TENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 63 



health, and their growth has been rapid. In fact, the orang-utan, 

 who has learned the use of the lever, has been with considerable 

 difficulty prevented from wrecking the interior of his room with 

 the aid of his trapeze bar. It may yet be necessary to remove his 

 trapeze, in order to save the walls of his domicile from being torn 

 to splinters. 



MAMMALS ON HAND, DECEMBER 3 1, I905. 



Primates 30 species, 86 specimens. 



Carnivora 52 " 151 " 



Pinnipedia . . . . i " 7 " 



Rodentia 23 " 140 " 



Ungulata 62 " 225 " 



Marsupialia . . . 5 " 10 " 



Edentata 2 " 4 



Insectivora . . . . i " i " 



Total 177 " 625 



DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS. 

 C. William Beebe, Curator. 



In this department the most important events of the year were 

 the opening of the large Bird House and of the Pheasant Aviary, 

 with collections of appropriate species. This relieved the over- 

 crowded Aquatic Bird House and the Ostrich House, and fur- 

 nished exhibition room for many important Orders of birds hith- 

 erto unrepresented in the collection. Every specimen which now 

 arrives at the Park — whether arboreal, swimmer, or wader; 

 w^hether feeding on fish, seed, or insects — is sure of a range per- 

 fectly adapted to its habits. The large Bird House, in furnishing 

 roomy cages, good light and air, and the Pheasant Aviary, in 

 being absolutely rat and mink proof, have both of them fulfilled 

 the expectations of the designers. 



Perching birds, which in the Aquatic Bird House had remained 

 for five years in their immature plumage, have in one moult, in the 

 new glass-roofed building, assumed perfect plumage. 



With hundreds of new birds arriving during the last few 

 months, the problem of bird food was given more careful atten- 

 tion than ever before. No prepared food is now purchased, but 

 each day a fresh supply is mixed in the Bird House, the propor- 

 tion of the half-dozen or more ingredients being a matter of con- 

 stant variation, based on the dailv condition of the birds. As a 



