4 8 % 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 30, 1896. 
measure of the gallop changed to a solemn andante and 
the audience breathlessly awaited the grand event of the 
day. 
There was a clang of bars and an opening door, and the 
lion tamer entered the den, driving the snarling beasts to 
one end of it, from whence they came one by one at his 
command and sullenly performed their parts. 
' Oh, dear suzl" Mrs. Purington wailed in a tearfully 
restrained voice, "they're a-goin' tu eat him, I know they 
be, an" the show folks expex it. That's what makes 'em 
play so solemn on the music, jus' for all the world like a 
fun'al hyme tune. Say, mister," she piteously appealed to 
a showman who stood near, "won't you go an' tell him tu 
go right aout o' there? It don't seem as if I could stan' 
it tu Rtan' here an' see him eat up right afore my face an' 
eyes." , , 
"Dm't be alarmed, ma'am," said the showman, "there s 
no danger. The last man they heat was so tough and dis- 
agreed with 'em so bad, they ain't 'ankered harter human 
flesh senee. More 'n hall that, 'Err Driesbach is a Dutch- 
man, han' the beastises can't habide the smell o' saur- 
kraout." 
She only half believed this and kept her smelling bottle 
in hand till, greatly to her relief, and that of most of the 
audience, the brave lion-tamer backed out from the royal 
presence, and the band burst forth in a jubilant strain so 
loud that it set the elephants to trumpeting and all the 
carnivora to roaring and howling. 
Everyone was glad that this part of the show was over, 
but alas, it was all over, and even now the shutters of the 
cages were going up and the canvas walls were going 
down, and the crowd dispersed except the few who lin- 
gered for a last look at the camels and elephants, and 
such as were fooled into parting with their money to see 
the hurried, final exhibitions of the side shows. 
Before the afternoon was much further spent the Dan- 
vis people were on their homeward way, and a little after 
nightfall their own mountains closed around them and 
again shut them in from the busy world of which they 
had had such a brief but memorable glimpse. 
Rowland E. Robinson. 
SOME TEXAS MAMMALS— I. 
The fifth article of Volume VIII. of the Bulletin of the 
American Museum of Natural History contains an inter- 
esting paper on Texas mammals by Dr. J. A. Allen. The 
collection on which the article is based consists of about 
400 specimens, collected by Mr. H. P. Attwater, of San 
Antonio, Texas, for the most part in the vicinity of San 
Antonio, in Bexar county, but including also a number 
from Kerr county. These 400 specimens represent thirty- 
seven species, concerning which Mr. Attwater contributes 
valuable field notes, and he has also given important and 
interesting information concerning ten other species now, 
or formerly, found in the vicinity of San Antonio. These 
are, for the most part, the larger game animals and beasts 
of prey, all of which are rapidly being destroyed through- 
out Texas. Such material as that furnished by Mr. Att- 
water is of great interest and well deserves a place on the 
record. The pap3r is introduced by a sketch of the topog- 
raphy of the region, and by some notes on the effect upon 
animal and plant life of the severe and protracted 
droughts which so frequently afflict this portion of Texas. 
Bexar county is cut t>y the line where two areas of dif- 
ferent topographic character meet, and is thus an inter- 
esting region for the collector because it forms about the 
eastern limit of Siveral western species and the western 
limit of several eastern species. The country is watered 
by the San Antonio, Medina and Leon rivers, and its sur- 
face is more or less rough and broken. 
Old settlers tell Mr. Attwater that formerly the country 
around San Antonio away from the streams was open 
prairie, but now, wherever it is not in cultivation, it is 
covered with a thick growth of mesquite and with thickets 
of thorny bushes and cactus. Besides this, on the upland 
grow oaks and hackberry trees, while in the stream bot- 
tom are found pecan, cottonwood, sycamore and other 
water-loving trees. 
The specimens of mammals secured from Kerr county 
were chief!/ taken on the ranch of Mr. Howard Lacy, on 
Turtle Creek, and that gentleman has given Mr. Attwater 
much interesting and reliable information. 
