THE OSPREY. 



An IlltAStrated Pvlagazlne of F*optalar Ornithology 



F'Tablislrieci Tvlontlnly ©accept in Julv and Avigvist. 



Volume 2. 



SEPTEMBER, 1897. 



Number 1. 



BIRDS IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



(A PROMISSORY NOTE.) 



WM. T. HORNADAY. 



HILE it is not always the 

 high'est wisdom to set up 

 promises a cannon-shot 

 ill advance of perform- 

 ance, it surely is pardonable 

 to mention the plans of the 

 New York Zoological Society 

 touching the bird collections 

 desired for the Zoological 

 Park. Whether the full reali- 

 zation of our hopes be near or far away, we feel sure 

 that all lovers of birds will at least wish us "God- 

 speed" with our 

 plans for a series of 

 bird collections that 

 will do justice to the 

 splendid avian fauna 

 of this continent 



Two years ago the 

 New York Zoolog- 

 ical Society was or- 

 ganized (i) for the 

 purpose of creating 

 an ideal Zoological 

 Park in New York 

 City ; (2) for the 

 preservation of our 

 native fauna-. and (3) 

 for the promotion of 

 zoology. Hon. Levi 

 P. Morton is the So- 

 ciety's President, 

 and already its membership roll of founders, patrons, 

 life members and annual members (3S6 on July 15,) 

 includes scores of the best names in New York. Its 

 members are men and women whose names are not 

 found connected with undertakings that fail. 



The Society selected 261 acres of land in South 

 Bronx Park as the ideal site for the Zoological Park, 

 and asked that it be dedicated to that purpose. Mayor 

 Strong and his cabinet scrutinized the Society and its 

 preliminary plans, and cheerfully granted the whole 



AMERICAN HERRING 

 Copyright, 1897, by 



tract applied for. The Society proposed to keep the 

 Zoological Park open to the public, free of admission, 

 on five days of the week, on all Sundays and holidays, 

 and asked that the city agree to provide an annual 

 maintenance fund. This proposition was also accept- 

 able to the city. The Society guaranteed to raise, in 

 three years, not less than $250,000, and expend the 

 whole of it upon animal buildings, aviaries and col- 

 lections ; and the city is now about to expend $125,000 

 of its own funds in preparing the grounds to receive 

 the buildings, the collections and the public. 



The Zoological Park site of 261 acres of virgin for- 

 est, rolling mead- 

 o w s, and water in 

 the Bronx River and 

 Lake, con sti t u te 

 what is believed to 

 be the most truly 

 ideal site for a great 

 vivarium to be found 

 in or near any large 

 city in the world. 

 Its preservation to 

 this day in its pres- 

 ent wild state, at 

 the exact geograph- 

 ical centre of New 

 York's Annexed Dis- 

 trict, (north of the 

 Harlem River,) is 

 nothing short of 

 marvellous. Its 

 lovely areas of hardwood forest — thick, thin and open, 

 — its imposing ledges of pink granite that crop out 

 in a score of places, its beautiful rolling meadows and 

 half-open ranges for the "big game" animals, and 

 its timbered ridges and thickets and ponds and 

 streams must all really be seen to be appreciated. 

 To every zoologist who has gone over the grounds 

 and studied the character of the sites chosen for the 

 many different collections, the attractions and the 

 suitability of the place have proven irresistible. Dr. 



GULL. BY FUERTES. 



The Macmillan Co. 



