ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 69 



summer months were, as a rule, orderly and quiet. The boisterous 

 element was not nearly so troublesome as heretofore. 



Forest Fires. — The matter of forest fires is one which will liave 

 to be more vigorously dealt with in the future — probably by having 

 more watchmen on crowded days, and also by securing the arrest 

 and conviction of persons who either carelessly or maliciously 

 cause fires to be started. In the dry days of autumn, it is not an 

 uncommon occurrence for our force to be called upon to extin- 

 guish from twenty to thirty fires in one day, some of which are 

 lighted with malicious intent. 



Shooting. — The shooting of Zoological Park birds and squir- 

 rels now seems to be a thing of the past, as no arrests for this 

 offense were made in our grounds during the year. On the whole, 

 the problem of controlling the rowdy element seems to be satis- 

 factorily solved. This is due in a great measure to the persistence 

 and faithfulness of Special Officer Van Benschoten. 



CONTRACT WORK IX GROUND IMPROVEMENTS. 



Conducted under the direction of the Park Department for the Borough of 



the Bronx. Martin Schenck, Chief Engineer; 



\V. P. Hennessey, Asst. Engineer. 



Small-Deer House. — The most important building erected in 

 1906, was designed to accommodate a large number of small 

 tropical deer, antelopes, and gazelles, such as now are rapidly 

 accumulating. It has become w^ell nigh an impossibility either 

 to house in winter or properly exhibit in summer the delicate, 

 yet very interesting small hoofed animals of the tropics and 

 sub-tropics, without a special building. Accordingly a spacious 

 structure 156 feet long by 46 feet wide was planned to occupy 

 the open space immediately west of the Antelope House, origi- 

 nally known as the Prong-Horned Antelope's Range. A contract 

 for this building, wdiich is to be called the Small-Deer House, was 

 let in 1905, to Guidone & Galardi. at a cost of $41,543. Work 

 began very early in the spring, and by the end of December the 

 building itself was complete. The cage work of the interior is 

 now going in, and the installation will be ready for use about 

 May I, 1907. As previously stated, all the work on the yards 

 and fences surrounding the building is being performed by a 

 force of men under the direction of the officers of the Zoological 

 Park. 



