1454 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



EUROPEAN BROWN BEAR CUBS 



ITEMS OF INTEREST. 



Australian Mammals. — The collection of 

 mammals has been materially strengthened by 

 the addition of a valuable series of specimens 

 from Australia. These animals were brought 

 direct from their home country by Mr. Ellis S. 

 Joseph, an up-to-date collector of, and dealer 

 in, wild animals. Mr. Joseph made the trip 

 from Sidney, N. S. W., stopped at Honolulu, 

 and went thence to Victoria, British Columbia. 

 From there he crossed the continent to New 

 York. In all this long journey his losses were 

 trivial and his animals arrived in excellent 

 condition. 



The new animals necessitated some shifting 

 and rearrangements in two buildings, and in 

 consequence we are now exhibiting a splendid 

 series of kangaroos. Of these, the following 

 were brought by Mr. Joseph: pair of red kan- 

 garoos ; a pair of Parry's kangaroo ; a pair of 

 Island kangaroos ; a pair of tree kangaroos ; a 

 pair of wallaroos a pair of agile wallabies ; a 

 pair of black SAvamp wallabies and a pair of 

 rock wallabies. Among other interesting mar- 

 supials received in the same shipment were 

 three pairs of Tasmanian devils ; one Tasmanian 

 wolf ; a pair of gray phalangers ; three flying 

 phalangers and two adult wombats. One of the 

 latter animals is carrying an alert and active 

 youngster in her pouch. 



The shipment also included a pair of sloth 

 bears, one Himalayan black bear and two Cape 

 lyrax, of which the Park stock is greatly in 

 need. 



South African Reptiles. — In the Joseph Aus- 

 tralian collection were a number of reptiles that 

 represent the first foreign additions of conse- 

 quence to the Reptile House since the outbreak 



of the war. Among these new specimens were 

 eight water lizards, two frilled lizards and ten 

 snake-necked turtles. A collection of South 

 African reptiles arrived soon after. These came 

 from Mr. J. Alden Loring, who has been on an 

 extensive purchasing trip for the Society. Mr. 

 Loring shipped us a black cobra, three speci- 

 mens of the boomslange or tree snake, eighteen 

 puff adders and fifteen mole snakes. The lat- 

 ter species receives its name from its habit of 

 entering the burrows of small animals. 



Axis Deer Herd. — The increase of our axis 

 deer herd is worthy of note. Nine perfect fawns 

 have been added during the present year. These 

 beautiful deer are in much demand for private 

 collections and we have sold many specimens. 

 We endeavor to maintain this herd at twenty 

 head, or more. Demand from many sources 

 early in 1915, reduced the number to eleven in- 

 dividuals. There are now twenty-seven deer in 

 the herd. 



Our elk herd also has materially increased in 

 numbers, and we are much interested in noting 

 the development of several fawns born during 

 the latter part of October. Whether or not 

 these late-comers will acquire enough strength 

 to endure the winter cold, is a problem. Nor- 

 mally elk fawns are seldom born later than 

 July, and should attain a good growth by the 

 arrival of the cold season. 



Rare Baboons. — We have been fortunate in 

 obtaining young specimens of the mandrill and 

 the common drill, and the Primate House now 

 contains good understudies of the spectacular 

 baboons that we have kept in the past. The 

 young specimens are gentle and playful, in 

 marked contrast to the very savage and power- 

 ful adults of the species named. 



A Crafty Polar Bear. — Silver King, the sullen 

 polar bear, has developed a stubborn dislike to 

 housecleaning. and by his sh'' antics renders it 

 extremely difficult for the keepers to enter his 

 den. This bear is too savage to share his den 

 with the men while they are at work, as do the 

 other bears, and therefore his den is provided 

 with a shifting cage with sliding door. The 

 regular procedure is to place some meat in the 

 shifting cage, and when Silver King enters, the 

 sliding door is closed. That cage is of small 

 size, and the bear of huge proportions. 



Of late Silver King's strategy has been to 

 stretch a hind foot backward across the track 

 of the door, to prevent its being closed. We 

 have tried tying his meat at the outer end of 

 the shifting cage, but Silver King renders this 



