FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT. 51 



food habits of our North American mammals yielded to him a 

 fund of information of great value in connection with the care of 

 animals in captivity. In addition to this experience, he came to 

 the Zoological Park fresh from several months' practical train- 

 ing in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London, where, 

 by the courtesy of Dr. P. L. Sclater, he was permitted to work 

 with the keepers in the various departments of the Gardens while 

 he studied their methods in the care of the twenty-five hundred ani- 

 mals forming that splendid series of collections. In addition .to 

 this, he also visited several of the finest zoological gardens of the 

 Continent. 



Living animals began to arrive at the Zoological Park on May 

 nth, and Curator Loring reported for duty on the following day. 

 Inasmuch as none of the permanent installations for animals were 

 then ready for occupancy, it became necessary to provide tem- 

 porary quarters for mammals, birds, and reptiles of all kinds. 

 At the north end of the storehouse building a yard for animals 

 was made by enclosing with a tight board fence a dry, open space 

 on the hilltop, and providing suitable interior sheds. Temporary 

 cages and enclosures of wire netting were provided, and almost 

 as rapidly as completed they were filled with birds and quadru- 

 peds. The arrival of a large shipment from Florida necessitated 

 the extension of the yard, and the hurried preparation of two 

 small cemented pools for the brown pelicans and other water-birds, 

 and for the alligators. A small temporary cook-house was erected, 

 a man w^as engaged to serve both as cook and butcher, and the 

 work of caring for a large mixed collection of living creatures 

 was seriously entered upon. Within a short time the two animal 

 yards were filled to overflowing with large water-birds, alligators, 

 snakes in glass-fronted boxes, lynxes, foxes, raccoons, bears, 

 monkeys, squirrels, young antelopes, etc. 



During the entire summer all the birds, as well as the mammals, 

 were in Air. Loring's charge, and in spite of numerous and per- 

 plexing difficulties they were very successfully cared for. 



The first large ruminant to arrive at the Park was a yearling 

 caribou, which came from Champlain County, Canada. Pending 

 the completion of the caribou shelter house, this animal w^as tem- 

 porarily installed in the moose range. This specimen was quickly 

 followed by three elk — male, female, and young — presented to 

 the Zoological Park by the Brooklyn Park Department, through 



