ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 69 
summer months were, as a rule, orderly and quiet. The boisterous 
element was not nearly so troublesome as heretofore. 
Forest Fires.—The matter of forest fires is one which will have 
to be more vigorously dealt with in the future—probably by haying 
more watchmen on crowded days, and also by securing the arrest 
and conviction of persons who either carelessly or maliciously 
cause fires to be started. In the dry days of autumn, it is not an 
uncommon occurrence for our force to be called upon to extin- 
guish from twenty to thirty fires in one day, some of which are 
lighted with malicious intent. 
Shooting.—The shooting of Zoological Park birds and squir- 
rels now seems to be a thing of the past, as no arrests for this 
offense were made in our grounds during the year. On the whole, 
the problem of controlling the rowdy element seems to be satis- 
factorily solved. This is due in a great measure to the persistence 
and faithfulness of Special Officer Van Benschoten. 
CONTRACT WORK IN GROUND IMPROVEMENTS. 
Conducted under the direction of the Park Department for the Borough of 
the Bronx. Martin Schenck, Chief Engineer ; 
W. P. Hennessey, Asst. Engineer. 
Small-Deer House-—The most important building erected in 
1906, was designed to accommodate a large number of small 
tropical deer, antelopes, and gazelles, such as now are rapidly 
accumulating. It has become well nigh an impossibility either 
to house in winter or properly exhibit in summer the delicate, 
yet very interesting small hoofed animals of the tropics and 
sub-tropics, without a special building. Accordingly a spacious 
structure 156 feet long by 46 feet wide was planned to occupy 
the open space immediately west of the Antelope House, origi- 
nally known as the Prong-Horned Antelope’s Range. A contract 
for this building, which is to be called the Small-Deer House, was 
let in 1905, to Guidone & Galardi, at a cost of $41,543. Work 
began very early in the spring, and by the end of December the 
building itself was complete. The cage work of the interior is 
now going in, and the installation will be ready for use about 
May 1, 1907. As previously stated, all the work on the yards 
and fences surrounding the building is being performed by a 
force of men under the direction of the officers of the Zoological 
Park. 
