84 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
serve to emphasize the timeliness and wisdom of the Zoological 
Society in promoting the display of the National Collection. 
The particularly fine white rhinoceros head presented by 
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt early in 1911, may fairly be regarded 
as the most rare and valuable single specimen that thus far has 
come into the collection. It is the second finest specimen ob- 
tained by the Roosevelt expedition—the best one being in the 
National Museum at Washington. Inasmuch as heads of the 
white rhinoceros are not purchasable with money, the zoological 
value of our fine and beautiful mounted specimen is easily 
understood. 
A very notable addition to the Heads and Horns Collection 
came in the form of a gift from Mr. Clarence H. Mackay, con- 
sisting of an unrivaled collection of mounted heads of the giant 
moose of Alaska, Wyoming elk and American bison. This collec- 
tion has been described and figured in the Zoological Society 
Bulletin for September, 1911. Until a building for the Heads 
and Horns Collection has been provided, the Mackay Collection, 
or at least the greater portion of it, will hang in the smoking- 
room of the Administration Building, adjoining the halls occu- 
pied by the main collection. 
Dr. John C. Phillips, of Boston, presented to the collection 
a series of thirty-six specially selected pairs of horns that were 
chosen with particular reference to filling gaps existing in our 
series of African horns. From Mr. Henry A. Caesar came, as a 
gift, a white-tailed deer head from Maine, which may fairly be 
regarded as the world’s record for that species. Mr. W. Hesketh 
Prichard presented to the Collection a pair of caribou antlers 
from Labrador—the first specimen from that locality that we 
have received. 
GROUND IMPROVEMENTS AND MAINTENANCE WORK OF THE 
DEPARTMENT OF CONSTRUCTION AND FORESTRY. 
Hermann W. Merkel, Chief Constructor and Forester; E. H. Costain, Assistant 
Forester. 
The Ground Improvement Work for the year 1911 consisted 
almost entirely of a great number of small improvements. 
The first work undertaken was the building of an incline 
approach to the feed barn. This work was found necessary on 
account of the difficulty of getting very heavy loads into the 
barn. We were fortunate in being able to obtain all of the fill, 
consisting of 405 yards of soil, delivered and placed free of 
charge, so that the entire cost of this improvement, including 
