ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1033 



YOUNG BROWN PELICAN HATCHED IN THE FLYING CAGE 

 Besting- one of the parent birds for food. A family conference; Which one shall furnish the dinner? 



ITEMS OF INTEREST. 

 By Eiavin R. Sanborn 



The Oldest Inhabitant.?. — Every community 

 harbors some individual, honored for his years; 

 a patriarch whose tongue is unbridled. 



Irving's poetic imagination made of his 

 famous character Rip Van Winkle, a vaga- 

 bond philosopher, which Rip's years of absence 

 served to transform into gentle veneration. 

 It is a lenient toleration granted to active 

 and omnipresent old age, rather than to the 

 fancied wisdom of the individual. 



Unfortunately we cannot record individuals 

 of divine wisdom, but we can point with 

 pardonable pride to many old inhabitants- 

 old in the sense that several have dwelt in the 

 Park since the opening day. 



As far as we know an alligator now living 

 in the Reptile House, and which was in Cura- 

 tor Dit mar's collection seven years before the 

 opening of the Park, is the oldest inhabitant. 

 Some of the old members of the collection, in 

 chronological order of their date of entrance 

 to the Park, are: — 



American Bison, bull and cow October 1, 1899 



American Wapiti, doe . October 11, 1899 



Alaskan Brown Bear, male and female October 13, 1899 



Silver Tip Grizzly, female . . October 14, 1899 



European Red Deer, doe . . January 3, 1900 



Axis Deer, buck 



Ka-t African Baboon, male 



Long Armed Baboon male 



Alaskan Brown Bear, "Admiral. 



Russian Brown Hear. "Cache," 



Mandril, male .... 

 Jaguar, "Senor Lopez," male 

 Barbary Lion. "Sultan," male 

 Red River Hog, female . 



ile 



October 

 January 



September 12, 1901 

 September 12, 1901 

 September 12, 1901 

 September 14, 1901 

 female November 2.5, 1901 

 November 25, 1901 

 May 1.5, 1902 



October 17, 1902 

 October 17, 1902 



Destructive Macaws. — Although the mandi- 

 bles of the order Psittaci are respected intui- 

 tively, few humans have any idea of the great 



power of these formidable beaks. The bite 

 of even the smaller of this order is an unfor- 

 gettable experience, and the macaws, the large 

 gray, and many species of the green parrots 

 inflict terrible wounds. ^The lower jaw is an 

 impressive example of one of the forms of 

 the lever and is limited in the extent of 

 destructive ability only by the size of the bird. 



We have learned that the macaws can 

 hardly be daunted by any obstacle which 

 they determine to remove or take apart. 

 If they set about the task, their perseverance 

 is worthy of admiration and the destruction 

 is complete in every detail. 



When the large Bird House was built, 

 special cages were made for the macaws and 

 parrots in Parrots' Hall. The netting en- 

 closing these cages was sufficiently strong to 

 imprison securely a large monkey or even 

 some of the smaller cats. 



By steady application, the macaws cut out 

 sections of this netting two and three feet 

 long and from eight to twelve inches wide, 

 affording an easy passage from one compart- 

 ment to the next. To cut this netting, a 

 workman is obliged to use heavy, steel cut- 

 ting pliers and considerable force. The net- 

 ting was replaced with heavier material and 

 thus far has resisted successfully all attacks 

 upon it. 



Conceited Peafowl. — Peacocks and some men 

 are alike in one respect, — they cannot de- 

 termine accurately between admiration and 

 ridicule. Under observation a vain man ex- 

 pands with visible pride, oblivious of the fact 

 that the observer may be secretly amused 

 because he has a smudge of black on Jus face 

 or has left his house in a rush and forgotten 



