36 ^'EW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 



The Medical Department during the year continued to show 

 the results of its careful organization. The death rate has been 

 held down to what appears to be its normal amount. There have 

 been substantially no deaths among the important animals of the 

 Park. Of course there is a certain amount of loss in anv Zoo- 

 logical Park, owing to the fact that a considerable number of 

 the specimens are naturally short-lived. 



FORESTRY DEPARTMENT. 



Under this head, reference must be made to the largi amount 

 of planting that has been done in the Park, amounting to 12,450 

 shrubs and 6,135 trees. Careful effort has been made to repro- 

 duce the original forest flora in the Zoological Park. Air. James 

 L. Greenleaf has continued to give this Society the benefit of his 

 advice, and Mr. jMerkel, the Chief Forester, has ably carried out 

 the plans of the Committee. Efforts to save the chestnut trees 

 were made during the year, but without notable success. In the 

 other forested areas of the Bronx no efforts were made to con- 

 trol or eradicate that disease, and it is feared that the Cytospora 

 will ultimately destroy all of our chestnut trees. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



The work for the protection of game, an important feature of 

 the work of the Society, was done under the Department of 

 Game Protection, with Mr. George O. Shields as chief game pro- 

 tector. A special report of the work of this department will be 

 found elsewhere in this report. 



The National Government has accepted the Society's oft'er of 

 a buffalo herd, to be placed on the Wichita Forest Reserve. Fif- 

 teen thousand dollars was appropriated for fences and other 

 improvements, and a contract for the work was closed in Novem- 

 ber. Active construction is now in progress, and the Range will 

 be ready for occupancy early in the coming Summer. The buf- 

 falo presented by the Society will be shipped next Autumn. 



THE NATIONAL COLLECTION OF HEADS AND HORNS. 



The Executive Committee has determined to establish, under 

 the auspices of the Society, a National Collection of valuable or 

 record heads and horns, realizing that the time is fast approach- 



