ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1075 



Tree kangaroos are recognized by the general 

 proportions of the two pairs of limbs — the 

 length of the front jiair being but slightly less 

 than that of the hind limbs. The tail is very 

 long and thickly furred. Four species are rec- 

 ognized; all members of the genus Dendrolagus. 

 Little is known of any of the species in the na- 

 tive haunts, although it appears they spend 

 most of their time in the trees. The iiome of 

 these creatures is in the dense tropical forests 

 of New Guinea and tiie north of Queensland. 



Rodent Collection: The collection of small 

 rodents which was formed in the Reptile House 

 with the view of displaying the injurious spe- 

 cies of these creatures together with their natu- 

 ral enemies, has quite outgrown its quarters. 

 Over a dozen new cages were recently added. 

 This is now a valuable series and rejjresents 

 about forty species. A rare species of mouse 

 was recently added — the Egyptian desert 

 mouse, Meriones crassus, of Egypt and Arabia. 

 Another of the new desert species is the gila 

 chipmunk. Tamias dorsalis. The Arizona wood 

 rat, Neoto.na pinetonim, is another new arrival. 

 One of the most interesting examples in this 

 series is the big pack rat. from Nevada, which 

 animal is feverishly engaged the greater jiart 

 of the day in building an elaborate nest, then 

 changing its mind and transjiorting the entire 

 nest to another corner of the cage, and vice 

 versa. R. L. D. 



The Mockii);/ Bird: In tlie winter of 1911- 

 12, a mocking bird remained for several months 

 about the southern boundary of the Botanical 

 Gardens, near Fordham Road. This year either 

 the same bird or another of the same s])ecies 

 has taken up its home near the entrance on the 

 Southern Boulevard. On November 27, it was 

 observed feeding on berbridge {Berberis Thiim- 

 bergi) ; two days later it was eating catbrier 

 {Virburnum prunifolia) and on the 2nd and 3rd 

 of December its diet had changed to nanny 

 berries {Smilax rotundi). Samuel Stacv. 



The Marsh Garden : During the transfor- 

 mation of Bird Valley it was decided to form 

 a water and marsh-garden, on the east side of 

 the walks in front of the Zebra House. 



Luckily the first requisite for such a garden, 

 water, was at hand, in the copious drainage of 

 tlie Elk Pond. A good clay subsoil and suffi- 

 cient material for grading purposes, made it 

 easy to use this water in forming the series of 

 pools wliich are now the nucleus of this garden. 

 It is already one of the beauty spots of the 

 Park, though the shrubs and various perennials 

 were planted only this spring, and then had to 



struggle against many foes. Mallard ducks, 

 Canada geese, and other voracious water-fowl, 

 soon discovered that the ponds contained lotus 

 and water-lily shoots, and other tender pro- 

 vender that suited their palates better than that 

 l)rovided by the regular commissary depart- 

 ment. 



One of the most delightful of all gardens is 

 the water-garden. Water and marsh plants 

 begin to bloom early in the season, and when 

 the selection of jjlants has been carefully made, 

 they will continue to flower until frost, and 

 yield a great diversity of color and forms. They 

 remain fresh, and lu.xuriously green during the 

 hot, dry spells of summer when everything is 

 sere and yellow, — that is, of course, if the sup- 

 ply of water does not give out. 



Whenever one thinks of water-gardens, the 

 thought is associated with the water-lilv at the 

 same time, — gorgeous white, ))ink, red, yellow 

 and blue flowers from many climates. But un- 

 doubtedly the real charm of the water-garden 

 lies in the shore or marsh plants, and their re- 

 flections mirrored clearly on a calm day, or in 

 the distorted rijjples that the water colorists 

 love to ])aint. when the surface of the pool is 

 disturbed by the wind. Even in winter, when 

 the snow lies on the ground and the marsh- 

 garden is covered with a blanket of ice, the 

 leaves of the long stemmed reeds and rush-like 

 plants wave and flutter gracefully over the 

 pool, as though conjuring spring to come and 

 open the door of ice to the green plants below. 



In the selection of plants for our marsh- 

 garden, our old rule to give indigenous jilants 

 the preference, has been observed to a great ex- 

 tent. Iron weed, boneset, pokeberry, cardinal 

 flowers, marshmallows, and many other shore 

 ]ilants. fronted by arrowhead, wild rice and 

 liz.ird tail, the most sweet scented of them all, 

 fill the space close to the shore; while far in 

 the rear, both to lend height and dignity, and 

 to screen the Service Road, are many of our 

 best American shrubs, such as silky- and red- 

 twigged eornee, sweet pepperbush. coral-berry, 

 arrowhead and buttonhole bush. 



It was hoped that we could establish a colony 

 of lotus in one of the smaller ))ools. but the 

 ducks and geese decreed otherwise. They de- 

 stroyed in one night, the whole planting. Other 

 plants have been devoured several times, but Ave 

 have managed to establish permanently most of 

 them, and by careful guarding and persever- 

 ance, we hope to have most of the worth-while 

 water plants in abundant quantities in another 

 .... *^ H. W. M. 



