contains the gorgeously-hued Golden
Tree Toad, Hyla aurea, of Australia and five
other species. A series of fourteen cages now
forms an exhibit showing the frogs and toads
of Europe. The most attractive among the new
batrachians, however, are a dozen specimens of
the strange Aquatic Toads, from Africa, these
representing two species:—Xenopus laevis and
X. muelleri. These eccentric creatures are
strictly aquatic—never leaving the water. The
hind feet are extremely broad and the graceful
swimming movements of these animals at once
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
SPINY-TAILED LIZARD.
suggest the actions of broad-finned fishes. The
eyes are small and placed directly on the top of
the head.
We have placed these toads in a conspicuous
tank and they form a novel exhibit. Explana-
tory labels tell of their relationship to the Suri-
nam Toad, Pipa americana, of South America,
which they resemble in structure and habits.
They differ from the Ppa in the breeding
habits, however, the eggs being attached singly
to water plants or stones. The tadpole is
provided with a pair of long tentacles, causing
the larva to resemble an elongated catfish.
With the close of his report the writer wishes
to express his hearty appreciation for the hos-
pitality extended in London, by Dr. P. Chal-
mers Mitchell, Secretary of the Zoological So-
ciety of London, and Superintendent R. I. Po-
cock, of the London Zoological Gardens. With-
out the valuable assistance given him, in pro-
viding a headquarters with the presence of
skilled keepers, it would have been practically
impossible to care for his rapidly accumulating
collection and to place the animals on board ship
in good condition and well caged. The food
required for this miscellaneous collection in-
volved about everything used in feeding animals.
Head-keeper Hockingdon, of the London Gar-
dens, supervised his carpenters in making up a
series of substantial travelling cages to take the
places of those sent from the dealers—which
latter cages were lacking in conveniences for
feeding and cleaning. Scrapers and _ other
trevelling paraphernalia were also made at the
Zoological Gardens in London—in fact, every-
thing done to facilitate a successful shipment
across the Atlantic—and with the results al-
ready described.
ZOOLOGICAL
PURPLE DEATH ADDER.
NEW FEATURES IN THE EUROPEAN
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.
By Raymonp L. Dirmars.
AVING recently returned from an inspec-
tion of the zoological institutions of Great
Britain and the Continent, the writer begs
leave to present a general résumé of his obser-
r
The
tour in question embraced the zoological gar-
vations on the newer features of interest.
dens, private collections and museums, as fol-
lows:—(England)—Gardens of the Zoological
Society in London; the collection of hoofed ani-
mals of the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn; the
Natural History Museum and Aquarium in Liv-
erpool. (Holland)—the Zoological Gardens in
Amsterdam; the Zoological Gardens in Rotter-
dam. (Belgium )—the Gardens,
Antwerp. (France)—the collection of animals
in the Jardin des Plantes, and the Museum with-
in the same boundaries.
Zoological
(Germany )—Zoolog-
ical Gardens, at Cologne, Frankfort, Dresden,
Berlin, Hannover, Halle, Hamburg; Hagen-
beck’s Tierpark, at Stellingen (Hamburg).
Among the new features in the Zoological
Gardens of London are the
Quarantine House.
way to completion when the writer left London,
in July. It forms a new floor over the Reptile
House and is constructed along the lines of a
Prosectarium and
The former was well on its
research lJaboratory, with three large, separate
working rooms, each brilliantly lighted with
large windows facing the north. Immediately
in the rear of the Reptile House is the new
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
Quarantine Building, a brick structure with all
conveniences for the isolation and examination
of newly arrived animals.
Among the newly arrived animals in the
London Gardens was the Takin, Budorcas tawzi-
color, exhibited for the first time alive in any
zoological collection. Another rare animal was
an Aard Vark, which was yet under observation
in the Quarantine Building. In the Small Bird
House was a magnificent series of Birds of
Paradise of over half a dozen species—the
series filling the big wall cages on each side of
the building. All of these birds were in splen-
did condition, and the writer was informed that
once in captivity they are as hardy as crows.
It is their capture in New Guinea, and the risk
of extended transportation from the home coun-
try, that cause their rarity in captivity. The
collection of primates in the London Gardens
was in superb condition—the coats of the ani-
mals fairly glowing with health. Superintend-
ent Pocock informed the writer that the tempera-
ture of the Monkey House is kept quite low
during the winter,—often registering as low as
40° Fahrenheit. All of the monkeys are pro-
vided with sleeping-boxes, packed with hay.
The Rhesus Monkey, Mandrill,
Thoth and Chaema Baboons, remain out of
doors throughout the winter. They are pro-
vided with sleeping-boxes and hay bedding, but
the sleeping-boxes are not furnished with arti-
ficial heat. All of these specimens were in su-
perb condition.
