ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



the drawing, painting, and modeling of ani- 

 mals from life. To this end, a spacious and 

 well-lighted room has been provided at the 

 north end of the building, wherein at least 

 twenty artists can be accommodated while 

 working on living models, literally and truly 

 " Far from the madding crowd " which to a 

 working artist is a living terror. Against the 

 eastern side of this large and airy room has 

 been constructed a cage i6 feet deep and 20 

 feet wide. The back of this cage, its north 

 end, and practically the entire roof, are of 

 plate glass, properly protected on the outside 

 by iron bars. Through a trap-door in the 

 floor, the transfer car will deliver an animal 

 directly into this cage from the keepers' pas- 

 sage. The cage front is necessarily of wire 

 netting. The main floor of the room will be 

 constructed in a series of platforms to accom- 

 modate the easels of those for whom this feat- 

 ure is intended. 



As may readily be inferred, the object of 

 this feature is to encourage and promote the 

 work of animal painters and sculptors, both 

 amateur and professional. The Society hopes 

 that it will be the means of bringing into ex- 

 istence a considerable number of animal 

 paintings and groups of statuary, which with- 

 out it might never be produced. On stated 

 days, certain animals will be exhibited in the 

 studio cage, provided the number of persons 

 desiring to work from it justify the labor of 

 making the transfer. 



PL.\NS AND ARCHITECTURE. 



The ground plan and cage arrangements 

 of the Lion House were designed in 1896 by 

 the Director of the New York Zoological 

 Park. The architectural work is by Messrs. 

 Heins & La Farge, and the engineering by 

 Mr. H. de B. Parsons. The decorative ani- 

 mal sculptures are from models executed by 

 Eli Harvey, and will form the subject of 

 special notice. The terra cotta, which forms 

 a prominent feature, was manufactured by 

 the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company. The 

 building was erected by Thomas Cockerill & 

 Son, who performed the work in a manner 

 highly satisfactory to the Zoological Society 

 and the Park Department. The work of con- 

 struction proceeded under the joint supervi- 

 sion of the architects and Alartin Schenck, 

 Chief Engineer of the Park Department for 

 Bronx Borough, representing Park Commis- 

 sioner John E. Eustis. Work on the building 

 began on July 20, 190T, and the total cost of 

 the complete structure will be $150,000. It 

 will be opened to the public early in January, 

 1903, with a full collection of animals. 



CHEKT.VH, OR HUNTING LEOPARD. 

 Gift of Mr. Jacob H. Schiff. 



RARE AND INTERESTING 

 SPECIMENS. 



AT this date, the Zoological Park con- 

 tains a larger number of rare animals 

 than it has shown at any previous time. The 

 following are the species of special interest 

 and value, and all of them are of decided rar- 

 ity in zoological collections : 



A pure white animal, strongly resembling 

 the Arctic Fox, has been received from 

 northern Japan ; but thus far no scientitic 

 authority available has revealed its place in 

 Nature. It seems to represent a species not 

 yet described. 



A male Siberian Ibc.r (Capra sibcrica), three 

 vears old, collected by the agents of Carl 

 Hagenbeck, in western Mongolia, is with 

 great difficulty confined in one of the en- 

 closures of Mountain Sheep Hill. 



A very beautiful male Bnrrhcl (Oz'is burr- 

 hcl). from the Himalayas and Thibet, came 

 to the Society from the Zoological Society of 

 London, in exchange. 



A male Urial. and two females (Oris vii^- 

 iici), have been received from India by way of 

 Hamburg. 



