NATURAL HISTORY. 



225 



by the tail, out of its mouth slid the young 

 snakes, one by one. While not a snake- 

 ologist, I am sure the snake belonged to 

 a species common in that region. 



Chas. E. Hutchinson, Los Angeles, Cal. 



YOUNG BIRDS AND MAMMALS AT THE 

 NEW YORK ZOO. 



Thus far for the present year the record 

 of births in the Park is very gratifying. 

 In the Bird Department, Mr. Beebe has 

 been very successful in all his breeding 

 operations, particularly with the pheas- 

 ants in the Schieffelin collection, and his 

 work will be reported on in detail in the 

 next number of the Bulletin. 



Notwithstanding that continual blasting 

 and building disturbed the birds frequent- 

 ly, 20 species in the Park nested and laid 

 eggs, and of these the 12 following have 

 successfully hatched and reared their 

 young : 



Golden Pheasant, Silver Pheasant, 

 Reeves' Pheasant, Lady Amherst Pheasant, 

 East Indian Black Duck, Ring Dove, Can- 

 ada Goose, Mallard Duck, Wild Turkey, 

 European Herring Gull, Jungle Fowl, Cal- 

 ifornia Partridge. 



Other species are incubating, and this 

 list will be considerably extended. 



In addition to the above, Mr. Beebe 

 has collected, and is now rearing, an inter- 

 esting collection of nestlings, representing 

 the following species : 



Kingfisher, Catbird, Screech Owl, 

 Meadowlark, Baltimore Oriole, Cowbird, 

 Flicker, Robin, American Magpie, Crow, 

 Song Sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 

 Red-winged Blackbird, Black Crowned 

 Night Heron, Yellow Crowned Night 

 Heron, Green Heron. 



Naturally these young birds attract 

 much attention from visitors, to whom 

 they are much more of a novelty than 

 adult birds. 



To meet their ever-growing demands 

 they require to be fed every hour, save 

 at night. 



Amongst the mammals, the most im- 

 portant births up to date are the follow- 

 ing: 



1 Buffalo (female), 1 Fallow Deer, 3 

 Elk, 2 Axis Deer, 5 White-tailed Deer, 

 6 Coyotes. 



Other Buffalo calves are expected, and 

 in reality are now overdue. The Mule 

 Deer, Black-tailed Deer and Prong-horned 

 Antelope are yet too young to breed. — 

 News Bulletin of the Zoo Society. 



of an iron fence standing on a stone wall, 

 which goes into the ground about 2 feet. 

 The fence may be made of wire netting, 

 provided the wire is sufficiently heavy so 

 the beavers can not break holes through it, 

 as they can easily do through ordinary 

 light netting. The wire should be about 

 No. 12. The top of the fence must over- 

 hang on the inside in such a manner that 

 the beavers can not climb out. In the 

 Zoological Park the beaver fence is made 

 of iron rods Y% of an inch in diameter and 

 2 inches apart, which curve over at the top 

 16 inches in a half circle. This fence is 

 rather expensive, however, and a cheaper 

 one can be made of wire. 



Beavers require plenty of small trees 

 and brush with which to build their dams 

 and houses ; also the bark for food. If 

 there are any high banks in the enclosure 

 the beavers will burrow in them and make 

 comfortable homes. In case the banks are 

 low the beavers must be provided with 

 small houses of wood covered with earth, 

 and having entrances of sewer pipe running 

 down into the water. The beavers require 

 at least 3 feet depth of water, but if the 

 conditions are right they will obtain the 

 proper depth by 'building a dam for them- 

 selves. They will bark or cut down all 

 trees within their enclosure that are not 

 protected by sheet metal or wire netting. 

 The best method for protecting trees is to 

 use strong wire netting at the base with 

 sheet metal above, so they can not climb 

 up to the unprotected bark. 



The food of beavers in captivity con- 

 sists of corn on the cob, or shelled corn 

 that has been boiled; as -many kinds of 

 food wood acceptable to them as can be 

 procured ; also bread, carrots, turnips and 

 other vegetables. If too many 'beavers are 

 placed in one enclosure they will fight and 

 some of them will be killed. W. T. H. 



HOW TO KEEP BEAVERS. 

 Will you please tell me how I may keep 

 beavers? I live near a small river. What 

 <io they eat and do they require deep 

 water? C. F. Derly, Cranford, N. J. 



ANSWER. 



Beavers require an enclosure consisting 



REGARDING DEER HORNS. 



Please pardon me for troubling you with 

 a few questions which I could probably 

 find answered in books on natural history ; 

 but as they relate to game I prefer the 

 authority of Recreation. 



Do buck deer shed their horns? 



If so, how often? 



Are the horns ever knocked off? 



Do they contain a pith like the horns of 

 cattle ? 



How long does it take a set of horns to 

 grow? 



Why is it we find so few horns in a deer 

 country? 



E. E. Munn, Bradford, Vt. 



ANSWER. 



All species of deer, elk, moose and cari- 

 bou shed their horns every year in De- 

 cember, January or February. Occasion- 

 ally an animal gets one broken off in a fight 