Zoological
Hamadryas,
Gardens in Amsterdam.—The
Monkey House in Amsterdam is ideal. This
structure appears to the writer to offer the most
perfect sanitary conditions of any animal build-
ing in Europe. It has many novel features,
among them being elaborate skylights made up
of vacuum tiles. This offers the great advan-
tage of ideal illumination, with its germicidal
effects, yet without the heat in summer, or cold
during the winter months, that comes with a
building with a great area of illuminating sur-
face. The writer noted the use of these vacuum
glass tiles in Rotterdam, also, and it was ex-
plained to him that they prevent the passage of
heat or cold as they are cast hollow, and then
subjected to an air extracting process. With
its white tiled floor, its central fountain, cages
with glazed tiles and brilliant, though diffused
illumination, the effect of this building is that
of beauty, wonderful cleanliness, and perfect
sanitation,—particularly on account of the ab-
sence of woodwork.
ZOOLOGICAL
Amsterdam has the most interesting and in-
geniously arranged collection of insects of any
such installation noted by the writer. There is
an elaborate series of cases containing feeding
caterpillars and others hung with masses of de-
veloping cocoons, from which numerous showy
moths were hatching. On the walls were cases
with fine mounted displays of the life histories
of the lepidopterous insects of Holland. The
most striking feature among the series of ento-
mological exhibits was a display of ants. These
were enclosed in narrow square glass cases,
about three feet long and high. The nest was
made of cement, and had been burrowed and
channeled with great care to imitate the tortuous
chambers naturally made by the insects. The
exhibit was then mounted in the shallow case to
appear as a transverse section of a big ant
mound. On the front of the case is a black
cloth curtain, to keep the exhibit dark,—this
may be raised at the will of the visitor. When
the curtain is raised the channels are seen alive
with ants performing their various duties. The
workers are seen caring for the larve, and in
one case, quite spectacularly quartered in the
center, was a large queen ant, attended by her
busy consort. Also exhibited in the Insect
House was a curious collection of walking
“sticks” and seyeral jars of ant “lions,” which
little insects lie at the bottom of a funnel-shaped
burrow of fine sand, the jaws only protruding.
Unwary ants that pass near the edge of this
burrow are brought down by a miniature shower
of sand hurled up by the “lion.” The jars of
aquatic insects demonstrated the interesting pos-
sibilities in an exhibit of this kind. About
every zoological garden on the continent has its
insect house—several of these are of recent in-
stallation. An installation of this kind would
be of great interest in New York.
Among the rare reptiles in Amsterdam, the
choicest specimen was an example of the Bor-
nean Gavial, Tomistoma schlegeli. The head
and snout of this remarkable creature might be
compared to a banjo with a long handle. The
beautiful Aquarium was very fully stocked. The
Electric Eel and Electric Cat-Fish were exhib-
ited in adjoining tanks. In the batrachian
room was a tank containing a number of exam-
ples of the Blind Salamander from the Adels-
berg Cave, in Austria.
Rotterdam Zoological Gardens.—Through
the courtesy of the Director, Dr. J. Biittikofer,
the writer was enabled to witness and appreciate
at the Rotterdam Zoological Gardens, one of the
SOCIETY
BULLETIN. 573
most interesting zoological spectacles in Europe.
This consists of the heronry, tenanted by wild
birds, and situated immediately outside of the
big flying cage. A large collection of wading
birds was on exhibition in the flying cage, and
a number of these were nesting. Inside the
cage was a stork on her nest, and the young
could be observed lifting their heads for food.
This presence and nesting of the captive birds
had attracted the wild Blue Heron, many pairs
of which had built the great rookery in the tall
trees immediately outside the flying cage. From
this rookery comes a continual gutteral croak-
ing, and there is a constant procession of the
old birds coming and going, their long legs
trailing behind them in picturesque fashion.
From the masses of nests may be seen the
wobbly heads of the young, clamoring for food,
or crowding out on dangerously swaying
branches were well feathered youngsters un-
steadily clutching their lofty perches in an
eager watch for the parents’ return. Dr. Biit-
tikofer informed the writer there were eighty-
two nests in this wonderful rookery. Seven-
teen big nests, coarsely constructed of sticks and
brush, were counted in a single tree. The old
birds have a half-hour’s flight to get to their
fishing grounds.
The Monkey House in Rotterdam resembles
the Amsterdam structure in the liberal use of
glazed tile. The monkeys run into outside
cages for the greater part of the year, passing
through doors which swing either way, and
which the animals operate with as much non-
chalance as climbing their perches.
The new Reptile House in Rotterdam is a fine
and practical little building. Here the writer
again noted the use of the glass vacuum tiles,
—-practically the entire roof being of this con-
struction,—which causes the building to be
flooded with diffused sunshine. The cage deco-
rations were beautifully arranged,—a combined
use of tuffstone, moss, earth and plants impart-
ing a very natural effect. The earth was neither
too dry nor too wet—hence the reptiles ap-
peared to be in exceptionally good condition.
The brilliant illumination of the building ap-
pears to effect this condition. There was an
excellent series of reptiles. The Rotterdam and
Frankfort Gardens are way in the lead as re-
gards reptile collections on the Continent.
