ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1455 



procedure unavailing by lying almost prone, 

 with one hind foot stretched backward, and 

 tearing away the meat with a much extended 

 forelimb. By exercising patience we sometimes 

 catch him unawares — and it is then that the 

 gate-chain is quickly pulled, after which the den 

 may be thoroughly cleaned. 



The Bears' Winter Diet. — With the approach 

 of cold weather, the load of bread, meat and 

 fish going to the bear dens is steadily reduced. 

 All of the bears are now very fat, and ap- 

 proaching the time when many of them seek a 

 snug den in which to spend much of the winter 

 in a condition of sleep or drowsy wakefulness. 

 While none of our bears here actually hiber- 

 nate, all of them sleep much during the winter, 

 and consume not more than a quarter of the 

 amount of food that is eaten during the summer 

 months. Several of our Alaskan bears have 

 been observed to remain from two to three days 

 in their dens, while their food remained un- 

 touched. 



Pachyderm Recreation. — Owing to the mild, 

 dry weather of the present fall, the elephants, 

 hippopotami, rhinoceros and tapirs roamed in 

 their yard until well into December. These ani- 

 mals are now in winter quarters, indoors, al- 

 though even in winter they will be permitted 

 an hour or so exercise on mild and sunny days. 



Visitors remark upon the darker hue of the 

 elephants, as well as the Indian and African 

 rhinoceros. This results from scrubbing them, 

 and when the skin was well cleaned, giving the 

 animals a thorough oiling. This is done with a 

 large brush, and about five gallons of oil is 

 consumed in treating all the inmates of the Ele- 

 phant House. After oiling them it is necessary 

 to exclude all draughts, and keep the building 

 well warmed for several days, until the heavy 

 skin has absorbed the softening mixture. 



Mammal House Repairs. — The work of re- 

 newing the old cages in the Small-Mammal 

 House has been two-thirds completed. The new 

 cages are of ideal construction, and are much 

 more satisfactory than were the cages of the 

 original series, even when new. With them it 

 is possible to maintain a more wholesome at- 

 mosphere than in the past. With the new con- 

 struction, the floors are non-absorbent, wood- 

 work and sliding partitions have been elimin- 

 ated, the fronts are more open, and a series of 

 cement gutters form perfect drainage. A num- 

 ber of new cages are already occupied by the 

 miscellaneous small carnivores. 



Active Beaver Colony. — This has been a busy 

 fall for our colony of beavers. They have spent 

 much time plastering the outside of their big 

 house with mud to render it cold-proof, and in 

 building what appears to be an elaborate levee 

 extending some twenty feet northward from the 

 house. They are yet busily working on the lat- 

 ter structure, the object of which we hope will 

 be revealed. There have been many trips with 

 mouthfuls of leaves and twigs to the dam. 

 These beavers are the first ones we ever have 

 had that freely exhibit themselves in the day- 

 time, and work busily when visitors are looking 

 on. R. L. D. 



A COLLECTION OF BIRDS FROM 

 AUSTRALIA. 



By Lee S. Crandall, 

 Assistant Curator of Birds. 



THE birds of Australia and the neighbor- 

 ing islands always have been rare in 

 American collections. Especially has this 

 been true of late years, the passage of pro- 

 tective laws prohibiting the shipment of live 

 birds from Australia almost completely shut- 

 ting off the meagre supply. These laws re- 

 centlv have been somewhat modified, however, 

 and this action, in conjunction with the Euro- 

 pean war, has brought about an unusual con- 

 dition in the bird market. 



In pre-bellum days, whatever shipments were 

 made from Australia invariably went to Eng- 

 land, where the most desirable specimens were 

 disposed of, the balance being sent to America. 

 The present almost total lack of demand in 

 Europe, and the recent prohibition of the im- 

 portation of live birds into England, have de- 

 flected to this country quantities of Australian 

 birds. The great majority of arrivals are 

 through San Francisco, and California dealers 

 are usurping much of the business formerly 

 transacted in New York. 



Of greater importance than this rather casual 

 trade, however, is the attraction of experienced 

 travelling dealers, who handle live animals in 

 large numbers. Mr. Ellis S. Joseph has spent 

 the greater part of his life in collecting and 

 transporting specimens. jNIost of his work has 

 been done in Australia, Africa and Asia, so that 

 he has seldom visited America, even then never 

 reaching New York. 



Abnormal conditions affected him as well as 

 other dealers, and in August, 1916, a cable 

 message announcing the coming arrival of a 



