ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1643 



ORDER BY THE MAYOR 



All persons are forbidden, under pen- 

 alty of the law, to throw newspapers, 

 bottles, lunch waste or refuse of any kind 

 in the Public Parks, or to mutilate or 

 destroy branches, trees or other park 

 property. 



This law will be vigorously enforced 

 by the Park and Police authorities. 



JOHN F. HYLAN, 

 Mayor. 



Speaking for the Zoological Park only, it 

 gives us great pleasure to report that on June 

 18 Commissioner Enright directed that for the 

 more thorough protection of that Park, Inspec- 

 tor Collins and Police Captain John levers were 

 empowered to make a permanent detail, for the 

 summer season, of two policemen in plain 

 clothes to suppress vandalism and other forms 

 of disorder. This measure will completely 

 thwart the sometimes-shrewd disorderly persons 

 who watch for the disappearance of the uni- 

 formed policeman in order to transgress the 

 rules of decency and good order. From this 

 time henceforth the rubbish-throwers and news- 

 paper-fliers never can tell which is the plain 

 citizen who will hale them to court. The only 

 safe course is to be a good citizen, and be decent. 



The action of the Police Commissioner will be 

 in the Zoological Park a measure of economy in 

 man power, and it also will result in a cleaner 

 park. We hope that this plan will be extended 

 to all city parks ; for abuses elsewhere are quite 

 as serious as they have been here. 



There is strong ground for the belief that the 

 City Magistrates will continue to support vig- 

 orously the efforts of the police and park de- 

 partments to curb vandalism, and establish the 

 reputation of New York as a city of clean 

 parks!— W. T. H. 



THE VISIONARY "PHEASANT FARMS" 

 OF CHINA 



DL RING the past year, several efforts have 

 been made by the commercial agents of 

 firms in China engaged in the exportation 

 of pheasant skins to convince the United States 

 Treasury Department that golden and silver 

 pheasants are bred and reared in confinement, 

 in China, in great numbers. If that claim can 



be established by satisfactory evidence, then the 

 United States will permit the importation of 

 pheasant skins for milliner}" purposes. If it 

 cannot be proven, the plumage is permanently 

 barred. 



The good faith of the American firms propos- 

 ing to import pheasant skins on the strength of 

 affidavits and assurances from China is not ques- 

 tioned. The representations from China have 

 been regarded with grave suspicion. Having 

 been called upon for opinions and advice, the 

 New York Zoological Society began a search for 

 testimony. 



Mr. William Beebe, Curator of Birds at the 

 Zoological Park, and who recently traveled in 

 China in quest of pheasants of all available spe- 

 cies, reported having seen no pheasant farms, 

 nor having heard of any, nor of having seen any 

 pheasants in captivity in China. 



Mr. Roy Andrews, who late in 1917 returned 

 from extensive zoological travels in Yun-nan, 

 China, declares that he saw no pheasant "farms" 

 in southern China, heard of none, and in all his 

 travels saw only two captive birds. Like Mr. 

 Beebe, he believes that no pheasant farms exist 

 in China. 



Finally, a letter was addressed by Dr. W. T. 

 Hornaday to the French Consul at Mongtseu; 

 and this elicited the attached reply. It quite 

 effectually disposes of the visionary "pheasant 

 farms" of China, producing annually from 

 10,000 to 20,000 silver and golden skins for 

 commercial purposes. It is hoped that with this 

 direct eye-witness testimony no one ever again 

 will seek to import pheasant skins from China 

 into America under claims of domestication as 

 the source of the product. 



The Zoological Soicety has in its possession a 

 brief emanating from a firm in Canton which, 

 beside the following letter, may fairly be re- 

 garded as a curiosity: 



[Translation] 



CONSULAT HE FRANCE 

 A 



MONGTSEU 



X... >07 



Republique Francaise, 

 Mongtseu, April 6, 1918. 



Mr. W. T. Hornaday, 

 Director of the New York Zoological Society, 

 185th Street & Southern Boulevard, 

 New York. 



Dear Sir: 



I received yesterday jour note of February 16, 

 telling me that you are a friend of my cousin, Du- 

 Pont, and asking me for some information regarding 

 the breeding of gold and silver pheasants in this 

 country. 