Among the more interesting reptiles noted in
the Rotterdam Reptile House were the Gaboon
Viper, African Cobra, American Diamond Rat-
tlesnake, Regal Python, Black-Tailed Python,
574
Australian Diamond Python and Carpet Py-
thon, a full series of Crocodilians, lizards of
many species and a series of tortoises—among
the latter being two specimens of Testudo ele-
phantina, from the Aldabra Islands.
Antwerp.—Although there appears to be no
recent installation in the Antwerp Gardens, new
specimens are constantly added. A long, high
cage, with artistically painted background, of-
fered a spectacular display owing to its con-
tents, which consisted of over two dozen Flamin-
goes and seventy-five Purple Gallinules. The
smaller, irridescent birds, running in every di-
rection among the tall pink forms of the flamin-
goes offered a striking display.
Cologne.—Of particular interest in the Zoo-
logical Gardens is the breeding of two Giraffes,
both of which are in perfect condition. One ex-
ample was born on May 26th, 1907, and the
latest arrival, on April 4th, 1909. This young-
ster was alert and active when the writer in-
spected him the following June after his birth.
He was about 6 ft. in height, with wisps of black
hair standing on that portion of his head from
which the horns will grow.
Frankfort.—The collection of reptiles in the
Frankfort Gardens is particularly noteworthy.
The reptiles are housed in the top of a grotto-
like structure. The walls of the reptile enclosure
are of the vacuum tiles previously mentioned,
which, together with a glass roof floods the
place with light. Among the lizards were a
number of fine chameleons, the Australian
Tiligua, Spike-Tailed Lizard, Zonurus, Tegus,
and a full series of the lizards of Europe.
The collection of batrachians was very com-
plete, embracing the Blind Salamander of the
Adelsberg Cave, Giant Salamander, Hellbender,
South American Toads of several species and
many Tree Toads. The collection of snakes
was the finest on the Continent. Especially in-
teresting among these were the Gaboon Viper,
Puff Adder, Russell’s Viper, Horned Viper,
Desert Viper, Sandnatter, Cape Viper, Austral-
ian Blacksnake and Indian Cobra. There is a
good representative series of North American
serpents.
Berlin—The magnificent Gardens in Berlin
otfered nothing particularly new, but it is in-
teresting to note the successful breeding of the
Giraffe here, in April of this year. While noting
this subject it should be mentioned that a
Giraffe was also bred in the London Gardens
last year, and is in thriving condition.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
Berlin is fortunate in having on exhibition a
number of specimens of the wild Guinea “Pig,”
Cavia porcellus, of South America. These ani-
mals look like fat, tailless gray rats and are
extremely timid. Owing to the rigid quarantine
existing against South American rodents, it is
now impossible to import this interesting animal.
Zoological Gardens at Halle——At Halle on
the Saale, delightfully situated, ingeniously laid
out, and with many novel features, is a zoologi-
cal institution that promises to be among the
most interesting in Europe. The gardens of Halle
offer a series of surprises: for the winding walks
that lead up the hill to the mountain goats,
thence down to other installations, bring one
unexpectedly upon changing scenes, exhibits and
all sorts of pleasing nooks and vistas of the
surrounding landscape. These gardens are
young and the buildings not elaborate in num-
ber as yet, but everything is ingeniously quar-
tered and there is a valuable collection. There
is a marked fraternal spirit in the exhibit of
some of the animals. The Indian Blackbucks
and Ostriches were running in the same en-
closure. The Camels and Yaks roamed to-
gether, and in a medium-sized cage was a rol-
licking family of Raccoons and Coatis. Few
zoological gardens can boast of a more pictur-
esque site and such possibilities of interesting
development as the Gardens at Halle.
Hamburg.—A new feature of Hagenbeck’s
Tierpark, at Stellingen, is the Ostrich Farm,
situated immediately across from the main en-
trance of the Tierpark, and being distinct in
requiring a separate admission of 50 pf. It is
well worth the visitor’s time to inspect this
novel venture. Mr. Hagenbeck informed the
writer that he expects his birds to grow much
finer plumes in the cold climate of Hamburg
than those ostriches on farms in the hot coun-
tries. There are ten breeding houses, each with
two long yards and separate compartments.
Each of these houses is intended to accommo-
date a pair of birds. A great central yard and
commodious shelter building accommodates the
main herd. A very complete incubator, with
capacity for a great number of eggs, is part of
the exhibit. The ostrich farm was opened in
July, with one hundred and ten ostriches—all
of the species being represented.
Prior to the opening of the Ostrich Farm, the
main herd of birds was running in a fifteen-acre
pasture. The multitude of long necks, above
which towered the heads of some really gigantic
males, formed an imposing picture.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
Elwin R. Sanborn, Editor.
DEPARTMENTS
MAMMALS
EDITED BY W. T. HORNADAY, SC. D.
AQUARIUM
EDITED BY C. H. TOWNSEND
BIRDS
EDITED BY C. WILLIAM BEEBE
REPTILES
EDITED BY RAYMOND L. DITMARS
Published Bi-Monthly at the Office of the Society,
11 Wall Street, New York City.
Single Numbers, 10 Cents; Yearly, 50 Cents.