Mr. Attwater believes that the periodical droughts to 
which southwestern Texas is subject, and which render 
agricultural pursuits so uncertain, have a great influence 
on the lives of animals there, especially on the mice and 
rats which live above ground and have their nests and 
hiding places close to the surface. Several wet and rainy 
seasons are usually followed by several dry ones, and in 
dry seasons the cattle eat off the weeds and grasses, leav- 
ing the country bare. Thus both food and shelter are 
taken away from such species as mice, rabbits and rats. 
With the advent of heavy rains, the country soon becomes 
oovered with a dense growth of vegetation, which affords 
to the small animals hiding places, protection from their 
enemies and an extra supply of food. These conditions 
do not affect the pocket gopher, moles and pocket mice 
so much as they do mice, rats and rabbits. 
Although no specimens of the nine banded armadillo 
(Tatusia novem eincta) were sent with this collection, 
Mr. Attwater says, "I have records of the capture of the 
armadillo from many points north, south and west of San 
Antonio. Mr. Lacey reports it from Burnet county, 150 
miles north of San Antonio, and one was killed this sum- 
mer (1895) on his ranch in Kerr county. They are occa- 
sionally sent to the Zoological Garden alive, but do not 
live long in confinement." As the armadillo is likely 
soon to be exterminated in the more settled parts of Tex- 
as, these notes are interesting. 
The common deer (Doreelaphus virginianus) is still 
abundant in Bexar county, and not likely to be extermi- 
nated here at once. They live within the immense pas- 
tures inclosed by barbed wire fences, which prevent 
hunting parties from leaving the traveled road. A 
change in the habits of the deer is reported by old settlers, 
who say that before the country was thickly settled and 
market hunters had come in such numbers, the deer 
used to feed by day. At present they begin to feed about 
half an hour before sunset and lie down soon after sun- 
rise. 
Mr. Attwater gives the extreme limit of the range of 
the mule deer (Dorcelaphus hemionus) as west of Edwards 
county. He has heard of their being killed in Val Verde 
county, but they are rare east of the Pecos River. 
The antelope (Antiloeapra americana) formerly ranged 
eastward in Texas to within 100 miles of San Antonio and 
southward along the Rio Grande, but they are not now 
found so far south within the State. Dr. J. B. Taylor 
has about 100 on his ranch in the northwest corner of 
Sutton county, which he thinks iB now about the south- 
eastern limit of their range. A few scattered bunches 
may etill be found eastward to Menard county. Dr. Tay- 
lor believes that a straight line running west from Sutton 
county will form the limit of their present southern 
range. Another line, drawn from Sutton oounty slightly 
west of north to Amarillo, in Potter county, will, he be- 
lieves, mark the present eastern limit in Texas. 
In his note on the American bison (Bison bison) in 
Texas, Mr. Attwater seems to pretty effectually dispose 
of the so-called Val Verde buffalo herd, of which we 
heard so much a year or two ago. This herd, which at 
first was said to contain from forty to fifty head and was 
afterward increased to sixty, was said to be in Val Verde 
county, 150 miles west of San Antonio, between Devil's 
River and the Rio . Grande. A number of hunters have 
looked for this band, but no one has found it. Mr. Att- 
water says, "Reliable persons tell me that 1886 was the 
last year for wild buffalo in western Texas, and I think it 
is safe to say that there are none in Texas to-day in a 
wild state." Mr. Attwater sends to Dr. Allen a dorsal 
vertebra and rib from a mounted buffalo now in his col- 
lection, and the history of this specimen is interesting. 
"It was caught when a little calf in a wild state in 1883 in 
Borden county, at the head of the Colorado River. It 
was raised by a common cow and castrated when 2 
years old. It grew to a large size and was exhibited at 
the State fair two years ago. It weighed 3,5061bs., stood 
6ft. din. high and was 10ft. long. It died "in 1893 and 
then came into my possession." 
The peccary (Dycotyles angulatus) is not often met with 
at present near San Antonio, but is still common in the* 
chaparral region south of that city. They were formerly 
abundant in Kerr county, but now are seldom seen there. 
Ten years ago there was a great trade in hides and skins 
of wild animals in San Antonio, and the hides of the 
peccary, here called by its Spanish name Javalina, were 
in demand. It is said that in a single season one firm 
NEST OF HOODED WARBLER. 
