ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



ZOOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY BULLETIN 



Edited by the Director. 



Published at the Office of the Society, ii iVall St., New York City. 



Copyright, igoi^ by the Nezv York Zoological Society. 



No. 6 November, 1901 



Subscription price, 50 cents for four numbers, in advance. 



Single numbers, 15 cents. 



MaiU-dfrcC to Mcmhcrs. 



®fBtfr8 of tbc ^ocirtp. 



ptcgibcnt : 



HON. LE\1 P. HIIKTON. 



iffvccutivic Committee : 



Henkv F. Osboen, Chairman, 

 John L. Cadwalader, Couiuel, Philip Schl'vler, 



Charles T. Barney, Madison Grant, 



John S. Barnes, W. W. Niles. 



Levi P. Morton, ex-officio. 



ilBEncral (©fficcts : 



Secretary, Madison Grant, 11 Wall Street, 

 Director, William T. Hornadav, Zoological Park. 



^natb of JI©ana0cti8 : 



EX-OFFICW, 

 The Mayor of the City of New York, Hon. Robert A. Van Wyck, 

 The President o/ the Deft a/ Parks. Hon. George C. Clausen. 



<ria?« of 1902. Clajjj of 1903. fflasis of i904. 



ODIOUS NICKNAMES. 



A wise man once recorded the opinion that 

 " a good name is better than precious oint- 

 ment," and in this view the Zoological Soci- 

 ety heartily concurs. " New York Zoological 

 Park " is a good name, but New York Zoolog- 

 ical Garden is a bad name, " Bronx Park Zoo " 

 is worse, and " Bronx Zoo " is worst of all. 

 In etymological value, both the latter are in- 

 adequate and misleading, and to those who 

 desire fair play for the Zoological Park they 

 are offensive. 



To those who have thus far given the sub- 

 ject no special thought, it may be pointed out 

 that in this country the term " Zoo " is, by 

 universal consent, applied to all small and in- 

 expensive collections of living animals, espe- 

 cially those which have not yet risen to the 

 dignity of zoological gardens occupying thirty 

 or forty acres of ground. There are about 

 twenty such establishments. Despite the per- 



nicious example of the people of London, no 

 well equipped zoological garden should be 

 called a " zoo," any more than a clipper ship 

 should be called a smack. 



A zoological park attempts all the functions 

 of a zoological garden, and many more. To 

 stock its big ranges and outdoor enclosures, 

 about Hve times as many live animals are 

 necessary as suffice for a zoological garden of 

 the first rank. The zoological park idea, car- 

 ried out to its logical conclusion, means a vast 

 amount of work, worry, and expenditure which 

 zoological garden founders do not encounter. 

 This being the case, the very least that the 

 founders of a first-class zoological park can 

 ask is that the accepted name of the institution 

 shall indicate its scope. 



Imperial New York is building up several 

 scientific and artistic institutions of national 

 importance, but wholly without State or Na- 

 tional aid. Thus far, with but one exception, 

 the names by which they are known are dig- 

 nified and distinctive, and recognized all over 

 the civilized world. But fancy one of them 

 being called, in this city, the Central Park 

 Picture Show, another the Manhattan Square 

 Museum, and another the Bronx Park Green- 

 houses. Yet this, if done, would be quite as 

 fair and appropriate as the use of the ever- 

 odious nickname " Bronx Zoo," when speak- 

 ing of the New York Zoological Park. If the 

 latter is worth mentioning at all, it is entitled 

 to its name, and the people of New York 

 should, by rights, be the last people on earth 

 to attach to it a nickname which is bound to 

 bring it into contempt and inflict upon it per- 

 petual injury. 



It is true that the beautiful location of the 

 Park is in the Department of the Bronx, but 

 it belongs to, represents, and is supported by 

 Greater New York. 



Not long since an appeal was made to the 

 press of New York City in behalf of " Zoolog- 

 ical Park," and against all localized nicknames. 

 It is a pleasure to be able to state that, with- 

 out a single exception, the Society's request 

 was received with courteous and serious con- 

 sideration. Since that date the nicknames have 

 almost entirely disappeared from the columns 

 of New York newspapers. This is also true 



