DEPARTMENT OF LIVING ANIMALS 421 



Masters Frank and Charles Drew; oi turtles and terra 



pins were received from the 5Tale< Jollege Museum, r 1 1 1 « > j i ^ 1 » Dr. G. Raur. 



Among the rare and specially interesting objects received, the most 

 valuable prize was a young Rocky Mountain sheep, or Big Horn (Oris 

 montana), female, from Mr. G-eorge Bird Grinnell, editor of the New 

 York Forest and Stream. This interesting animal was captured in the 

 mountains of northwestern Montana, by a Piegan Indian, in dune, 1888, 

 and was procured from him by Mr. Grinnell, who conveyed it to the 

 nearest railway, at very considerable trouble, in October of the same 

 year. It arrived at the Museum in good condition, and has thriven as 

 satisfactorily, and with as much rapidity, as any domestic lamb. In- 

 asmuch as there is. so tar as known, only one other specimen of Oris 

 montana in captivity, this individual is particularly interesting. It has 

 been weighed, photographed, and measured at intervals, and its de- 

 velopment carefully watched. In the issue of Forest and Stream for 

 June C, 1884, there appeared a very interesting biographical sketch of 

 this animal, by Mr. Grinnell, illustrated by a flue engraving from an 

 instantaneous photograph by Mr. T. W. Smillie. It is confidently be- 

 lieved that the Mountain sheep can be quite" successfully acclimated 

 and bred in the climate of Washington, and experiments in that direc- 

 tion will be made as soon as the Zoological Park is ready to accommo- 

 date specimens. 



Among the other interesting rarities received were a Cacomistle, or 

 " Civet ( 'at " (Jiassaris as tut a), from Mr. E. M. Hasbrouck ; two Mexican 

 quails (Cyrtonyx) from Mr. B. J. Jones, Columbus, Ohio; a Wood rat 

 {Keotoma floridana) from Mr. George W. Shutt; a Black-footed ferret 

 (l'utorlus nigripes) from Mr. A. B. Baker, YVa Keeney, Kansas; three 

 Mexican guans [Ortalis retain maccalli) from Capt. Henry Homey n, 

 Fort Ringgold, Texas, and three Monkey-faced owls (Stri.c pratincola) 

 from Mr. John T. Ward, Washington, District of Columbia. 



Several objects were received which, owing to their aquatic habits, it 

 was found impossible to care for successfully in the absence of proper 

 facilities for the care of aquatic birds. They were two Great northern 

 divers (Colymbus torquatus), one swan (CygnuR columbi anus), one widgeon 

 [Mareca amerieana), and a Ruffled grouse (Bonasa umbellus). In the 

 autumn of 1889, the Hon. W. F. Cody offered to the Museum his entire 

 heard of eighteen buffalos as a deposit, but it was impossible to accept 

 them. In the same manner the Museum was offered, by Mr. W. A. 

 Conklin, of New York, a camel, an aoudad, lioness, ibex, black leopard, 

 and ostrich, all of which had to be declined. 



Dming the year a number of valuable American mammals were 

 offered to the Museum at nominal prices, and although all of them would 

 have been most welcome additions to the collections, it was absolutely 

 necessary to decline them. They weir the following: Two specimens 

 of manatee from Florida ; three specimens of moose from .Maine, Can- 

 ada, and Minnesota; a Caribou from Maine, and three specimens of 