Photo by Mr. James Savage. 
handled over 30,000 of these hides, which sometimes 
brought 80 cents each. They were shipped east and 
thence to Europe, where the skins were used for gloves 
and the hair for brushes. In Zavalla county these hides 
were currency about ten years ago and were traded at 
the store for merchandise, sometimes being returned by 
way of change. The peccary thrives in captivity, and a 
pair in the Zoological Garden in San Antonio have bred 
there for the last six years, bringing forth their young at 
any season of the year, and from one to three at a birth. 
The settlement of the country seems to have had on the 
neccary the effect of toning down its old-time ferocity. 
It is said that formerly these animals were absolutely fear- 
less, but those met with by Mr. Attwater were always 
ready to seek safety in flight. 
The Mexican wood rat (Neotoma mexicana), a genus 
which in one form or another is found over almost the 
whole United States, except the northeastern portion, is 
found near San Antonio, though this is about the eastern 
limit of its range. In Kerr county they were quite 
abundant and a number of their nests were discovered on 
high land, one on an oak ridge and four in a cedar brake. 
Tiie character of these nets i3 interesting in view of what 
has recently been said on this subject in the columns of 
Forest and Stream, 
"All the nests were in heaps of rubbish piled up by the 
rats. Those in the cedar brake were heaped around cedar 
trees, and the nests were made in the hollows among the 
roots of the trees. These nests were composed of fine 
strips of cedar bark; the nest in the creek bottom was 
made of grasses, leaves and cedar bark. Only one rat 
was discovered in each nest, but several nests were found 
in some of the heaps. The "rat heaps," or mounds of 
material which the rats pile up over their nests and re- 
treats, average 2ft. high, and are composed of any 
kind of rubbish that comes handy, chiefly sticks, stones, 
a ad dry horse and cow manure. Like N. micropus, they 
also go" into houses and barns on the ranches and build 
their homes. A favorite place is the corner of some old 
shed or tumble-down shanty. One we found on Mr. 
Lacey's ranch was constructed chiefly of stones and old 
pieces of board, with sticks and other rubbish, including 
shingles that had fallen from the roof. Some of the 
scones and pieces of lumber on the pile were quite heavy, 
and it seemed almost incredible that a rat could have 
carried them on to the pile. One of the heaviest things, 
oa the top of this particular pile, was a piece of board 
14in. X 10in. and weighing 2|ib8. These rats, if permitted, 
will make their abodes under houses occupied by people, 
a ad, in the absence of cats and dogs, enter the house and 
become quite friendly, helping themselves to small articles 
to add to their pile. In one instance a tobacco pipe was 
one of the articles taken. 
"We found in so me of the heaps large quantities of small 
green cedar boughs. These boughs are cut off the trees 
by fox squirrels, for the purpose of obtaining the cedar 
berries, which are more easily taken from the branches 
after they have fallen to the ground. In one of the under- 
ground passages at the nest on the oak ridge were found, 
stored away, about three dozen bunches of wild grapes ; 
also many acorns and black haws. In another nest in the 
cedar brake were about two dozen small mushrooms, 
partly dry and shrivelled. All the heaps in the cedar- 
brakes contained large stores of cedar berries, most of 
them with the outside pulp eaten off and the seeds eaten 
out. "When the very small size of the seed is taken into 
consideration, it is surprising what an immense amount 
of work is necessary before enough can be obtained for a 
meal, as probably a thousand would be required. One 
nest contained shellB of nuts of the Mexican buckeye 
(Ungnadia speciosa), although these nuts are reputed to 
be poisonous." 
[to be concluded.] 
NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
While not very much haB appeared in the press about 
the New York Zoological Society, incorporated by the 
Legislature in 1895, the project has not been allowed to 
languish, and a great deal of intelligent work has been 
done by the board of managers, whose names are given 
below : 
Class of 1897— John L. Cadwalader, Madison Grant, 
Andrew D. Parker, John S. Barnes, C. Grant La Farge, 
Winthrop Chanler. Philip Schuyler, Edward H. Litch- 
field, Eugene Schieffelin, Robert L. Mies, Fred. W. Devoe, 
William A. Stiles. 
Class of 1898— Thomas H. Barber, J. Seaver Page, Chas. 
