68 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



MISCELLANEOUS GROUND IMPROVEMENT WORK. 



Even the briefest mention of the miscellaneous ground im- 

 provement work performed during the year 1903 would make a 

 long list, and for the sake of brevity will be omitted here. It is 

 desirable, however, to mention the fact that the planting opera- 

 tions included the planting of 2,063 trees in the border plantations 

 of the Park. 



The temporary Small Mammal House erected by the Zoological 

 Society at its own expense, was removed from its original location 

 and re-erected in the Nursery as a hot-house, it having been orig- 

 inally intended that it should finally be used in that manner. This 

 adds a very important feature to the Nursery plant. The re- 

 moval of this building, and the acquisition of large herds of buf- 

 falo and elk, rendered it imperative to provide a winter shelter for 

 miscellaneous animals not on exhibition yet requiring some arti- 

 ficial heat. A substantial and permanent shelter was erected in 

 the northwestern corner of the animal yard, and provided on all 

 four sides with stalls and cages for the accommodation of animals 

 which live outdoors in summer, but require a temperature of sixty 

 degrees in winter. The completion of this feature rendered it 

 possible to devote the entire shelter portion of the Buffalo House 

 to the Whitney herd, and the main shelter of the Elk House to the 

 Whitney elk herd. Heretofore both those buildings have been 

 occupied in winter as temporary shelters for tropical hoofed 

 animals: 



Lydig Memorial Gateway. — The fact that for fully three-quar- 

 ters of a century the Lydig family carefully preserved the forest 

 of south Bronx Park, and in so doing rendered a conspicuous 

 service to the City of New York, has long been considered by the 

 Zoological Society worthy of permanent commemoration. In 

 these days of forest destruction such an example has seemed well 

 worthy of public notice, in the hope that its influence will bear 

 fruit in the future for the benefit of other cities. The offer of 

 Mrs. Lydia Lydig Sturgis to erect in Zoological Park a memo- 

 rial gateway in commemoration of the preservation of the sur- 

 rounding forest by the Lydig family, was promptly accepted by 

 the Zoological Society. A very handsome gateway, or arch, con- 

 sisting of two massive pillars of cut stone, surmounted by an arch 

 of ornamental wrought iron, was erected at the expense of 

 Mrs. Sturgis at the top of the steps leading from the Buffalo En- 

 trance to the upper level of Rocking-Stone Hill. On the eastern 



