SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 73 



DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS 

 C. William Beebe, Curator; Lee S. Crandall. Assistant Curator. 



Having reached what seems to be the hmit of the numerical 

 capacity of the accommodations provided for the housing of the 

 bird collection, the gain in numbers during 1911 is insignificant 

 as compared with that of other years. A considerable gain, 

 however, has been made in species, one hundred and eight having 

 been added. This has been accomplished by a further reduction 

 in the number of individuals of certain species, these being re- 

 placed in most cases by the addition of single specimens of 

 several other kinds. 



The scarcity of water during the water famine that pre- 

 vailed during the summer was the indirect cause of a severe 

 epidemic of duck cholera, which greatly reduced the flock of 

 wild fowl quartered on Lake Agassiz. The birds afflicted were 

 principally mallard ducks and Canada geese, of which about one 

 hundred succumbed. Fortunately, the scourge did not spread 

 to other bodies of water in the Park where the most interesting 

 and valuable species are kept. 



Early in the spring the first steps were taken toward the 

 establishment of a colony of black-crowned night herons on one 

 of the sheltered islands in Lake Agassiz, six birds being liberated 

 there with wing-feathers clipped. When the birds moulted the 

 cut feathers in the fall, they refused to leave the bountiful supply 

 of fish provided for their consumption. Their constant flying 

 about attracted others of their kind, so that we now have a flock 

 of considerably over twenty birds, which seem to intend spend- 

 ing the winter with us. Every eff"ort will be made to induce the 

 herons to nest here in the spring, when we hope that the perma- 

 nence of the colony will become assured. 



Our two greater birds of paradise are still in perfect con- 

 dition, and have acquired the conspicuous yellow plumes that 

 are so fatal to the existence of this species in a wild state. 



On September 17th, four turkey vultures were set free; and 

 two have remained with us, occasionally soaring over Bird Val- 

 ley, or coming down to some favorite perch to await their daily 

 ration of meat. A covey of nine wild bob-white has been seen 

 several times in the Park, often within a few yards of the 

 Director's office. 



Wild black and wood ducks resort regularly in autumn and 

 winter to the Wild-Fowl Pond, where they associate with their 



