NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 29 
appears, however, that an increase can safely be announced. 
An estimate recently published (1906) places the total 
number of wild and semi-wild individuals at 1,400, while 
in the captive herds of the Czar and the Prince of Pless 
there are 46 more. About 700 of the survivors inhabit the 
forests of Bielowitza and Swisslotsch, Lithuania, west Rus- 
sia, and are strictly protected by the Czar. Other bands 
still exist on the northern slope of the Caucasus Mountains 
around the sources of the Laba and Bjellaja, sometimes 
ranging up to an elevation of 8,000 feet. Wherever found, 
they live in seattered bands of from three to ten indi- 
viduals. All the survivors of this species are so jealously 
guarded that very few of the zoological gardens of Europe 
have been able to procure specimens. 
This animal is very often misealled the ‘‘aurochs,’’ and 
from this error much confusion has arisen. The true aur- 
ochs, (Bos primigenius), was the wild progenitor of some 
of the existing breeds of domestic cattle, but it is now 
extinct. 
MOUNTAIN SHEEP HILL, No. 44. 
The wild sheep and goats of the world form an exceed- 
ingly interesting group of animals. In form they are odd 
and picturesque, and in temper and mentality they are 
everything that could be desired. All the year round, deer 
are either nervous or dangerous, and difficult to handle. 
Wild sheep, goats and ibex appreciate man’s interest in 
them, and even when not fond of attention, they act sen- 
sibly when it is necessary to handle them. 
The Zoological Park collection of wild sheep and goats is 
one of the most interesting features of the Park. Mountain 
Sheep Hill is the first high ridge west of the Rocking Stone, 
and its northern end is very near the Bear Dens and Reptile 
House. It consists of a ridge of pink granite 500 feet long 
and 25 feet high, its southern end fully exposed, but the 
northern end well shaded by oaks and cedars. For grazing 
animals that love to climb, and pose on the sky line, the 
slopes of bare rock, set in patches of hard, green turf, are 
almost ideal. In the eastern face of the ridge, rock excava- 
tions have been made, and five roomy caves have been con- 
structed in such a manner that they are cool in summer, 
warm in winter, and dry at all times. On June 1, 1911, 
