594 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



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CKANL) CXINCUURSE. FRUM THI£ ITALIAN GAUUEN ; EOOKINC. NORTH. 



to the attention of the Committee the fact that 

 the southern half of Bronx Park offered an 

 ideal site for the proposed institution. The 

 meadows, glades, forests, ponds and river 

 areas were so distributed that buildings could 

 be located and large ranges established thereon 

 practically without injury to the existing land- 

 scape conditions, or the splendid forest trees. 

 The larger part of the area thus selected had 

 formerly formed part of the Lydig Estate, to 

 which fact was due the exceptionally favorable 

 forest conditions. 



After a prolonged inquiry into the accessi- 

 bility, drainage and topographical conditions 

 of the Park, the Zoological Society, through 

 its E.xecutive Committee, approved this site, 

 and on May 2Tst, 1896, formal application was 

 made to the Commissioners of the Sinking 

 Fund for the transfer of Bronx Park, south of 

 Pelham Avenue, to the Zoological Society. 

 At first the application was not favorably 

 viewed by the City authorities, and it was 

 only after a prolonged discussion, and some 

 changes in the officers of the Society, that the 

 Commissioners of the Sinking Fund gave the 

 matter their final sanction, on March 24th, 

 1897. 



A portion of this second year of the So- 

 ciet3f's existence had been devoted by Mr. 

 Hornaday to a thorough study of the Zoologi- 



cal Gardens of Europe, the results of which 

 were embodied in a report to the Committee. 

 Mr. Hornaday also prepared the general 

 ground plan of the Zoological Park, out of 

 which has developed, during the last ten years, 

 the existing scheme of the Park. Modifica- 

 tions have been made in small matters, but on 

 the whole the substantial manner in which Mr. 

 Hornaday's original design has been found 

 to meet actual conditions has proved his fore- 

 sight in its preparation. 



At this time, also, the active interest of Mr. 

 Percy R. Pyne, in the affairs of the Society, 

 began, and Mr. John S. Barnes, Mr. F. Au- 

 gustus Schermerhorn, Mr. A, Newbold Morris, 

 Mr. Andrew Carnegie and Mr. Morris K, 

 Jesup, became members of the Board of Man- 

 agers. Most important of all was the election 

 to the Board of Managers and to the Presi- 

 dency of the Society of the Hon. Levi P. 

 Morton. The selection of Mr. Morton as the 

 head of the Society was perhaps the determin- 

 ing factor in securing the favorable action of 

 the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, in 

 giving to the Zoological Society the sole con- 

 trol and management of the proposed Zoo- 

 logical Park, under a contract which has 

 proven a highly satisfactory working agree- 

 ment between the Society and the City. 



The members of the Commission of the 



