54 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



temporary building, has caused the collection of small mammals 

 to disappear from exhibition, and has also operated to prevent, 

 temporarily, the acquisition of new specimens. 



DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS. 



The collections in this Department were increased during, the 

 past year by the addition of about $34,000.00 worth of new speci- 

 mens, representing many species new to the Park. This increase 

 was the greatest that has yet been made in one year. It is a 

 source of sincere gratification to be able to report that fully one- 

 half of our splendid list of accessions for 1903 came to the So- 

 ciety as special gifts from its Founders and other members. 



The most noteworthy individual gift came from the Hon. 

 William C. Whitney, who presented to the Society his fine buffalo 

 herd of twenty-six animals, which had previously inhabited his 

 park on October Mountain, near Lenox, Massachusetts. This 

 splendid gift, which was delivered at the Park without any ex- 

 pense whatever to the Zoological Society, places the Society in 

 possession of not only the largest herd of buffaloes on public 

 exhibition, but also a herd second to none in the quality of its 

 members. The presence in this herd of a large number of female 

 animals renders it particularly valuable for breeding purposes. 

 All the animals were crated on October Mountain and trans- 

 ported to the Zoological Park without the slightest mishap or 

 accident. This herd has been kept separate from the Society's 

 original herd, which occupies a separate range and shelter. 



Coincident with the delivery of the buffalo herd, Mr. Whitney 

 also presented a herd of ten elk of choice breed, which were also 

 delivered at the Park at the expense of the donor, and now con- 

 stitute an exhibit of which the Society is justly proud. 



The animals in the Antelope House represent a cash value of 

 about $15,000.00, and more than one-half of them stand as gifts. 

 Through much correspondence, lasting through a period of sev- 

 eral months, the Society had the good fortune to secure for the 

 Antelope House a remarkably large proportion of rare species. 



Mr. George F. Baker generously provided funds for the pur- 

 chase of a very fine male eland, from the herd of the Duke of 

 Bedford ; a pair of white-tailed gnu and a pair of white-bearded 

 gnu, from German East Africa. Mrs. Frederic Ferris Thompson 

 provided funds for the purchase of three very rare African ante- 

 lopes, a beatrix antelope, a pair of Altai wapiti and a pair of 

 African ostriches. Mr. Robert S. Brewster presented a complete 