A. Peabody, Jr., Percy R. Pyne, J. Hampden Robb, Geo. 
G. Haven, Austin Corbin, John H. Starin. Charles A. 
Dana. Charles E. Whitehead, Charles R. Flint, George 
Bird Grinnell. 
Class of 1899— Andrew H. Green, Wager Swayne, Royal 
PhelpB Carroll, Charles T. Barney, Charles R. Miller, Os- 
wald Ottendorfer, Henry F. Osborn, William H. Webb, 
Henry H. Cook, L. V. F. Randolph, William C. Church, 
Frank M. Chapman. 
Matters have moved along so far that Bteps are being 
taken to obtain the site where the collections of the Society 
may before long be shown. 
Among the provisions of the charter granted to this 
body is the following: 
"Said corporation shall have power to establish and 
maintain in said city a zoological garden for the purpose 
of encouraging and advancing the study of zoology, 
original researches in the same and kindred subjects, and 
of furnishing instruction and recreation to the people, 
and may purchase and hold animals, plants and speci- 
mens appropriate to the objects for which said corporation 
is created." 
When this charter was granted and the board of man- 
agers organized, the first work before it was to consider 
methods for carrying out the work defined in the para- 
graph just quoted. Obviously a city like New York, pos- 
sessing great wealth and extensive public parks, ought to 
have a finely arranged exhibition of animals from all 
parts of the world, which should occupy a garden of con- 
siderable extent. The largest zoological gardens abroad 
are those in Berlin, which cover sixty-three acres, and the 
largest in this country is the National Zoological Park in 
Washington, which includes 106 acres. Here in New 
York a site might be chosen in one of the larger parks 
which should be several times larger than the Bsrlin 
gardens, and perhaps twice as large as the park in Wash- 
ington. There is thu3 an opportunity to set before the 
people of this city such a series of wild creatures of the 
world, in surroundings closely modeled after their natural 
ones, as has never before been seen. Of course, such a 
collection must consist of two parts: an open air collec- 
tion, which shall include the animals of temperate climes, 
living out of doors, and an indoor collection of animals 
of the tropics, which, except in the warmest months, must 
be protected from cold and rough weather. 
The first question which came up before the managers 
of the Zoological Society was as to the location of its 
grounds, and the choice evidently lay between one of the 
four larger parks lying north of the Harlem River, 
namely: Crotona, Van Cortlandt, Pelham and Bronx. 
In November of last year the sub-committee on plan, con- 
sisting of Prof. Henry F. Oaborn, Hon. Andrew H. Green 
and Mr. C. Grant La Farge, presented a report in which 
t ley summarized their recommendations as follows: 
"1. That we shall have a large area of land, not less 
than 300 acres, accessible by rail and water transportation. 
"2. That we make the feature of our exhibit to repro- 
duce natural conditions. 
"a. The larger Northern animals to be shown in free 
range. 
"b. The tropical animals in suitable buildings and in- 
closures. 
"c. The marine animals on the shore line by means of 
tidal ponds. 
"3. Tbat our relations to the Park Board be defined by 
a special committee, immediately appointed for the pur- 
pose. 
"4. That the Legislature authorize the immediate be- 
ginning of the development of the park site chosen for 
the Society. 
"5. That the Legislature authorize the appropriation 
of $250,000 for the use of the Society as soon as the Society 
raises $125,000 by subscription. 
"6. That the executive committee present to the Board 
of Managers at the January meeting a printed report for 
publication, including the recommendation of site and 
general prospectus of the work of the Society." 
Continuing its work, the committee invited the co- 
operation of three expert naturalists, Dr. D. G. Elliott, of 
the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago; Mr. Arthur Erwin 
Brown, well known as the Director of the Philadelphia 
Zoological Gardens, and Dr. Frank Baker, Superintendent 
of the National Zoological Park at Washington. These 
gentlemen visited New York and inspected Crotona, Pel- 
ham and Van Cortlandt parks. Crotona was almost at 
once thrown out of consideration on account of its small 
size. Subsequently Pelham was discarded on account of 
its bleak exposure, its lack of fresh water, and the prob- 
able abundance of mosquitoes there. There remained 
Van Cortlandt Park, which two out of the three exper 
