SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 75 



and dilapidated dwellings which stood in the northeastern portion 

 of the Zoological Park. These buildings were very old, and had 

 fallen into so serious a state of disrepair that it was out of the 

 question for them to be longer occupied as residences. With but 

 one exception they were serious disfigurements to the Park 

 grounds, and with the concurrence of the Commissioner of Parks 

 for the Borough of the Bronx and his Chief Engineer, these build- 

 ings were removed and their sites properly covered with top-soil, 

 graded, and set in grass. The improvement thus made was par- 

 ticularly noticeable at the intersection of the Zoological Park 

 boundary with the Boston Road, where the appearance of the 

 Park was very greatly improved. 



Breeding House. — The great number of live animals required 

 for food purposes in the Park — particularly by the reptiles — and 

 the success of the nursery force in breeding and rearing of rabbits, 

 guinea-pigs, chickens, pigeons, mice, and rats, pointed out the 

 advisability of increasing the facilities of the Nursery for the 

 breeding and rearing of such animals. With the concurrence of 

 the Commissioner of Parks, the Zoological Park force erected at 

 the Nursery a wooden building i6 x 20 feet, and 2}^ stories in 

 height, with a good basement, heated by the furnace in the Con- 

 servatory. In the basement were placed the incubators and 

 brooders ; on the second floor the rabbit hutches, and on the 

 third the nest-boxes for guinea-pigs, rats, and mice. The attic 

 is devoted to pigeons. With this equipment the Chief Forester 

 hopes to be able, in a short time, to supply all the small-animal 

 food that is required by the animals in the Park. 



Crematory. — The difificulty in disposing very promptly of the 

 dead bodies of animals not desired for scientific purposes ren- 

 dered necessary the erection of a small crematory, consisting of 

 a conical furnace 8 feet high and 8 feet in diameter, with brick 

 walls 12 inches thick, lined with 4 inches of fire-brick. In this 

 furnace, the fires of which are suppplied with waste wood, are 

 consumed not only animal remains but also the garbage which 

 accumulates in the Park. 



Tortoise House. — The removal of the lunch-room from the 

 glass-roofed hall at the eastern end of the Reptile House ren- 

 dered it possible to complete the construction and equipment of 

 that hall as originally planned for the accommodation of the col- 

 lection of tortoises. Additional heating pipes were installed, a 

 concrete floor laid, and the spaces between the limestone pillars 

 on the eastern front were properly filled in with buff brick and 



