92 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
" We are assured that the caribou of these 
desolate regions may be numbered in millions. 
Naturally, for reasons of their own, the promoters 
of this project have exaggerated the numbers 
of the herds. But, even supposing them to be 
correct, once the wanton work began they would 
soon dwindle till they shared the fate of the bison 
which a few yearsa go roamed in millions over 
the prairie lands of the United States and Canada. 
All that remain to-day of these hosts are a few- 
scattered herds living in parks and zoological 
gardens. The last of the European bison were 
those in the Lithuania Forest, where they were 
jealously preserved by the late Tsar of Russia. 
The Hun has wiped these out, with much more 
that he cannot restore. There is one item in this 
programme of slaughter that can hardly have 
been made seriously, and that is that the airmen 
when not engaged in harassing maddened herds 
of caribou, should be engaged in killing wolves 
and the numberless dogs which have run wild, by 
machine-gun ! nre. Far less costly and much 
more practical methods have long been in use, 
and they will suffice. The caribou is the reindeer 
of North America,, and is a far finer animal than 
its European revresen.tative. No less than eight 
species are recognised by some authorities; but 
these should rather be regarded as 'races' than as 
species, and it is ertremely doubtful whether some 
of these have any ex'stence in fact. That is to 
say, this animal is exceedingly variable in regard 
to the form and size of its antlers, and coloration. 
They are further regarded as separable into 
'Woodland' caribou and 'Barren-land' caribou; 
but these also grade one into the other, so that 
no hard-and-fast line can be drawn between them. 
But, generally speaking, the 'Barren-ground' 
forms have longer and more slender antlers than 
the woodland type, in which the beam of the ant- 
ler is shorter and more massive; while the tines 
are more numerous, the brow-fines especially 
forming enormous plates or 'shovels' — so-called 
from the tradition that they are used by the ani- 
mal as shovels to clear away the snow when seek- 
ing food. 
"The great beauty of the antlers of this ani- 
mal and the extreme variability which they pre- 
sent may be seen at a glance where a number of 
heads can be compared side by side, as in the 
superb collection of the late Captain F. C. Selous, 
and in the even finer collection of Commander J. 
G. M'llais. The appearance of the whole animal 
may be studied by stay-at-home naturalists in the 
magnificent pair of animals shot by Captain Selous 
and presented by him to the British Museum of 
Natural History. Already the most fornrdable 
foe of this fine animal is the 'meat-hunter,' who 
slays without mercy or discrimination of sex or 
age, to supply mining and lumber camps. The 
sportsman selects only the mature bulls w'th fine 
heads. 
"Great numbers of caribou are, or were, 
found in Alaska, where they are nominally strictly 
preserved by the American Government, sports- 
men being forbidden to invade this region. But, 
with strange perversity, the native Indians — who 
are now no longer armed only with the archaic 
weapons of their forefathers, but with Winchester 
rifles of the latest pattern — kill what they will 
without any restraint, and find a market at the 
nr.ning camps for all they can bring in. This 
state of affairs surely calls for redress. 
"The spread of mining camps, and the des- 
truction of wild life which follows in consequence, 
is increasing; and th : s fact urgently calls for pro- 
tective measures. But the raids of the meat- 
hunter are of no account compared with the or- 
ganised slaughter which it is suggested shall be 
carried on by means of aeroplanes; for, in ad- 
dition to the animals killed at the end of the 
'hunt,' thousands will be done to death during 
the rush of the victims, wrought into a frenzy of 
fear by the descent upon them of a flight of great 
'planes. Let us see that the scheme comes to 
naught, if only in the name of common decency. 
W. P. PYCRAFT." 
® 
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ZOOLOGI- 
CAL GARDENS, CALCUTTA, 1917-18. 
The report of the Honorary Committee for 
the management of the Zoological Garden, Cal- 
cutta, for the year 1917-18, says that among the 
principal events of the year were the laying out 
of the new extension and the erection of the Ber- 
ridge Fountain therein. Parts of the ground 
were razed .levelled and turfed and a number of 
young trees were planted, but owing to the pre- 
va'ling high prices of all building materials, and 
of iron in particular, only those enclosures were 
completed for which old materials were available 
and the construction of a new entrance gate open- 
ing on to Sterndale Road was kept in abeyance. 
The Sunk Water Garden w r as finished and 
planted with lotus and water lilies. The base 
is made of patent stone and the sides of bricks 
plastered with cement. It is 150 feet long and 
10 feet wide. A beautiful fountain was presented 
to the Garden by Mr. S. C. Berridge, who was 
Honorary Secretary to the Garden from 1915 to 
1918. The work was designed by Mr. N. Sudlow 
and executed by Messrs. Mart ! n and Co. The 
fountain is constructed of buff coloured sandstone 
from Chunar, and consists of four square col- 
rmns about 10 feet high supporting a jali panelled 
dome with chujja cornice on brackets and a finial 
at top. The railing round the water bas'n con- 