Mailed free to members.
Copyright, 1909, by the New York Zoological Society.
Entered at the Post Office at New York as Second Class Matter.
No. 36 OCTOBER, 1909
Officers of the Society.
President :
HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN
Executive Committee:
MADISON GRANT, Chairman,
JOHN S. BARNES, WILLIAM WHITE NILEs,
Percy R. PYNE, LEvI P. Morton,
SAMUEL THORNE, Wm. PIERSON HAMILTON,
HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN, Ex-Officio.
General Officers :
Secretary, MADISON GRANT, 11 WALL STREET.
Treasurer, PERCY R. PYNE, 30 PINE STREET.
Director, WILLIAM T. HorRNADAY, Sc.D., ZOOLOGICAL PARK.
Director of the Aquarium, CHARLES H. TOWNSEND, BATTERY PARK.
Board of Managers :
Ex-Officio,
The Mayor of the City of New York,. . . . HON. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.
The President of the Dep’t of Parks, . . . . HON. HENRY SMITH.
Glass of 1910. Glass of 1911.
F. AugustusSchermerhorn Henry F. Osborn,
Glass nf 1912.
Levi P. Morton,
‘
BULLETIN.
I
—t
Wt
SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP.
The Executive Committee desires to announce
the following subscriptions to Sustaining Mem-
Percy R. Pyne,
George B. Grinnell,
Jacob H. Schiff,
Edward J. Berwind,
George C. Clark,
Cleveland H. Dodge,
C. Ledyard Blair,
Cornelius Vanderbilt,
Nelson Robinson,
Frederick G. Bourne,
William C. Church,
Lispenard Stewart,
H. Casimir De Kham,
Hugh D. Auchincloss,
Charles F. Dieterich,
James J. Hill,
George F. Baker,
Grant B. Schley,
Payne Whitney,
James W. Barney,
Andrew Carnegie,
John L, Cadwalader,
John S. Barnes,
Madison Grant,
William White Niles,
Samuel Thorne,
Henry A. C. Taylor,
Hugh J. Chisholm,
Frank K. Sturgis,
George J. Gould,
W. Austin Wadsworth Wm.PiersonHamilton Ogden Mills
Officers of the Zoological Park :
W. T. Hornanay, Sc. D., Director
H. R. MITCHELL - - - - Chief Clerk and Disbursing Officer
RAYMOND L. DITMARS = - Curator of Reptiles
C, WILLIAM BEEBE > Curator of Birds
H.W.MERKEL - = = = Chief Forester and Constructor
G. M. BEERBOWER - - - Civil Engineer
ELWIn R. SANBORN - Editor and Photographer
W. REID BLAIR, - Veterinarian
W. I. MITCHELL - - Office Assistant
Officers of the Aquarium:
CHARLES H. TOWNSEND, Sc.D., Director
Fresh Water Collections
Marine Collections
L. B. SP
W. I. DEN
bership:
Archbold, John D.
Auchincloss, Hugh D.
Avery, Samuel P.
Baker, George F.
Barbour, William
Barhydt, Mrs. P. Hackley
Barnes, Miss Cora
Barnes, Jr., J. Sanford
Barnes, John S.
Barney, James W.
Blair, C. Ledyard
Blodgett, William T.
Bowdoin, G. S.
Bowdoin, 'Temple
Burr, Winthrop
Cadwalader, John L.
Canfield, Richard A.
Chisholm, Hugh J.
Clark, George C.
Crimmins, John D.
de Milhau, Louis J.
Dick, J. Henry
Dieterich, C. F.
Dodge, Cleveland H.
Dunham, Edward K.
Emmet, C. Temple
Field, Mrs. Wm. B. Osgood
Ford, James B.
Fraser, Miss S. Grace
Goodridge, Ethel M.
Goodwin, James J.
Gould, Helen M.
Grant, Madison
Hamilton, Wm. Pierson
Harkness, E. S.
Harkness, Mrs. Stephen V.
Havemeyer, T. A.
Higginson, James J.
Hill, James J.
Hoe, Richard M.
Hoe, Mrs. Richard M.
Hopkins, George B.
Hyde, Mrs. Clarence M.
Iselin, Jr., Adrian
James, Arthur Curtiss
Jennings, O. G.
Kahn, Otto H.
Langdon, Woodbury G.
Lounsbery, R. P.
McMillin, Emerson
Marling, Alfred E.
Maxwell, Robert
Mills, Ogden
Morgan, J. P.
Morgan, Jr., J. P.
Morton, Levi P.
Niles, W. W.
Osborn, Henry F.
Osborn, William C.
Penfold, William Hall
Perkins, George W.
Phipps, Henry
Phoenix, Lloyd
Pierce, Henry Clay
Porter, Clarence
Pyne, M. Taylor
Pyne, Percy R.
Robinson, Nelson
Schermerhorn, F. A.
