ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



47:5 



within a period of ten years, become uninhabit- 

 able for man. C. W. H. 



Sydney, New South Walks, Australia, 

 Mr. C. W. Beebe, September 12th, 1908. 



Dear Sir: — In one of our papers are quoted 

 some remarks of yours on the value of birds to 

 mankind. I wish to afford you certain infor- 

 mation, to wit: In the sub-districts of Robert- 

 son and Kangaloon in the Illawarra district of 

 New South Wales, what ten years ago was a 

 waving mass of English Cocksfoot and Rye 

 grass, which had been put in gradually as the 

 dense vine scrub was felled and burnt off. is now 

 a barren desert and nine families out of every 

 ten which were renting properties have been 

 compelled to leave the district and take up 

 other lands. This is through the grubs having 

 eaten out the grass by the roots. Ploughing 

 proved to be useless as the grubs ate out the 

 grass just the same. Whilst there recently I 

 was informed that it took three years from the 

 time the grubs were first seen until to-day. to 

 accomplish this complete devastation ; in other 

 words, three years ago the grubs began work 

 in that beautiful country of green mountains 

 and running streams. 



The birds had all been ruthlessly shot and de- 

 stroyed in that district and I was amazed at the 

 absence of bird life. The two sub-districts I 

 have mentioned have an area of about thirty 

 square miles, and form a table-land about 1200 

 feet above sea level. This is a verification of 

 your statements. 



I am. yours faithfully. 



Richard Walter Tomalin. 



HUNTING SONG-BIRDS. 



Hunting song-birds in the vicinity of the 

 Zoological Park, has narrowed down from 

 numerous offenses, to extremely rare cases. 

 However it has not ceased altogether, and but 

 for the vigilance and courage of our game war- 

 den. John Rose, whose reputation in this ca- 

 pacity has become terrifying to evil doers. 

 it would even now be carried on persistently. 

 The offenses which now come to our notice are 

 committed by foreigners who apparently are 

 fully aware of the bird laws, but who think they 

 can safely defy them. The character of the 

 work involved in apprehending bird-killers is 

 rather interesting. 



On Sunday. November 23d, Warden Rose 

 made a trip toward Hunt's Point, in the vicinity 

 of the Sound, to investigate reported shootings 

 in that locality. Hearing the sound of a gun 

 In stalked through the undergrowth in the di- 

 rection of the shots. Rose stalked his nun to 



the vicinity of a barn owned by a man named 

 O'Hare. .and came upon two Italians near the 

 barn. Coming out of the bushes in the rear of 

 the barn he spoke to the men, saying lie had lost 

 his brother and was hunting for him. Neither 

 of the men had seen this imaginary boy, and tin 

 Warden was forced to depart. 



Confident that these men were the offenders. 

 Rose made a detour and concealed himself in 

 the rear of the barn. A tedious wait finally re- 

 sulted in the reappearance of the two men. At 

 tin- right moment Rose quickly ran from his 

 concealment, and caught one hunter emptying 

 his pockets of dead birds. The other hunter ran 

 into the barn with the gun. Rose drew his re- 

 volver, while holding one offender and forced the 

 other to come from concealment. It was only 

 upon a threat to shoot that the men surrendered. 

 When the fact that they were under arrest be- 

 came fully apparent to them, the bird-killers 

 offered the officer their money and their watches 

 in exchange for their release. 



Marching the two men ahead of him. Warden 

 Rose started for the nearest police station. 

 After a walk of nearly two miles a car line was 

 reached, the prisoners placed on board and after 

 much difficulty landed at the Westchester Jail. 

 Judge Welch, of the Eighth Division of City 

 Magistrates' Court, after giving the offenders 

 a severe lecture, held each of them in three hun- 

 dred dollars bail for trial at Special Sessions. 

 The men gave their names as Vincenzo Sacco 

 and Antonio Guadagno. and their case has not 

 yet been reached. 



The birds in the possession of the hunters 

 were retained by Warden Rose as evidence of 

 their guilt. They were seventeen in number, 

 and included the following specimens: — Three 

 starlings, one brown creeper, three myrtle warb- 

 lers, four chipping sparrows, three song spar- 

 rows and three seaside sparrows. Of course 

 ill these were intended to be cooked and eaten. 



E. R. S. 



THE OPENING OF THE ELEPHANT 

 HOUSE. 



On the nineteenth of November the "new" 

 Elephant House in the Zoological Park was 

 opened to the public with a full complement of 

 specimens, excepting our Hippopotamus. An 

 informal reception and first view of this splendid 

 installation, given in the afternoon to the mem- 

 bers of the Society, was the only ceremony which 

 distinguished the completion of the most impos- 

 ing building of the Park, which is well worthy 

 of being regarded as the grand climax of our 

 building operations. E. R. S. 



