ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1025 



impressing us with unmistakable signs that 

 they regard this world as a sad place. 



Occasionally an ape fails to become chipper 

 and lively after such a spell. He mopes and 

 refuses to eat — two bad signs. The stetho- 

 scope transmits the sound of a poorly working 

 pair of lungs to the doctor's keen ears, and 

 he settles down to a siege of pneumonia. 



The keeper's quarters are transformed into 

 a hospital ward and poor Baldy, Betty or 

 whichever one it may be, is swathed in chest 

 jackets filled with nasty medicine, and is made 

 to inhale steam from a bubbling vaporizer. 



No human patient ever submits as grace- 

 fully and cheerfully to the care of a doctor 

 as these anthropoids invariably do. They lie 

 passively in their cots and accept the doses 

 with a resignation that is almost beatific. 

 Even that dose — the horror of childhood, 

 middle age or manhood — castor-oil, is swal- 

 lowed to the bottom of the glass, and cod-liver- 

 oil is nectar. We have carried many cases 

 of pneumonia through successfully. In fact, 

 there have been no fatalities from the disease, 

 one of the most dreaded in the practice of 

 medicine. 



Without exaggeration, the great apes are 

 perfect patients under any circumstances, and 

 of course this is a great aid to the doctor's 

 judgment. 



The patient is primarily a delicately work- 

 ing machine, upon which is not brought to 

 bear the influence of a highly sensitive nervous 

 structure. There are no moods to combat 

 and produce complex conditions, except a 

 lethargic state. Extreme passivity, very 

 similar to that of an ailing child, usually occurs; 

 but without the handicap of psychosensorial 

 impulses. This condition is sometimes dis- 

 turbing and accurate diagnosis difficult. 



The change from the stage of abject in- 

 difference to convalescence is very pronounced. 

 The patient becomes interested in life and the 

 release from the bondage of sickness is mani- 

 fested by redoubled vigor and exuberant 

 activity. 



All time is play time to these interesting 

 apes, and an abundance of attention, fresh 

 air and good food puts them in condition 

 thoroughly to make use of it. 



Close and long association with wild animals 

 establishes a doctor on a basis of better under- 

 standing with his charges, and conditions 

 which in the beginning were complex, are now 

 handled with greater ease. 



Our sanitary system has been established 

 and worked out upon so systematic a basis, 



that although we fear epidemics, we do not 

 dread them. Protracted periods of excessive 

 temperature, either hot or cold are danger- 

 ous; faulty food products, or parasites and 

 bacilli in the hay and grain might pass 

 through enmasked, but vigilance strips them 

 of their disguise in short order. Each suc- 

 ceeding year witnesses such a shortening of 

 the step from pathological to normal condi- 

 tions in arresting the progress of epidemics, 

 that we are in danger of saying of our collec- 

 tions, what is told of the inhabitants of a cer- 

 tain island off our coast, that they do not per- 

 ish from disease, but die of old age. 



Baby Beavers. — We are positive that there 

 are several new beavers in the Beaver Pond, 

 but we are not certain of the number. The 

 reports that the young beavers have been seen 

 are numerous, but the various counts do not 

 agree. At any rate the beavers are there, 

 and we may add for our readers' assurance 

 they were born there, and it is the first event 

 of its kind in the beaver family in the Zoo- 

 logical Park. 



Our beaver colony is both prosperous and 

 busy. Hostilities between the genus castor and 

 the genus homo have been revived, and the 

 battle at the dam is bitterly waged. 



Every night the beavers plug the out let - 

 drain and fill the gap in the dam which the 

 keeper has opened in the morning, and the 

 perfect balance of labor that thus far has 

 been maintained makes the situation as doubt- 

 ful as the Mexican problem. 



AN AMERICAN COLLECTION OF 

 FOREIGN BIRDS 



By Lee S. Crandall 



Assistant Curator of Birds 



IN avicultural matters, Europe has always 

 been pre-eminent. For many years, Ger- 

 many formed the center for the dissemina- 

 tion of practical knowledge, and her amateurs 

 were numerous and progressive. Of late years, 

 however, England has come to assume the 

 leading position, and there is no doubt that 

 the aviculturists of that country form the most 

 keen and enthusiastic group which ever has 

 existed. 



This cult is sufficiently strong for the sup- 

 port of two societies, each of which issues a 

 magazine of a high degree of excellence, to say 

 nothing of numerous smaller periodicals de- 

 voted to the interests of the canary. Every 

 effort is made to determine the requirements of 