Schiff, Jacob H.
Schiff, Mortimer L.
Schley, Grant B.
Schuyler, Mrs. Philip
Sloane, William D.
Stetson, Francis L.
Stewart, Lispenard
Sturgis, Frank k.
Taylor, Henry A. C.
Thompson, Mrs. Fred’k F.
Thompson, Lewis S.
Thorne, Samuel
Vanderbilt, Alfred G.
Vanderbilt, W. K.
von Post, H. C.
Wadsworth, W. A.
Warren, Samuel D.
White, Jr., John J.
Whitney, H. P.
Whitney, Payne
Winthrop, Egerton L.
DEPARTMENT OF
AMERICAN AVICULTURE.
Epirep spy C. Witit1aAmM BrErpse,
Curator
of Birds.
FULL LENGTH VIEW OF THE
BREEDING CANADA WILD GEESE ON
CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND, VA.
By C. Wiru1aM Breese.
NDUSTRIES connected with semi-wild birds
ae becoming more and more important every
day. We have large Pheasant hatcheries
which have been installed in many states during
the last few years, while the providing of suit-
able nesting sites for Eider Ducks has been in
practice for many years in different places. As
far as I know the only successful example of
raising Canada Wild Geese for their feathers, is
to be found on the estate of Mr. J. W. Wheal-
ton on a good-sized island off the coast of Vir-
ginia, close to the Maryland line.
Chincoteague Island is about seven by two
and a half miles in size, with a soil which is
sandy but fertile. Low ridges run parallel to
the coast, separated from each other by marshes,
while a central depression filled with salt water
extends transversely across the center of the
island. There is considerable scrub pine and
cedar growth with some underbrush, the trees
and bushes being found mostly upon the ridges.
Much of the island, however, is open and
marshy. Mink are very abundant and destruc-
tive, and while Foxes are also common they
seem to do little harm.
DUCK AND SWAN ENCLOSURE.
More than fifty years ago Mr. Whealton ob-
tained a pair of wing-tipped wild geese.
These, however, showing no signs of breeding,
he disposed of, and purchased a second pair
which had been raised in captivity. These were
the nucleus of his present flock which now num-
bers about 450 birds. There has been no in-
breeding as new blood has been constantly
added by the capture of wing-tipped wild gan-
ders every year or two. At times wild birds
have come in from the bay with the tame ones,
and fed with them for several days. Great ef-
fort is made to get the big leaders of the flocks.
Wild ganders breed at once, but it is years be-
fore the wild geese will consent to lay. Mr.
Whealton’s geese are divided into flocks of from
four to fifty birds, running wild on this and
several adjacent islands. All are pinioned when
small goslings.
There is considerable population on Chinco-
teague, but the geese do no damage and the fact
that they are all the property of Mr. Whealton is
known to everyone. The geese rarely die from
disease, although a few succumb to pneumonia.
Negroes steal a small number, but the greatest
loss is from dogs which kill quantities of the
geese every year. In 1908 no fewer than twen-
ty-six dogs were killed in the very act of slaugh-
tering the geese.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
CANADA GEESE AND TOULOUSE HYBRIDS.
The geese feed on the island in summer in
small gangs; but in winter they spend most of
their time in Chincoteague Bay, feeding on eel
grass and sea lettuce. They become very fat
on this diet and in addition are fed a little grain
now and then to keep them tame. They are
also supplied with fresh water throughout the
winter. In the spring, on one of the first warm
days in March, the Canada Geese pair off, gath-
ering near the large breeding pastures, when
they are let in, one pair at a time. There is a
great deal of quarrelling among them and a
few pairs are always brok-
en up.
The geese are grain fed
for a short time before lay-
ing, all through incubation
and until they are set at lib-
erty with their young. The
birds are never infested
with lice, and it is thonght
that their feathers contain
some quality which keeps
these pests out.
The breeding paddock
encloses about 25 or 30 acres
and is surrounded by a
board fence about 3 feet in
height. About 75 pairs of
birds breed here and raise
from two to three hundred
young annually. There are
a few small fresh water
marshes in the paddock,
and where these occur num-
BULLETIN. 577
erous hummocks are thrown
up, which soon become coy-
ered with grass low
brush. These tiny islands
are the favorite nesting sites
and five to seven eggs are
laid on these nesting hum-
mocks. When the young
hatch, they are pinioned and
turned into another pasture
with their parents. If the
goose is removed, the gander
will rear the young success-
fully. But if the gander is
killed by accident or sent
away, the female will not or
cannot rear her brood alone.
Some of the birds are al-
most fifty years old. They
breed better when thirty
than when ten years of age.
A few individuals never
mate. In the spring, one
familiar with the appearance of the birds can
select those which will lay; by the condition of
fatty deposits visible under the skin. If con-
siderable yellow fat is visible about the abdo-
men, there is no likelihood of the bird laying
eggs that season.
