48 NEW YORE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: 
experiment and persevere with these species until at least the 
majority of them have been successfully established here. For 
this reason, special efforts have been bestowed upon procuring 
specimens, and their care has been the Director’s special charge. 
Our work thus far has established several important facts, the 
most interesting and valuable of which is that the prong-horned 
antelope cannot live on Eastern grass, and its existence here 
requires that it be kept on land so sterile that rich, soft grass will 
not grow upon it, or else in yards wherein it can be limited to dry 
food. The experiment was therefore tried of bringing hay and 
alfalfa from the plains region of the West, thus far with excellent 
results. 
At present the Park ranges contain ten prong-horned antelope, 
four moose, one caribou, seven mule deer, and seven Columbian 
black-tailed deer, besides other herds that have thriven continu- 
ously, and require no special mention here. By the authority of 
the Executive Committee, a skilled veterinary surgeon has been 
engaged for a short daily attendance at the Park, to assist and 
advise us. It is hoped that in time results of permanent value 
to the promoters of zoological parks and gardens may be reached, 
and if so, they will be published by the Society. 
During the past year the Burrowing Rodents’ Quarters have 
been completed, and filled with rodents and small carnivores of 
about twenty species, several of which were collected in California 
for the Society, and are new to the public of this locality. 
It is a pleasure to be able to report that the first year’s use of 
the Bear Dens has proven them to be admirably adapted to their 
purpose. They are all that it was hoped they would be, and the 
animals inhabiting them have been both healthy and happy to a 
degree rarely seen in captive bears. All the young bears have 
developed rapidly and well. This is particularly true of the 
Kadiak bears, the grizzly and cinnamons. The abundance of 
floor space has led all the younger animals to spend their waking 
hours in wrestling, boxing, climbing, and chasing each other, and 
also in frequent bathing in the pools. It is doubtful whether wild 
bears of the same age would have had more exercise in the same 
time than has been indulged in by these specimens. This health- 
ful exercise has promoted both good health and good temper, and 
by preventing all annoyance or teasing of these animals, and feed- 
ing them in such a manner that there is no excuse for quarrelling, 
