HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 



11 



there is a real demand for uncommercial and 

 true conservation of our wild life. Thanks are 

 due to the very valuable constructive advice and 

 assistance rendered on demand from our Vice- 

 Presidents Dr. Horn aday and Carl K.McFadden. 

 Thanks are also due for the excellent work of 

 our Secretary and Treasurer. I wish also to 

 mention our Assistant Treasurer. Mr. W. C. 

 Robertson, who has so ably performed the 

 Treasurer's duties while Mr. Williams was 

 serving his country in France. 



Respectfully submitted, 



EDMUND SEYMOUR, 



President. 



Report of the Secretary. 



Since the last Annual Meeting of the 

 Society, two new Government herds have been 

 established. One by the U.S. Biological Survey 

 in Oklahoma and the other by the Bison Society 

 in the Pisgah National Forest and Game Pre- 

 serve in North Carolina. A full report on the 

 establishing of this herd will appear elsewhere. 



The Census of 1918 show eight (8) Govern- 

 ment-owned herds with a total of eight hundred 

 and ninety-one (891) animals, and in all through- 

 out the United States, three thousand one 

 hundred and nineteen (3119) buffalo. In Canada 

 there are four thousand two hundred and forty- 

 three (4243), making a total of seven thousand 

 three hundred and sixty-one (7361) pure-blood 

 bison in North America. 



The Census as of January 1, 1920, is about 

 completed and will appear in the Annual 

 Report. 



A number of letters were sent abroad 

 during the past year in view of ascertaining the 

 present condition of the few remaining herds of 

 European bison. Very little information of an 

 authentic nature can be had, but it appears that 

 if not completely exterminated, they have been 

 reduced to a pitifully small number. The herd 

 owned by Count Potocki and kept in a very 

 large park according to the French writer, 

 M. Grandidier, were exterminated by the 

 Bolsheviki, for in their policy of extermination, 

 bison could not be owned by everybody, there- 

 fore must be owned by nobody, and so the 

 famous herd was slaughtered, together with all 

 other rare animals found on the estate. 



The largest herd of European bison, num- 

 bering about seven hundred (700), was in the 

 great forest of Byelovitsa in Lithuania and was 



carefully preserved by the late Czar, but during 

 the three years of military occupation the forest 

 was practically destroyed by the Germans, but 

 the bison, as far as possible, were officially pro- 

 tected. This official protection no doubt 

 prevented immediate extermination, but many 

 deserters and others hiding in the forest, on the 

 verge of starvation, did not hesitate to kill the 

 bison, whenever and wherever found, so in this 

 manner the herd has been reduced, according 

 to the latest report, to one hundred and eighty 

 (180). 



In a letter received from Dr. Einar 

 Lonnberg of Stockholm, Sweden, he states that 

 it is reported the bison in the Caucasus have 

 suffered a like fate. 



The Society made an especial effort during 

 the past year towards saving the last and largest 

 band of wild antelope in the United States. 

 At a meeting of the Executive Committee it 

 was decided to send the Secretary, in company 

 with Dr. George W. Field of the Biological 

 Survey, tosouth-easterr Oregon for the purpose 

 of exploring the territory ranged over by 

 the antelope, and to make a careful count of 

 the number found thereon, also to report on the 

 desirability of an antelope range and sage 

 grouse reservation in that particular locality. 

 A full report by the Secretary on his investiga- 

 tion and count of the antelope will be found 

 elsewhere. 



Mr, J. B. Harkin, Commissioner of Parks, 

 Canada, and who is also a member of our 

 Board of Managers, has related some interesting 

 facts in regard to the antelope in Canada. 



Mr. Harkin states that by an actual count 

 taken two years ago there were about six 

 hundred (600) antelope in the Province of Alberta 

 and the majority of these are in an area contain- 

 ing about a township and a half which was 

 set aside as an antelope reserve in 1914, 

 This reserve is known as the Canyon Antelope 

 Reserve and is situated in the Medicine Hat 

 District, Alberta. It is bounded on the south 

 and east sides by the South Saskatchewa 

 River. 



The Nemiskam Antelope Reserve contains 

 about five thousand (5,000) acres and is situated 

 forty-two (42) miles si uthwest of Medicine Hat 

 and thirty-six miles north of the international 

 boundary. This reserve is entirly fenced with 

 a coyote and antelope-proof fence, erected in 

 1915. At that time there were forty-two ante- 

 lope in this enclosure. This area was chosen 