When the goslings reach the age of about one
month, they are given their liberty. They usu-
ally do not breed until three years old. Each
pair of adult birds mate for life and invariably
returns to the nest which it had occupied the
previous spring. The geese will not as a rule
and
i
DUCK AND SWAN ENCLOSURE; COMPARTMENT No. 1.
Containing Black Australian Swans and Cygnets, Shoveller Ducks, Wood Duck
and Black Brant.
578 ZOOLOGICAL
SNOW GEESE HYBRIDS, CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND.
allow other pairs to nest within fifty to one hun-
dred yards. The ganders are very erratic in
this respect, some being especially savage, while
others do not object to new comers founding
their nests a shorter distance away. The birds
are strictly monogamous. In the fall, all de-
formed or undersized birds are disposed of, and
only the largest and finest are kept. Many
young birds are sold for ornamental purposes
and for decoys.
According to Mr. Whealton and the men who
have charge of the birds, there seem to be two
so-called races, known as the Northern and the
Southern Wild Gauss: The latter are smaller and
darker and differ greatly in their habits. They
are very wild, never becoming tame; are sly and
tricky, of a cowardly disposition, and do not
interbreed with the other race. They have been
eliminated from the flock because of their unde-
sirable traits, but a few are kept by other people,
as they breed fairly well.
The geese are plucked three or four times each
year, beginning with May first, and from then
on at intervals of seven weeks; all of the con-
tour feathers with the exception of those of the
wings, tail and neck are taken, the down of
course being left. An average adult bird yields
about one-third of a pound at a picking, and the
market value of these feathers is about 50c. a
pound. The first picking (May 1st) occurs
when the birds are tending their young. It
stops to a certain extent the fighting which is
always going on at this time; both by reducing
the strength of the birds and by making it less
SOCIETY
BULLETIN.
easy for them to obtain a
good hold, or to strike each
other with their wings. The
first and last pluckings yield
the heaviest feathers; the
mid-summer plumage being
lighter. At these times a
large party of men and boys
corral the geese from vari-
ous parts of the island into
a large pen. As the geese
are picked they are liber-
ated. ;
That Chincoteague Is-
land is adapted not only
for the rearing of wild
geese alone, is shown by the
success which Mr. Whealton
has had with other species
of water birds. The swans,
—Mute, Whooping and
Black, are simply turned
out in pairs, separated from others. They are
kept there continually, and when once they have
started to breed, they continue to do so every
year. All of the paddocks have plenty of for-
age, but the birds are fed daily on wheat and
corn. During the present year the Black Swans
made their nest and laid their eggs when the
snow was on the ground, hatching their young in
February, when the pond was frozen tight. A
hole was cut in the ice and the young, four in
number, were successfully raised.
Hybrids have been produced between Canada
Geese (“Northern” Race), and Toulouse, Emb-
den and Chinese Geese. These hybrids lay
eggs but they are never fertile.
Crosses between the Common and Snow Geese
are fertile and have been bred back to pure
Snows for several generations, the hybrids being
indistinguishable from pure-blooded Snow
Geese. Toulouse hybrids are very large birds
with the body color of a Toulouse, but with the
head and neck very nearly white. They are in-
variably sterile.
The Chinese hybrids, when young, are a shade
darker than the Canada Geese. When they
reach adult plumage, they become lighter in
color, and only one who is accustomed to them
can distinguish them from pure-blooded Canada
Geese.
The Snow Geese hybrids were originally pro-
duced with a white Common Goose and a Snow
gander. The offspring are usually white with
dark wings and sometimes dark tails also. They
retain the mandibular hollow of the Snow Geese.
When this hybrid is bred back with the pure
Snow, a white goose is produced that can be
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
told from the pure Snow Goose, only by the very
slightly smaller size.
The only successful method of hybridizing is
by confining a selected pair of geese together in
a paddock. In the majority of cases the birds
refuse to mate.
Black Ducks are kept in a paddock of about
four acres containing a fresh water pond well
supplied with lettuce and eel grass of which the
birds fond. Tall grass, weeds and
bushes are thick, and the birds breed usually
among this low vegetation. During the present
year seventy-five young Black Ducks were
hatched, but every one was killed by a murder-
our Egyptian gander. Black Ducks are wild in
disposition, and will mate only in large pad-
docks.
The Snow Goose lays its eggs on the ground
near the water, in an enclosed paddock, the eggs
usually not being fertile. In 1900, however,
four young Snow Geese were half raised but
were killed by dogs. The Common Brant Geese
mate but never lay.
are very
THE PONIES OF CHINCOTEAGUE.*
By Lee S. Cranpatt.
HINCOTEAGUE and Assateague Islands
in Virginia each support a drove of ponies,
numbering from fifty to one hundred indi-
viduals. They forage for themselves winter and
summer, receiving no more care than the wild
mustangs of the West.
Tradition has it that these semi-wild ponies
are the descendents of Spanish horses, which
came ashore from a foundered galleon. This
seems a reasonable explanation, and is generally
accepted.
