84 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



serve to emphasize the timeliness and wisdom of the Zoological 

 Society in promoting the display of the National Collection. 



The particularly fine white rhinoceros head presented by 

 Colonel Theodore Roosevelt early in 1911, may fairly be regarded 

 as the most rare and valuable single specimen that thus far has 

 come into the collection. It is the second finest specimen ob- 

 tained by the Roosevelt expedition — the best one being in the 

 National Museum at Washington. Inasmuch as heads of the 

 white rhinoceros are not purchasable with money, the zoological 

 value of our fine and beautiful mounted specimen is easily 

 understood. 



A very notable addition to the Heads and Horns Collection 

 came in the form of a gift from Mr. Clarence H. Mackay, con- 

 sisting of an unrivaled collection of mounted heads of the giant 

 moose of Alaska, Wyoming elk and American bison. This collec- 

 tion has been described and figured in the Zoological Society 

 Bulletin for September, 1911. Until a building for the Heads 

 and Horns Collection has been provided, the Mackay Collection, 

 or at least the greater portion of it, will hang in the smoking- 

 room of the Administration Building, adjoining the halls occu- 

 pied by the main collection. 



Dr. John C. Phillips, of Boston, presented to the collection 

 a series of thirty-six specially selected pairs of horns that were 

 chosen with particular reference to filling gaps existing in our 

 series of African horns. From Mr. Henry A. Caesar came, as a 

 gift, a white-tailed deer head from Maine, which may fairly be 

 regarded as the world's record for that species. Mr. W. Hesketh 

 Prichard presented to the Collection a pair of caribou antlers 

 from Labrador — the first specimen from that locality that we 

 have received. 



GROUND IMPROVEMENTS AND MAINTENANCE WORK OF THE 



DEPARTMENT OF CONSTRUCTION AND FORESTRY. 



Herinatin W. Mcrkel, Cliief Constructor and Forester; E. H. Costain, Assistant 



Forester. 



The Ground Improvement Work for the year 1911 consisted 

 almost entirely of a great number of small improvements. 



The first work undertaken was the building of an incline 

 approach to the feed barn. This work was found necessary on 

 account of the difficulty of getting very heavy loads into the 

 barn. We were fortunate in being able to obtain all of the fill, 

 consisting of 405 yards of soil, delivered and placed free of 

 charge, so that the entire cost of this improvement, including 



