ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1033 



YOUNG BROWN PELICAN HATCHED IN THE FLYING CAGE 

 Beggmg one of the parent birds fur food. A family conference; Which one shall furnish the dinner? 



ITEMS OF INTEREST. 

 By Ei/win R. Sanborn 



The Oldest Inhabitants. — 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 ( )ctober 



American Wapiti, doe . October 



Alaskan Brown Bear, male and female October 

 Silver Tip Grizzly, female October 



European Red Deer, doe . January 



Axis Deer, buck .... September 12, 1901 



East African Baboon, male September 12, 1901 



Long Armed Baboon male September 12, 1901 



Alaskan Brown Bear, "Admiral," male September 14, 1901 

 Russian Brown Bear, "Cache," female November 25, 1901 



Mandril, male November 2.5, 1901 



Jaguar, " Senor Lopez, " male May 15, 1902 



Barbarv Lion, "Sultan," male October 17, 1902 



Red River Hog, female . . . 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 



1, 1899 



11, 1899 



13, 1899 



14, 1899 

 3, 1900 



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. j, 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'Jiis face 

 or has left his house in a rush and forgotten 



