442 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



YOUNG MEXICAN PUMA, 

 of pumas which were sent to the Park, 

 y emaciated condition. It is thrivinf^ c 

 milk fed from a bottle. 



time that little or no aiFection may be attributed 

 to their movements. 



First-Keeper Snyder has a number of charges 

 wliich 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 tlie 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. 



prairie-like jjanipas 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. 



Althougli 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 fiercel}' that they 

 liad to be separated, and even then continued 

 their altercation through the fence so that it 

 was necessary to remove tliem from each other's 

 sight. ■ C. W. B. 



A WHITE RHEA. 



THE Rhea is the most graceful of all the 

 ostrich-like birds and the most interesting to 

 us as being the only representative of tiiese 

 birds in our hemisphere. It inhabits the level. 



A SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO THE 

 DELTA OF THE ORINOCO. 



ON the 22nd of February, 1908, Mrs. Beebe 

 and the writer sailed on the Royal Mail S. 

 8. "Trent" for Trinidad, off tlie nortiieast 

 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 tlie earthquake of 

 a year ago. remaining almost untouclied. 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 



