ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



The hrush shl 



BEAVER POND IN THE /.OOLOGICAL PARK 

 • of the water is the food-wood gathered and placed there by the beavers. Mr. Ditn 

 has very aptly called it the "food levee". 



persistently prepared the rims of their craters 

 for heavy rain. These preparations consist of 

 much trenching and walling around the burrow, 

 shoving the earth well up about the mound, and 

 then tamping it down with the head. This pre- 

 vents water running down the burrows, if the 

 surrounding area is flooded. There was much 

 of this work being done on the 20th and 21st 

 of December, though the sun was shining and 

 there was no indication of a storm. On the 

 22nd there was an all-day and heavy fall of rain 

 to the depth of over an inch. 



Gentle Winter. — We cannot recall so mild a 

 fall season in a considerable number of years. 

 The transition from autumn to winter was 

 very gradual and the first indication of frost 

 was weeks behind last year's record. On 

 Christmas Eve the lakes and ponds in the Park 

 were rippling against grassy shores that were 

 as green as in early spring. There is yet hardly 

 any signs of ice, but there is an occasional 



dandelion actually blossoming on the lawns. 

 These are remarkable conditions compared with 

 last year. On December 24, in 1917, there were 

 fourteen inches of dry, drifting snow upon the 

 ground, and the lakes were so ice-bound that 

 skating had been in progress for some time. 

 There has been a great saving in coal, but a 

 green Christmas, with muddy and frostless 

 ground, produces an abnormal and mournful 

 tone upon the landscape. 



A Subtle Malady. — We have suffered consid- 

 erable losses in the kangaroo collection from a 

 malady so mysterious that it has kept our acting 

 veterinarian. Dr. Mangan, very busy investigat- 

 ing. This fatal disease first appears as a slight 

 lump either under or on the side of the jaw. 

 At this stage the animal is feverish and refuses 

 food. The swelling rapidly enlarges, and to 

 such an extent that it is necessary to lance it. 

 It is like a large abscess in character. After 

 the swelling has been drained the animal suffi- 



