80 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



most unfortunate lack of water. Before any serious loss re- 

 sulted, the geese were corralled behind portable fences in the 

 highest, dryest corners of the range, and the main collection 

 of more valuable ducks, numbering about 350 specimens, 

 was removed en masse to the Beaver Pond. The infected 

 pond was then drained and the bottom left exposed to the rays 

 of the sun for several weeks. When, at the end of this period, 

 it was refilled and the ducks brought back, there was no recur- 

 rence of the malady. The scarcity of water was due to a lack 

 of rain, and to a half-way water famine in the Croton Water 

 Shed. The adequate water supply which is now available for the 

 future will prevent a renewal of this serious scourge. 



The breeding colony of night herons is as large as it was last 

 year, and the Barbary turtle doves are now well established 

 as regular breeders. Ring-neck pheasants are now breeding 

 at liberty in the Park, and appear able to maintain their num- 

 bers in spite of cats, crows and small boys. The covey of 

 bob-white is still occasionally seen. 



Year after year, an increasingly large number of birds are 

 left out of doors during the winter. Every species which 

 can thus be kept in health is a decided gain, the space which 

 it occupied indoors being given to more delicate tropical forms. 



A series of twenty-two cages, as nearly mouse-proof 

 as possible, has been erected on the red deer walk. Of these, 

 only eight are for exhibition purposes, the remainder facing 

 south and guarded from all disturbance. These cages have been 

 planted with shrubs, and it is intended to devote them to the 

 breeding of the rarer types of birds which, season after season, 

 deposit eggs in their cages, or make abortive attempts at nest- 

 building. Their attempts at reproduction are almost never suc- 

 . cessful, because of constant disturbance by visitors. 



The cages were finished too late in the season to be given 

 a fair trial last year, although late as it was, many of the 

 quail placed in them and small birds such as silver-eared mesias 

 and gray-winged blackbirds, built nests and laid eggs. These 

 cages will play an important part in the scientific work planned 

 by the Curator, and should yield results which will more than 

 repay the cost of their erection. 



The most important accession during the year was a trio 

 of mikado pheasants (Calophasis mikado). These birds were 

 reared in the Zoological Gardens of London, from eggs fur- 



