SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 3) 
DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS 
C. William Beebe, Curator; Lee S. Crandall, Assistant Curator. 
Having reached what seems to be the limit of the numerical 
capacity of the accommodations provided for the housing of the 
bird collection, the gain in numbers during 1911 is insignificant 
as compared with that of other years. A considerable gain, 
however, has been made in species, one hundred and eight having 
been added. This has been accomplished by a further reduction 
in the number of individuals of certain species, these being re- 
placed in most cases by the addition of single specimens of 
several other kinds. 
The scarcity of water during the water famine that pre- 
vailed during the summer was the indirect cause of a severe 
epidemic of duck cholera, which greatly reduced the flock of 
wild fowl quartered on Lake Agassiz. The birds afflicted were 
principally mallard ducks and Canada geese, of which about one 
hundred succumbed. Fortunately, the scourge did not spread 
to other bodies of water in the Park where the most interesting 
and valuable species are kept. 
Early in the spring the first steps were taken toward the 
establishment of a colony of black-crowned night herons on one 
of the sheltered islands in Lake Agassiz, six birds being liberated 
there with wing-feathers clipped. When the birds moulted the 
cut feathers in the fall, they refused to leave the bountiful supply 
of fish provided for their consumption. Their constant flying 
about attracted others of their kind, so that we now have a flock 
of considerably over twenty birds, which seem to intend spend- 
ing the winter with us. Every effort will be made to induce the 
herons to nest here in the spring, when we hope that the perma- 
nence of the colony will become assured. 
Our two greater birds of paradise are still in perfect con- 
dition, and have acquired the conspicuous yellow plumes that 
are so fatal to the existence of this species in a wild state. 
On September 17th, four turkey vultures were set free; and 
two have remained with us, occasionally soaring over Bird Val- 
ley, or coming down to some favorite perch to await their daily 
ration of meat. A covey of nine wild bob-white has been seen 
several times in the Park, often within a few yards of the 
Director’s office. 
Wild black and wood ducks resort regularly in autumn and 
winter to the Wild-Fow! Pond, where they associate with their 
