870 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



becomes hitter as gall, but when the parrot feeds 

 on guavas it is :it its best and then the French 

 commit great havoc among the flocks. In 1779 

 the violet Amazon had become very rare owing 

 to the terrible war which the French colonists 

 wage on it when it is "fat and succulent." So 

 to-day we can only wish that the birds had ad- 

 hered to a diet of cashew and bitter fruits ! 



In Martinique there lived a green Amazon 

 with red cap and tail-feathers, of which an early 

 writer says, "the parrot is too common for me 

 to stop to give a description of it." It has 

 since vanished, leaving not a feather. Mr. 

 Rothschild in his volume on Extinct Birds has 

 collected much of the available data and gives 

 colored plates of these macaws and parrots, re- 

 constructed from the fragmentary descriptions. 



The third group is the long-tailed conures or 

 parrakeets which are smaller than the others, and 

 being less conspicuous and valuable as food we 

 find very meagre notices of them among early 

 writers on the islands. Mr. Austin Clark has 

 summed up our knowledge of these birds, and 

 rinds that they are at present found in Jamaica. 

 Cuba, Haiti, Porto Rico and St. Thomas, while 

 similar or closely related species have been ex- 

 terminated on Guadaloupe. Dominica. Marti- 

 nique and Barbados. 



We have had on exhibition in the Large Bird 

 House, no fewer than twenty-three forms of the 

 genus Amazona, five of them West Indian. 



With our trumpeter swans, whooping cranes, 

 Carolina parrakeets and Imperial Amazon we 

 have the foundation of a collection of extreme 

 interest and value, and one which should attract 

 many visitors to the Zoological Park. As we 

 watch these pitiful remnants of earthly races, 

 we feel like ascribing to them the death slogan 

 of the old Roman gladiators. "Morituri saluta- 



ITEMS OF INTEREST 

 Mammal Department 



Moving the Polar Bear. — Silver King, the big 

 polar bear, is now one of the most contented 

 inmates of the Park. He has entirely abandoned 

 his sullen attitude since his home has been 

 changed from the small den built especially for 

 him, to the Polar Bear Den with its large swim- 

 ming pool. Having sold the female polar bear, 

 which previously occupied the big bear den, Silver 

 King was moved into his commodious quarters 

 on the morning of April 15. When the big 

 shifting box was placed against his cage he 

 evinced a decided determination to remain where 

 he was. and although we blocked off the sides 

 with heavy oak planks, giving him very little 



room, he refused to leave his old quarters. A 

 large piece of beef was fastened in one end of 

 the shifting cage, but even this failed to arouse 

 the bear. 



It was then decided to try an interest- 

 ing experiment, by bringing Flip, the walrus, 

 down in front of the den, to see if this would 

 attract Silver King's attention. The walrus is 

 very tame and will follow Keeper Snyder where- 

 ever he goes. Waddling after Mr. Snyder, 

 toward the bear den, the walrus emitted a series 

 of grunts and characteristic gutteral sounds 

 which caused Silver King to rear on his hind 

 feet and look with interest on the approaching 

 procession. There was no doubt about the bear 

 recognizing his natural pre} 7 of the ice floes. 

 As the walrus passed, he started tearing at the 

 bars. 



When Flip was stationed in front of the 

 shifting cage. Silver King thrust in his head 

 and shoulders and gazed at the living bait, with 

 marked interest. Flip was then given a soap 

 box as a pedestal, placed directly in front 

 of the door of the shifting cage. Almost 

 immediately after he had climbed on this, 

 the big polar bear hurled himself in, when the 

 door was lowered behind him. Flip was then 

 led back to his tank, while Silver King followed 

 his awkward gait with longing and hungry 

 gaze. 



The shifting cage was soon lashed against the 

 open door of the big Polar Bear Den, and Silver 

 King lost not a minute in entering his new 

 quarters and making a detailed investigation. 

 Men were assigned to watch him all through 

 the day, and a keeper remained all night to 

 observe the bear's actions in his new cage. There 

 was, however, no need of this vigil, as Silver 

 King spent a great part of his time swimming 

 in the commodious tank and appeared to be well 

 satisfied with his new quarters. We anticipated 

 more trouble in enticing him into the steel cage 

 attached to the den where he might be locked 

 in during cleaning time. Silver King made a 

 travesty of our apprehensions by utilizing this 

 shifting den as his sleeping quarters from the 

 start, so the change is in every way satisfactory 

 to this fine animal and to the keepers. In fact, 

 in his new den this redoubtable animal has done 

 none of the troublesome things that we had good 

 reason to expect of him. 



Hybrid Bear Cubs. — Our visitors have been 

 much amused at the antics of the hybrid bear 

 cubs. The tiny youngsters commenced gambol- 

 ing around the den with the first warm spring 

 days. Compared with the mother, which weighs 

 350 pounds, these little bears are ludicrously 



