ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



Captive reptiles seldom or never attain the 

 full size of wild specimens owing to a lazy dis- 

 position that comes from food which requires 

 no stalking and a lack of the tonic effect of 

 unadulterated sunshine and air. 



I T E MS O F I N T E R E S T . 



Hi/ Raymond L. Ditmars, 



Curator of Reptiles. 



Our Friendly Peafowl. — Our Hock of pea- 

 cocks has become particularly friendly this year. 

 They have selected the vicinity of the Reptile 

 House as their rendezvous and become familiar 

 to the extent of even entering the building and 

 roosting on the guard rails. Their first appear- 

 ance in the building came about through an 

 open window. Recently the writer observed 

 three pea-hens stalk through the front door as 

 it was pushed back by a visitor. The near loca- 

 tion of the alligator tank and the decided inter- 

 est of the big erocodilians during such visits 

 prompts the keepers in immediately ushering 

 fowls outside, but it is a common occurrence 

 to see them back again in a few minutes' time. 

 A very spectacular albino peacock spreads its 

 tail and struts in the tortoise yards every fine 

 morning. A fine Indian peacock, of normal col- 

 oration, demands attention from an adjoining 

 yard. These showy birds appear to consider 

 the smooth, sanded yards of the tortoises as 

 ideal arenas for the display of their gorgeous 

 plumages. 



War Pigeons. — Seven homing pigeons, all of 

 which saw service with the American Army in 

 the trendies of France, have been deposited in 

 the Zoological Park by the Chief Signal Officer. 

 Department of the East. Two of the birds 

 were severely wounded while carrying messages, 

 which they succeeded in delivering, and several 

 others have received special citations. They will 

 be exhibited at the southern end of the Pheas- 

 ants' Aviary. 



Wild Rabies. — Though the season is very 

 early, the Park already contains a number of 

 very interesting baby animals. Crowds of vis- 

 itors are daily entertained by the antics of three 

 infant bears, which are well worth coming a 

 long way to see. These youngsters are of one 

 litter and are hybrids. The mother is a Rus- 

 sian brown bear and the father — in an adjoin- 

 ing den — came from Asia Minor and is known 

 as the hairy-eared bear. There is a playful 

 litter of timber wolf puppies on exhibition and 

 on the Asiatic Deer Hill are fawns of the Eld's 

 deer, barasingha deer. Malay sambar deer and 



vividly spotted axis deer. An eland was born 

 early in April; also four aoudad in the Moun- 

 tain Sheep collection. On the walk between 

 the subway gate and the Antelope House may 

 be seen a particularly impressive family — an 

 adult emu and five brightly-striped young. The 

 point of particular interest about these birds. is 

 the fact that the parent, so busily caring for 

 the young, is the father, whose duty it also is 

 to hatch the eggs. 



Fickle Spring. — After an exceptionally mild 

 winter, with only one severe "cold wave," there 

 were very apparent indications of spring by 

 the middle of March, when the buds were open- 

 ing and the grass becoming very green. The 

 croaking of wood frogs and the whistle of 

 "spring peepers" in the marshes, were heard 

 quite early in March. Various species of birds 

 also arrived earlier than usual. There was one 

 set-back in the shape of a snowstorm assuming 

 blizzard proportions and arriving on March 28. 

 The total precipitation was three inches, but a 

 wind of ninety miles an hour produced drifts 

 from three to four feet high. The temperature 

 dropped to twenty degrees and remained low 

 for several days. Early leaves were much af- 

 fected and were drooping and withered, but a 

 subsequent growth has now eliminated all signs 

 of damage. With the exception of this storm, 

 the total snowfall for the entire winter was 

 slightly over one inch and the lowest tempera- 

 ture recorded at the Park was seven degrees 

 above zero for a single evening. 



Influenza in the Parle. — The world-wide epi- 

 demic of influenza and bronchial diseases has 

 affected a number of our animals. Every mem- 

 ber of the series of chimpanzees and orang-utans 

 has been seriously sick with bronchial troubles 

 and one of the largest specimens died of pneu- 

 monia. The commoner symptoms were fever and 

 severe coughing and the treatment was to iso- 

 late the animal, place it in a canvas-covered 

 cage and impregnate the air with the fumes of 

 a vapor lamp containing carbolized oil of euca- 

 lyptus. This was followed by cough syrup and 

 finally the administration of systematic doses of 

 cod-liver oil emulsion. A considerable number 

 of the smaller animals were lost through similar 

 troubles and the following report from Dr. G. A. 

 MacCallum, who has made a number of our 

 post mortems at the College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons, is of much interest: "Your snakes and 

 lizards, as well as some of the birds, have been 

 dving of pneumonia or influenza, but probably 

 the result of both. Nearly all the reptiles I 

 have lately examined have had decided pneu- 

 monia. I have access to the opinions of some 



