434 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



JAPANESE RED-FACED MONKEY AND YOUNG. 



NOTES. 



Zoological Park. 



Japanese Red-faced Monkey. — One of the 

 very interesting young animals this year is a 

 Japanese red-faced monkey, born at the Small- 

 Mammal House on June 4. The parent is one 

 of several which has lived out of doors the year 

 'round. The tenderness, if her savage vigilance 

 can be construed into that, is remarkable. No 

 movement of the little animal escapes her. If 

 he wanders a few steps from her side, she fol- 

 lows at once, and at the slightest demonstration 

 from a spectator, clutches him close to her 

 breast, ready to retreat. The young animal 

 clings tightly underneath to the long hair of 

 the mother, and is carried rapidly and easily. 

 The little fellow is covered with black hair and 

 bears very trifling resemblance to the parent. 



Nesting-Birds. — The fearlessness with which 

 the birds nest in most accessible places is be- 

 coming more marked each year, and is a grati- 

 fying evidence of their sense of the protection 

 afforded them. In the bay trees on Baird 

 Court, a song-sparrow and a purple grackle are 

 rearing young broods, and not far distant one 

 of the small lindens shelters a robin. On the 

 walk back of the Elephant House a wood thrush 

 has a nest in a small horn-beam, with a young 

 brood. A pair of humming birds have elected 

 to choose the store yards back of the shops as 

 a summer home, and in defiance of the turmoil 



are cheerfully raising a family. Vireos and 

 robins live in harmony in a small oak at the 

 conservatory entrance, and in the cornice brack- 

 ets of the Service Building and the facade of the 

 Mammal House, in conspicuous places, two robin 

 broods have already been reared. The nest at 

 the Service Building is now occupied by some 

 English sparrows. Two young vireos, just 

 leaving the nest, were observed near the Polar 

 Bear Den, and farther along Beaver Valley a 

 wood thrush was running about under the 

 shrubbery followed by her young offspring. A 

 swallow has fastened her nest to the wall of the 

 sleeping den of the Polar Bear and at this time 

 has not been disturbed. A wood-duck made her 

 nest high up in an oak tree in the Beaver Pond, 

 but was disturbed by squirrels, and gave it up. 

 The Canada geese have raised several goslings 

 and the mallard ducklings on the wild-fowl pond 

 are a legion. 



The Wichita Bison Herd. — The last news 

 from the Wichita National Bison Range re- 

 ported the herd in first-class condition, and the 

 outlook for the future entirely satisfactory. 

 The two calves born on the range are doing well. 

 An effort is being made to procure a few elk to 

 introduce in the range, and it is reasonably cer- 

 tain that this plan will be carried into effect at 

 an early date. 



Heads and Horns. — The number of gifts to 

 the National Collection of Heads and Horns 

 that have been received during the past year 

 entirely surpasses the most sanguine expecta- 

 tions of the founders of the Collection. Both 

 in number, and in zoological value, the array 

 is most gratifying. The future of the Collec- 

 tion is now quite beyond the pale of doubt. A 

 number of sportsmen of international reputa- 

 tion have sent some of their finest and most 

 highly prized trophies ; and in Alaskan heads 

 and horns the Reed-McMillin Collection is fair- 

 ly be_vond compare. Part II. of the annual 

 Heads and Horns publication, now in press and 

 soon to be mailed to all members of the Zoolog- 

 ical Society, contains notices of all the gifts 

 received during the past year. 



Births. — During 1908 the births among the 

 mammals of the Park have been unusually 

 numerous and important. A partial enumera- 

 tion reveals the following species: Rocky Moun- 

 tain goat, Beatrix antelope, mouflon, Spanish 

 ibex. South American tapir, Burmese thameng, 

 barasinga deer, sambar, axis, fallow, sika, mule 

 and white-tailed deer, elk, Bactrian camel and 

 American bison. 



