NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 21 



The entire southern and western sides of the Park are 

 exclusively devoted to the Hoofed Animals, in addition to 

 which other members of that Order will be found at the 

 Elephant and Small-Mammal Houses. The Carnivorous 

 Animals will be found at the Lion House, "Wolf and Fox 

 Dens, Small-Mammal House and Bear Dens. The Birds are 

 in two groups ; one in the lower end of Bird Valley, and the 

 Large Bird-House on Baird Court ; the other around the 

 Wild-Fowl Pond, south of the Wolf Dens. 



The existence of six entrances to the Park renders it im- 

 possible to lay out an all-embracing "tour" for the visitor, 

 and develop the Guide Book accordingly. The various col- 

 lections will be handled in zoological groups, but the various 

 groups cannot follow each other in zoological sequence. The 

 table of contents and a comprehensive index will render 

 each item of the subject matter quickly available. 



PHYSICAL ASPECT OF THE GROUNDS. 



The extreme length of the Park from north to south is 

 4,950 feet, or 330 feet less than one mile ; and its extreme 

 width is 3,120 feet, or three-fifths of a mile. Roughly es- 

 timated, one-third of the land area is covered by heavy 

 forest, one-third by open forest, and the remaining third con- 

 sists of open meadows and glades. The highest point of 

 land in the Park is the crest of Rocking Stone Hill, the 

 elevation of which is 94.8 feet above sea level. 



Topography. — Speaking broadly, the Zoological Park is 

 composed of granite ridges running from north to south. 

 In many places their crests have been denuded of earth by 

 the great glacier which once pushed its edge as far south as 

 New York City. In the valleys lying between these glacier- 

 scraped ridges, great quantities of sandy, micaceous soil 

 have been deposited ; but in one spot — the Wild-Fowl Pond 

 — what was once a green, glacial lake fifteen feet deep, pres- 

 ently became a vast rock-walled silo filled with vegetable 

 matter and a trembling bog of peat. Everywhere in the Park 

 glacial boulders of rough granite or smoothly rounded trap- 

 rock, varying in size from a cobble-stone to the thirty-ton 

 Rocking Stone, have been dropped just where the warm 

 southern sun freed them from the ice. The Park contains 

 thousands of them, many of which have been removed from 

 walks and building sites only with great labor. 



