ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
43 
deep snows of the Northwest have caused forest 
rangers to predict a considerable loss of life 
among game birds, because of their inability to 
find food. Despite the type of winter we have 
passed through, our animals quartered out-of- 
doors have kept in good health. Many of them, 
in fact, enjoy the snow. Our attendance has 
been materially reduced owing to the bad 
weather conditions affecting roads and walking 
generally, although powerful motor plows have 
promptly cleared the Park walks after frequent 
storms. 
Sure Signs of Spring. —Despite the abundant 
snow, we had a hint on the first day of March of 
the coming of spring. There is an old cemetery 
in the West Farms district immediately south 
of the Park. It encloses an ancient wooden 
church, and here and there are clumps of 
tangled lilac bushes and stretches of stone walls 
that date back to the days before the Civil War. 
The cemetery forms a little island of undis¬ 
turbed area, and small serpents have for years 
lived in the foundations of the deserted church. 
Big apartment houses around the old cemetery 
tower above it and shelter it from the winds. 
Two boys walked through the cemetery and 
found a number of little brown snakes sunning 
on the crumbling stone steps of the church and 
brought them to the Park. Every year about 
this time the boys of the neighborhood have 
brought us specimens from this miniature area 
of country that once was considered remote 
from New York. The day after the specimens 
were brought in the temperature dropped well 
below freezing and the remainder of the little 
reptile colony had necessarily returned to the 
hibernating shelters to await another touch of 
spring among the steadily encroaching buildings 
and apartments that have already produced a 
densely populated section in this portion of the 
Bronx. 
Renovating the Monkey House. —Extensive 
cage improvements are being made in the Pri¬ 
mate House, where we are now exhibiting the 
best series of monkeys that has been brought 
together in the history of the Park. The new 
cagework is designed along lines intended to 
produce more cheerful lighting and improve¬ 
ments in sanitation. The work covers both in¬ 
side and outside cages. The health of the 
collection in this building has been exceptionally 
good. The series of anthropoid apes is par¬ 
ticularly impressive. There are three adult 
chimpanzees, a male and two female specimens. 
There is a particularly large male orang-utan, 
a female that has been on exhibition for a num¬ 
ber of years and two thriving youngsters that 
are full of play and whose droll antics bring 
shouts of laughter from visitors. 
Scientific Lectures. —The Curator of Reptiles 
has recently returned from a trip among the 
western universities and high schools, where a 
series of scientific lectures was delivered. These 
lectures related to the habits of mammals and 
reptiles, and discussion of the economic types, 
forms of sea life and a simplified discussion of 
evolution. Judged by the interest elicited, these 
lectures have been a marked success. They 
were extensively discussed in the press of the 
Central West. In preparing a summary of 
attendance among the audiences at these lectures 
during a period covering the past five winter 
seasons, it was shown that the aggregate has 
exceeded two hundred thousand. Among the 
larger centers visited were Cornell College 
(Iowa), Purdue University (Indiana), Principia 
(Mo.), the University of Michigan and Yale 
University. 
Other Zoological Gardens. —During his wes¬ 
tern trip the Curator of Reptiles visited a 
number of zoological gardens and museums, 
among these being the institutions at Buffalo, 
Memphis, St. Louis, St. Paul and Ann Arbor. 
The zoological gardens at Memphis, Tenn., are 
outgrowing their present site. Under the able 
management of Wynn J. Cullen, the animals are 
in splendid condition. Memphis has an interest¬ 
ing series of parks, connected by an extensive 
drive circling the city. The Park commissioners 
have about decided to select a site in a park 
much farther from the center of the city than 
the one now containing the collection of animals, 
and rebuild the entire institution to produce 
the conditions of a true zoological park, with 
wide ranges and plenty of room for all of the 
animals. The site is very attractive and close 
to the undulating course of the picturesque Wolf 
River. A zoological society was being formed 
in Memphis with the idea of arousing a great 
community interest in the enterprise. The 
zoological gardens at St. Louis are assuming 
pretentious proportions. The great panoramic 
bear dens are the center of interest, and there 
had been a recent appropriation of four hun¬ 
dred thousand dollars for an aquarium and 
liberal appropriations for other park improve¬ 
ments. 
Strange Animal Friendships. —Mr. Cullen, 
the Director of the Memphis Zoological Gar¬ 
dens, recently told the writer about a curious 
animal friendship existing in an oddly assorted 
trio among the collections in his charge. He 
had reared together three young specimens, 
consisting of a spider monkey, a skunk and an 