In general appearance the ponies closely re-
semble mustangs, to which they are undoubtedly
related. Rarely exceeding fourteen hands in
height, they are thick and stocky, with the
smallest of ears and hooves. The manes and
tails are extremely long in typical specimens.
and many of the little animals are very hand-
some. In winter, of course, their coats are
*Mr. Crandall recently made a trip to Chincoteague
Island, Virginia, in the interests of the Zoological
Society, and while there gathered the following in-
formation concerning the semi-wild horses found in
that region. The facts are of decided interest and
well warrant publication.
BULLETIN. 579
rough and shaggy, but in summer they are as
smooth and sleek as satin. All of the self col-
ors known among the mustangs are found among
the eastern animals, buckskins and even creams
being common. Calicoes, pintos, and other pied
forms are, however, never found among them,
stockings and blazes being the extreme of white
markings. ;
In temperament, on the other hand, they are
the perfect antitheses of their western cousins.
Gentle and kind, they make splendid saddle
ponies, and the savage bucking of the mustangs
is absolutely unknown among them. Many are
broken for driving, and are safe and reliable,
thus differing radically from the western ponies,
which are notoriously unruly in harness.
They are prolific breeders (continued inbreed-
ing has apparently not decreased their vigor),
and each mare has a colt at her side. Each fall
a roundup is held, when all of the colts are
caught and branded.
When surrounded, and no avenue of escape
presents itself, the ponies at once commence to
“mill” after the fashion of mustangs and cattle,
working around the circumference of a circle,
with the colts inside.
The herds are, in each case, led by a splendid
stallion, who has complete command. At vari-
ous times, as the young stallions increase in age
and weight, they challenge the leader to battle
for his position. Many vicious combats result,
which are often of long duration. Rearing on
their hind legs, wrestling for an opening like
skilful boxers, biting, striking and squealing,
they will at times whirl from the top of a ridge
into the surf, and out into the sea, often to the
level of their backs. The old leaders are rarely
overcome until weakened by age, because they
have gained strength and experience from years
of warfare, and the younger animals are usual-
ly no match for them.
These little animals range free over the two
islands, feeding on the succulent young grass in
summer, and getting a scantier livelihood from
the dried blades through the winter months.
When the mosquitoes and horse flies become un-
bearable, the herds stand leg deep in the surf.
The native owners guard their animals with
jealous pride, never introducing new blood for
fear of “spoiling the breed.” The ponies are in
great demand both on the island and the main-
land, and a very profitable traffic has been built
up.
580 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
WILD BIRDS BRED IN CAPTIVITY IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES.
GALLIFORMES
Globose Curassow ...Crax globicera
Ruffed Grouse ...Bonasa umbellus...
Cabot alo ony amie eee ese ceeee ere eee Tragopan caboti
Impeyan Pheasant... ... Lophophorus impeyanus.
Manchurian Kared Pheasant. . Crossoptilum manchuricum
Black-crested Nepal Pheasant. ..Gennaeus lewcomelanus.........
Melanotus Pheasant... om S melanotus..
Anderson Pheasant... A andersoni
.. Gould.
Hodge.
_.. Kuser.
. Little.
_.. Little.
..N. Y. Zool. Park.
. Kuser.
_N. Y. Zool. Park.
Lineated Pheasant. ne x lineatus..... 4 . Little.
Sere Mas antes reeset enact nade creates : a nycthemerus....... N.Y. Zool. Park.
Swinhoe Pheasant. = swinhoei F _ Kuser.
English Pheasant............... Phasianus colchicus.......... ...N. Y. Zool. Park.
White Pheasant : s a WON aries ea ss, ee eee N. Y. Zool. Park.
Ring-necked Pheasant.. torquatus.. N. Y. Zool. Park.
Versicolor Pheasant... VET SiColone 4 Le BT nL eee Kuser.
Reeves Pheasant... Syrmaticus reevesi.. ....N. Y. Zool. Park.
Golden Pheasant... Chrysolophus pictus....... _N. Y. Zool. Park.
Lady Ainherst Pheasant. me. q amherstiae. . Y. Zool. Park.
TRUST AJMAN. TENG) Las ae seen ccc cececacceresct once: acteeeracees (COONIDE. GUI .co tccrtetcenceecesheree nacre: . Zool. Park.
Indian Peafowl Pawo cristatws....... 2.2... - Zool. Park.
Black-winged Peafowl. . “ nigripennis . Zool. Park.
Wild Guinea Fowl Numida meleagris . Zool. Park.
Wild ‘Turkey Melagris gallopavo silvestris - Zool. Park.
Plumed Quail. --Oreortyx pictus plumiferus. . Y. Zool. Park.
California Quail. -. Lophortyx californicus...... .N. Y. Zool. Park.
1 BYG) OA OWN Se ee ere re SEE SRE SEES Colinas, Wir gins ee ieee cc en econ tener Hodge.
CoLUMBIFORMES
Whitman.
_ N.Y. Zool. Park.
- Whitman.
.... Whitman.
-. Whitman.
White-backed Pigeon Columba leuconota..
Rock Dove..... = livia_.......
