NEWS BULLETIN OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ft 



When the estimates for 1899 were made up and pre- 

 sented to the Board of Estimate, Park Commissioner 

 Moebus applied for $30,000 as a maintenance fund for 

 the Zoological Park for six months. This appropriation 

 has been approved by the Board of Estimate, and it will 

 become available on January 1, 1899, both for the care 

 of animals and the care of the Park. 



The City, therefore, has provided maintenance, and is 

 now expending $62,000 in the development of roads, 

 walks, drains, and other ground improvements. During 

 the coming year it will be necessary to expend at least a 

 similar sum, as all these improvements are of a perma- 

 nent character, and therefore expensive. It is a subject 

 for congratulation that the Zoological Park has now 

 become one of the established institutions of the City. 

 The Society extends its best acknowledgments to the 

 Mayor and his colleagues, and renews its pledge to do its 

 utmost to make the Zoological Park a source of benefit, 

 pleasure, and pride to all the people of the metropolis of 

 Greater America. 



WORK ABOUT TO BE UNDERTAKEN BY 



THE CITY. 



Estimated. 



Walks of stone and gravel, from 12 to 20 > 



feet in width, 134,000 square feet 



Croton water pipes to reach collections, 



to be installed in 1 899 



Sewers leading from first buildings, avi- | 



aries, and dens )> $45,000 00 



Service road of Telford macadam from 



Southern Boulevard to Reptile House. . 

 Drainage as necessary for roads, walks, and 



buildings 



Macadamizing corrals for large animals. . . 

 Fencing for animal ranges, corrals, and 



boundary of Park 10,000 00 



Expended to date on pond excavation . . . 4,500 00 



To be expended on pond excavation 500 00 



Balance available for restaurant 2.O0O 00 



$62,000 00 



THE MONKEY HOUSE AND THE ANTELOPE 



HOUSE. 



These two buildings should be completed before the Park is 

 opened, because together they comprise such an important part of 

 the initial exhibition of animals. To do this, it is necessary to raise 

 immediately $75,000. The money which has already been sub- 

 scribed ($106,000) by friends of the Zoological Park does not ad- 

 mit of the erection of either of these buildings, because $83,000 al- 

 ready appropriated will be needed to complete work now under way, 

 and there must be a reserve of $25,000 for the purchase of animals, 

 in addition to those which will be presented by various members 

 and friends. 



As the final plan has already been published, the public will 

 naturally anticipate, when the Park is opened, that the great build- 

 ings around the Baird Court will be completed. It will be several 

 years, however, under the most fortunate circumstances, before this 

 Court will be in final shape ; and to gain by the experience in the 

 construction of the earlier buildings, it will probably be an advan- 

 tage not to push these very large and expensive ones forward too 

 rapidly. 



A careful inspection of the list of installations now under con- 

 struction will convince our members that the Society's pledge, to 

 provide first for the unrivalled series of our own North American 

 types, is being faithfully carried out. The present expenditure from 

 the Improvement Fund of $106,000 provides for the greatest pos- 

 sible number of important American quadrupeds and birds. In 

 our loyalty to our own splendid fauna, foreign animals have thus 

 far been treated as of secondary importance. 



But unless more money is raised, no provision can be made for 

 the quarters of foreign creatures, chiefly from the tropics, that will 

 come knocking at the gates of the Zoological Park as presents and 

 otherwise demanding admittance, for these animals can only be 

 housed in the Monkey House and Antelope House. The former 



building, while ultimately to be filled entirely by monkeys, baboons, 

 apes, lemurs, etc., is so designed as to afford a home for several 

 types requiring artificial heat in winter which are not provided for 

 in the Antelope House. The Antelope House, on the other hand, 

 will afford a temporary home for the tapirs, elephants, zebras, and 

 other tropical animals. In other words, these two buildings are 

 especially selected because of their adaptability for the care of the 

 great variety of animals which come from warm climates. The 

 Monkey House will serve to complete one corner of Baird Court, 

 and the Antelope House will be in the southern portion of the Park, 

 near the great Bison Range. 



The New York Zoological Park should, in fact, be so well equipped 

 with buildings, dens, and aviaries, that by midsummer, 1899, no type 

 of animal need be turned away because there is no place in which 

 to put it. Beyond question, as soon as this institution is opened, and 

 lovers of animals see how comfortably — nay, even luxuriously — the 

 various types of wild animals are being housed and cared for, gifts of 

 birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles will come in from all parts of the 

 world ; and we certainly should be prepared to receive them. Under 

 no circumstances would it be advisable to expend the money which 

 has been so generously contributed in the erection of temporary struct- 

 ures for collections. The experience of foreign zoological gardens 

 is all against structures of a temporary character, as in the end waste- 

 ful. Every building that is erected will, therefore, be of the most 

 permanent and substantial character. If an elephant is offered as 

 a gift, and the Antelope House is not in existence, that elephant 

 must of stern necessity be declined with thanks and regret. A 

 museum and art gallery or a library can store away in cellars and 

 garrets the gifts which it cannot at once exhibit ; but with a zoologi- 

 cal park this is impossible. Once accepted, an animal must be 

 placed on exhibition in roomy and comfortable quarters, where it 

 will thrive and improve from day to day ; and any animal which 

 cannot be so installed must be declined. It is extremely desirable, 

 therefore, that no animal offered as a gift, or offered for sale " at a 

 bargain," need be refused because of the lack of accommodations. 



As above stated, the Monkey House, if erected now, will give up 

 one room to small mammals other than primates, until the small 

 mammal house is ready. The Antelope House is designed to fur- 

 nish good roomy quarters for many other species than the hoofed un- 

 gulates of the tropics — namely, elephants and rhinoceroses, as well 

 as the hippopotamus— until the Elephant House is an accomplished 

 fact. It can even receive temporarily a few large birds, such as the 

 ostrich, cassowary, emu, and the like. 



There are other imperative reasons why these two buildings should 

 be erected forthwith. Both will be models of their kind, as they are 

 designed after a most careful study of all buildings of the same type 

 in Europe. Either of these buildings would constitute a splendid 

 gift on the part of any person who would take pleasure in associat- 

 ing his name with the founding of the new Zoological Park. The 

 Society has thus far not asked for the gift of single buildings ; but 

 surely it is not too much to expect that the Antelope House, esti- 

 mated at $30,000, or the Monkey House, estimated at $40,000, may 

 come as the gifts of individuals. The plans and elevations of these 

 buildings can be forwarded to any address ^by application to the 

 Director. 



CHANGE OF ADDRESS. 



The office of the undersigned has been moved from 69 Wall Street, 

 New York, and established permanently in South Bronx Park. All 

 mail and express matter for him should now be addressed thus : 

 New York Zoological Park, 

 183d Street and Southern Boulevard, New York City. 



The Park offices of the Zoological Society are temporarily located 

 in the Elk House, near the S. W. corner of the Park. The office 

 of the Secretary, Madison Grant, Esq., remains at No. 11 Wall 

 Street, as heretofore. 



The Zoological Park is reached hourly by the Harlem road from 

 Forty-second Street to Fordham Station (22 minutes), or by Third 

 Avenue elevated to Tremont, and on by trolley to Fordham, from 

 whence a carriage can be taken to the Park for 25 cents for each 

 person. 



William T. Horxadav, 



Telephone No. 146 Tremont. Director Zoological Park. 