Stock Dove 24 oenas
Triangular-spotted Pigeon.....................-.--. guinea
Bare-eyed Pigeon gymnopthalma....
Spotted Pigeon.... maculosa......... . Whitman.
White-crowned Pigeon. Bess leucocephala we ue Whitman.
Rufous Pigeon rf PUI = act sete a 8 os face seneate ne ateme omen reenact Whitman.
Band-tailed Pigeon. 4 fasciata.. - Whitman.
.. Whitman.
..Whitman.
-.Worthington.
- Whitman.
.. Kuser.
Wood Pigeon.......-.-.... palumbu
Passenger Pigeon. _....... Kctopistes migratorius....
Mourning Dove... Zenaidura macroura caroline
Venezuela Dove... Zenaida vinaceo-rufa.........
White-winged Dove. Melopelia leucoptera........ e
European Turtle Dove TU GU CUT EU hc aman ee eee N. Y. Zool. Park.
Oriental Turtle Dove 6 orientalis - Whitman.
Barbary Turtle Dove. ---Sb) eptopelia ROBOT ro cectaoe pened acocsc cme mogpoeTETC oN: N. Y. Zool. Park.
\Whyloriwes Weel ey 1 DON Os cheere ecoeet cence seems rerceneocece cece @ Whitman.
Damara Turtle Dov ss ss damarensis .. Whitman.
“
Uioaliieioy RWIS WYO). C eae aeeeee ni tenetemrecaeeeereecen - eecen dowraca
Dwart Turtle Dove... -Onopopelia humilis.
Chinese Turtle Dove. _. _Spilopelia chinensis
Tigrine Turtle Dove... ss oe tigrina.....
Senegal Turtle Dove Stigmatopelia senegalensis......
.. Whitman.
- Whitman.
.. Whitman.
- Whitman.
..N. Y. Zool. Park.
Barred-shouldered Dove-.......-.-.-.-.----.-.-----.--- Geopelia humeralis......... .... Thompson.
Peaceful Dove = - tranquilla. - Whitman.
DES a0 Gl 0 See os SUM Ct Cee - Whitman.
Gracetull (Ground) Dove ccs e CUME WUE Oooo osama . Thompson.
incall) ove meee eee Scardafella inca... - Whitman.
Northern Ground Dove Chamaepelia passerina. -. Whitman.
Talpacoti Ground Dove. : wv talpacoti.... Whitman.
Bronze-winged Pigeon........... Phaps chalcoptera.. Whitman.
Australian Crested Pigeon... --Ocyphaps lophotes.. - Kuser.
SWihite=tronitec iy oye en reece eee Leptoptila fulviventris a : ... Whitman.
Reichenbach Dove : reichenbachi... Whitman.
Wonga-wonga Pigeon........... .. Leucosarcia picata.....------------- Whitman.
LaARIroRMES
Huropean Herning) Gulls TS CLYIEL See CUTS GC TUE CEL, Senet ern N. Y. Zool. Park.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 581
GRUIFORMES
emarsellen Grane ee ee, eee a PALAU LUO OUCLESIRAXU Gf O terete eee nese ee Kuser.
ARDEIFORMES
WUD SIRI, LOVE a aie ea Cone eae a eeee re eee BL GLO D Gert e e e Eee Nee LOOls bark.
Black-crowned Night Heron ...Nycticorax nycticorax naeviur........................ Nat’ Zool. Park.
ANSERIFORMES
Whooping Swan QU GUUS COG TULL S ee cee hanes ee ts eons me eee eg Whealton.
Mute Swan..... Ss olor...... .. Nat’l Zool. Park.
Black Swan Chenopsis atrata. -. Whealton.
Wood Duck.... Aix sponsa........ wane Nee ZOOls ark,
Mandarin Duck.. “ galericulata.... eee Go
Greater Snow Goose
Bean Goose..........
Canada Goose.
Chen hyperborea nivalis
Anser fabilis..........
_.Branta canadensis
- Whealton.
..Gallatin.
Pee N-p\iZool barks
Rinddys Shell dralkcextes selon vee mete ae Casarea casarea.... Browning.
Mallard Duck... Anas platyrhynchos. ..N. Y. Zool. Park.
Black Duck...... “ obscura......... - Gallatin.
Australian Gray Duck : “ superciliosa. ee ousers
Gadwall.... Ghanilelasmars, Strep ena eee Hudson.
European Widgeo Mareca penelope...... Cox.
Green-wing Teal. Nettion carolinensis. Cox
Blue-wing Teal Bs ORUGT UG CUUL GG CLLS COM: S mere eee eee ‘Ox
Pintail Duck..... _...Dafila acuta.
Chilian Pintail - “ — spinicauda.
Shoveller Duck... Spatula clypeata...
Red-head) -Duck= 2) eee ee eee lythya americana
Canvas-back Duck ss MULES ONG e wee eee eee ee ee Lawrence.
Indian Spotted-bill Duck Gallatin.
PELECANIFORMES
Bloridan Cormorant: