ADMISSION.

Free Admission.—On all holidays, and on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, the Zoological Park is open free to the public.

Pay Admission.—On every Monday and Thursday, save when either of those days falls on a holiday, all members of the Zoological Society who surrender coupons from their membership tickets, and all other persons holding tickets from the Society, will be admitted free. All other persons seeking admission will be admitted on payment of twenty-five cents for each adult, and fifteen cents for each child under twelve years of age. Tickets are sold only at the entrance gates.

Holidays on Pay Days.—Whenever a legal holiday falls on a Monday or Thursday, admission to the Park will be free on that day.

Hours for Opening and Closing.—From May 1st to November 1st the gates will be opened at 9 A. M. daily, and closed half an hour before sunset. From November 1st to May 1st the gates will open at 10 A. M.

Entrances, Walks, etc.—The portion of the Zoological Park situated west of the Boston Road has been enclosed. Access to this area is provided by six entrances, one situated at each corner—one on the Boston Road and one at the bridge on Pelham Avenue. The latter is a carriage entrance for visitors wishing to drive to the north end of Baird Court. From all these entrances broad walks lead into the Park and through it, reaching all the collections of animals now installed.

Carriage Roads.—The only wagon road which enters the central portion of the Park now occupied by animals is the Service Road, which enters from the Southern Boulevard, at 185th Street, and runs eastward, to the Service Building, Reptile House, Bear Dens, and Rocking Stone Restaurant.

This road is for business purposes only, and is not open for the vehicles of visitors. It is utterly impossible to admit carriages to thecenterof the Park, save those of officers entering on business, andvisitors must not ask for exceptions to this very necessary rule.

Automobile and Carriage Entrance.—A fine public carriage road and concourse, leading from Pelham Avenue Bridge and to the upper end of Baird Court, was completed in 1908. This drive is open to carriages or motors, daily, and it affords easy access to the most important group of buildings. It is subject to the same regulations as all other entrances, except that carriages and automobiles are admitted.

THE BOAT HOUSE, BRONX LAKE.

The Boston Road, which runs through the Park from south to north, near the western bank of the Bronx Lake, is open at all hours. It has recently—and for the first time—been finely improved by the Park Department for the Borough of the Bronx, and a drive through it affords a fine view of the eastern side of the Buffalo Range, and the finest portion of the heavy forest of the Zoological Park.

As a matter of course, the ranges of the buffalo, antelope, deer, moose, and elk, are in full view from the Kingsbridge Road and Southern Boulevard, and the Zoological Society has planned that the view from those avenues shall be left open sufficiently that the herds may be seen to good advantage.

The Rocking Stone Restaurant, No. 46, has been designed to serve all the purposes that its name implies. It contains dining-rooms in which full meals may be obtained, lunch-rooms wherein choice food will be served at popular prices, and in the basement, toilet-rooms will be found.

The Service Building, No. 28.—Near the Reptile House, and at the geographical center of the enclosed grounds, is situated a building which contains the Bureau of Administration of the Zoological Park. Here will be found the offices of the Chief Clerk, several other Park officers, and the workshops and storerooms.

Children lost in the Park, and property lost or found, should be reported without delay at the Chief Clerk’s office in this building. The telephone call of the Zoological Park is 953 Tremont.

Wheeled Chairs.—By persons desiring them, wheeled chairs can always be obtained at the entrances, by applying to gatekeepers, or at the office of the Chief Clerk, in the Service Building. The cost is 25 cents per hour; with an attendant, 50 cents per hour.

Arrangement of Collections.—Inasmuch as the physical features of the Zoological Park grounds were important factors in locating the various collections of animals, a perfect zoological arrangement was impossible. The existing plan represents the limit of acceptable possibilities in grouping related animals.

BOATING ON BRONX LAKE.

The entire southern and western sides of the Park are exclusively devoted to the Hoofed Animals, in addition to which other members of that Order will be found at the Elephant and Small-Mammal Houses. The Carnivorous Animals will be found at the Lion House, Wolf and Fox Dens, Small-Mammal House and Bear Dens. The Birds are in two groups; one in the lower end of Bird Valley, and the Large Bird-House on Baird Court; the other around the Wild-Fowl Pond, south of the Wolf Dens.

The existence of six entrances to the Park renders it impossible to lay out an all-embracing “tour” for the visitor, and develop the Guide Book accordingly. The various collections will be handled in zoological groups, but the various groups cannot follow each other in zoological sequence. The table of contents and a comprehensive index will render each item of the subject matter quickly available.

The extreme length of the Park from north to south is 4,950 feet, or 330 feet less than one mile; and its extreme width is 3,120 feet, or three-fifths of a mile. Roughly estimated, one-third of the land area is covered by heavy forest, one-third by open forest, and the remaining third consists of open meadows and glades. The highest point of land in the Park is the crest of Rocking Stone Hill, the elevation of which is 94.8 feet above sea level.

Topography.—Speaking broadly, the Zoological Park is composed of granite ridges running from north to south. In many places their crests have been denuded of earth by the great glacier which once pushed its edge as far south as New York City. In the valleys lying between these glacier-scraped ridges, great quantities of sandy, micaceous soil have been deposited; but in one spot—the Wild-Fowl Pond—what was once a green, glacial lake fifteen feet deep, presently became a vast rock-walled silo filled with vegetable matter and a trembling bog of peat. Everywhere in the Park glacial boulders of rough granite or smoothly rounded trap-rock, varying in size from a cobble-stone to the thirty-ton Rocking Stone, have been dropped just where the warm southern sun freed them from the ice. The Park contains thousands of them, many of which have been removed from walks and building sites only with great labor.

In three of the four principal valleys of the Park, bogs have been converted into ponds, and in the largest and deepest of all lie Bronx Lake and Lake Agassiz. The bed-rock underlying or cropping out in the Park exhibits pink granite, gray granite, rotten gneiss, and quartz in bewildering variety. Occasionally in trench-digging a ledge is encountered which yields good building-stone for rough work, but usually our rock is so full of mica as to be worthless.

The water-levels in the various portions of the Park are as follows:

The floor levels of some of the important buildings are as follows:

Soil.—The soil varies from rich black muck in the valleys, to light and very dry soil, full of mica and sand, on the ridges and meadows. Where not packed hard, the latter is very porous, and the heaviest rainfall is quickly absorbed, or carried away on the surface. As a result, the valleys are always moist and rich in grass, and the slopes and ridges are always dry and warm.

Streams and Ponds.—The Zoological Park contains about 34 acres of still water, of which Bronx Lake comprises 25 acres, Lake Agassiz 5½ acres, Cope Lake, the Wild-Fowl Pond, and Beaver Pond together, about 3½ acres. The two larger lakes are fed by the Bronx River, which drains a valley about 15 miles long. Even in the driest seasons the volume of water carried down by the Bronx River is sufficient to keep the lakes well filled. The areas of still water available for animal collections are very generous for an institution like this, and are highly prized.

The Waterfall.—At the lower end of Lake Agassiz, and about 300 feet above the Boston Road Bridge, is a natural waterfall nearly 12 feet in height, where the Bronx River falls over a rugged ledge of pink granite. In times of highwater the foaming flood that thunders over the rocks makes an imposing spectacle, and it constitutes a most unusual feature to be found in a city park. During the year 1901, an improvement was made which added very greatly to the beauty of this feature by extending the rock ledge about 200 feet farther, to the rocky side of Wilson Hill, thereby greatly increasing the water area of Lake Agassiz, and at the same time forming a beautiful island.

Forests.—The crowning glory of the Zoological Park is the magnificent forest growth which covers, thickly or sparsely, about two-thirds of its land area. It consists chiefly of white, scarlet, black, red and pin oaks, tulip, sweet gum, hickory, beech, sassafras, maple, wild cherry, hornbeam, dogwood, tupelo, hemlock and cedar; but there are at least thirty other species of trees and shrubs. Thanks to the wise foresight and broad views of David and Philip Lydig, who for about eighty years were the sole owners of nearly the whole of the Zoological Park site, the virgin forest was not cut down for firewood or lumber, but was carefully preserved for posterity. As the legal custodian of this splendid domain of Nature, the Zoological Society is as rapidly as possible going over the entire forest, to arrest decay and death, and take all needed measures for the preservation of the trees. It is safe to say that nowhere else within fifty miles of New York can there be found any more beautiful forests than those in the central and eastern portions of the Park. Throughout the enclosed grounds, it is absolutely necessary that visitors should be restricted to the walks; for otherwise the feet of our millions of visitors would quickly destroy every ground plant.

The Rocking Stone, No. 45, a colossal cube of pinkish granite, poised on one of its angles on a smooth pedestal of rock, is the Zoological Park’s most interesting souvenir of the glacial epoch. Across the bare face of the rocky hill in which lies the Crocodile Pool, there are several glacial scratches pointing directly toward the famous boulder; and who will say it had no part in making one of them?

The Rocking Stone stands on a smooth table of granite on the southern shoulder of the hill overlooking the Buffalo Range. Its extreme height is 7 feet 6 inches; breadth, 10 feet 1 inch; thickness, 8 feet 1 inch, and its weight, as roughly calculated, is 30 tons. A pressure of about 50 lbs. exerted on the most northern angle of the stone causes its apex to swing north and south about two inches.

WHITE TAILED DEER.

The forming of a collection which shall fairly represent the hoofed animals of the world is necessarily a work of years. It is now (in 1915) fifteen years since the Zoological Society entered upon this task, and during that period the work of providing installations and living specimens has been pursued with unflagging industry. In no feature of our development has the Society been more liberal than in the purchase of specimens for this collection, and the gifts to it have been both numerous and valuable. In our 82 species and 330 specimens we feel that the OrderUngulatais strongly represented. On April 1, 1913, the summary of groups stood as follows:

The arrangement of this section of the Guide Book begins at the Buffalo Entrance with the Bisons, and follows the ranges, corrals and buildings for Hoofed Animals, along the southern and western sides of the Park, to the Axis Deer Range. The Elephant House is introduced as the visitor leaves Baird Court, going south.

The large, open pastures are called “ranges,” and the smaller fenced enclosures are known as “corrals.” The fences are chiefly of hard steel wire, so strong and elastic that the animals cannot break through them.

AMERICAN BISON: BULL.

Warning.—Visitors mustneverstand close beside a wire fence or gate, because its elasticity between posts might enable a charging animal to strike a person so standing and inflict a serious injury, even though the fence or gate is not in the least affected by the blow.

Stretching from the Boston Road to the large Antelope House (No. 50), and from the Rocking Stone to the southern boundary, lies an open expanse of rolling meadow land, with a total area of about twenty acres. It is almost surrounded by shade-trees. Its easterly edge is a low-lying strip of rich meadow, which lies under the shelter of the rocky, tree-covered ridge that forms the natural retaining wall of the higher plateau toward the west. This is the Bison Range. It is the first enclosure seen on the left as the visitor enters the Park from West Farms by way of the Boston Road.

On the north side of the main range, near the Rocking Stone, are the four corrals, and the Bison House. The latter is a rustic hillside barn, eighty feet in length, with a semicircular front, affording shelter and feed storage for thirty-four buffaloes. The flat roof of the Buffalo House is open to the public from the main walk, and has been specially designed as a convenient lookout over the main rangeand corrals. There are other corrals, and a shelter shed, at the Buffalo Entrance.

EUROPEAN BISON: BULL.

The American Bison, or Buffalo, (B. americanus), is the largest and the best known of all North American hoofed animals. What was once the universal herd, which occupied the whole pasture region of the West, was cut in twain in 1867, by the building of the first trans-continental railway. The great “southern herd,” of several millions of animals, was destroyed by skin hunters during the years 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874, and the practical extinction of the northern herd was accomplished between 1880 and 1884.

At present there are but two herds of wild bison in existence. The largest band, now containing by estimate about 300 individuals, inhabits a wide stretch of barren and inhospitable territory southwest of Great Slave Lake. About twenty head remain in the Yellowstone Park, more than nine-tenths of the original herd having been slaughtered by poachers since 1890. There are now about 2000 bison alive in captivity, chiefly in large private game preserves.

Usually bison calves are born in May, June, and July. Full maturity is not reached until the end of the seventh year, when the horns of the male—at first a straight spike—have attained their full semi-circular curve. Like all thick-haired animals of the temperate zone, the American bisonsheds its coat in spring, and does not regain full pelage until October or November.

The bison breeds in confinement about as readily as domestic cattle. In appearance, it is the most imposing of all bovine animals, and with two exceptions it is also the largest. In captivity its disposition is mild, though inclined to stubbornness. Occasionally, however, an old bull becomes so vicious that it is necessary to seclude him from the herd, and treat him as a dangerous animal.

With the exception of a very few individuals, our entire bison herd is the gift of the late William C. Whitney, and the increase therefrom. The total number of head on hand on April 1, 1913, was forty-two.

In 1906, the New York Zoological Society presented to the United States Government a herd of fifteen bison to serve as a nucleus for an independent National herd. The Government very promptly fenced an area of twelve square miles of fine grazing grounds in the Wichita Forest and Game Reserve, for the proper reception of the herd. The plan was consummated during 1907. The effort has proven completely successful, and on April 1, 1913, the herd contained thirty-seven bison, all in fine condition.

European Bison.—In a corral adjoining the Buffalo Entrance, on the Boston Road, are to be found two specimens of the rare and almost extinct European Bison, (Bos bonasus). This species is the nearest living relative of the American bison, and the two specimens (male and female), now exhibited, came quite unexpectedly into the possession of the Zoological Society in April, 1904. They were acquired from the small captive herd in the forest of the Prince of Pless, in Silesia, south-eastern Germany, and are the first living specimens of the species to be exhibited in America. They were presented to the Society by Mr. Norman James, of Baltimore, Mr. Charles Sheldon and Dr. Leonard J. Sanford.

The distinguishing characters of this species are shorter and less abundant hair on the head, neck and shoulders than our bison, a tail densely covered with hair throughout its length, very long legs, and a short body.

But for royal protection, this species would long ere this have become extinct. In the year 1857, about 1,898 head were living, but in 1892 the total had decreased to 491. Itappears, however, that an increase can safely be announced. An estimate recently published (1906) places the total number of wild and semi-wild individuals at 1,400, while in the captive herds of the Czar and the Prince of Pless there are 46 more. About 700 of the survivors inhabit the forests of Bielowitza and Swisslotsch, Lithuania, west Russia, and are strictly protected by the Czar. Other bands still exist on the northern slope of the Caucasus Mountains around the sources of the Laba and Bjellaja, sometimes ranging up to an elevation of 8,000 feet. Wherever found, they live in scattered bands of from three to ten individuals. All the survivors of this species are so jealously guarded that very few of the zoological gardens of Europe have been able to procure specimens.

This animal is very often miscalled the “aurochs,” and from this error much confusion has arisen. The true aurochs, (Bos primigenius), was the wild progenitor of some of the existing breeds of domestic cattle, but it is now extinct.

The wild sheep and goats of the world form an exceedingly interesting group of animals. In form they are odd and picturesque, and in temper and mentality they are everything that could be desired. All the year round, deer are either nervous or dangerous, and difficult to handle. Wild sheep, goats and ibex appreciate man’s interest in them, and even when not fond of attention, they act sensibly when it is necessary to handle them.

The Zoological Park collection of wild sheep and goats is one of the most interesting features of the Park. Mountain Sheep Hill is the first high ridge west of the Rocking Stone, and its northern end is very near the Bear Dens and Reptile House. It consists of a ridge of pink granite 500 feet long and 25 feet high, its southern end fully exposed, but the northern end well shaded by oaks and cedars. For grazing animals that love to climb, and pose on the sky line, the slopes of bare rock, set in patches of hard, green turf, are almost ideal. In the eastern face of the ridge, rock excavations have been made, and five roomy caves have been constructed in such a manner that they are cool in summer, warm in winter, and dry at all times. On April 1, 1913, the six wire enclosures on Mountain Sheep Hill contained the following species:

WHITE-FRONTED MUSK-OX.

BIG-HORN MOUNTAIN SHEEP RAM.

Because of the curious (and unaccountable) fact that they do not thrive on Mountain Sheep Hill, the Rocky Mountain Goat and Chamois are exhibited elsewhere. The former will be found near the Pheasant Aviary, next to the Musk-ox.

Visitors are requested to make note of the fact thatin winter, theArcal Sheep, Mouflon, and other delicate sheep are exhibited in the Small-Deer House.

The White-Fronted Musk-Ox, (Ovibos wardi, Lydekker), is represented in the Park by a herd of six specimens. Five of these animals were born in May, 1910, in Ellesmere Land, and captured in that year by Paul J. Rainey and Harry C. Whitney, and presented by Mr. Rainey. The sixth individual, a vigorous and rather vicious female, was born on Melville Island, in May, 1909, and captured by Captain Joseph Bernier. Owing to the domineering temper of “Miss Melville,” it is not possible to keep her with the animals a year younger than herself, because she resents their presence in her corral.

The Musk-Ox is an animal of strange form, inhabiting a small portion of the Arctic regions of the western hemisphere, up to the very northernmost points of land east of the Mackenzie River. At Fort Conger (Latitude 81°, 40′), its flesh was a godsend to General Greely, and later on to Commander Peary, also. Structurally, this animal stands in a genus of its own (Ovibos), midway between the cattle and the sheep, but it is unqualifiedly a misnomer to call it a “musk-sheep.”

An adult male Musk-Ox stands 4 ft. 5 in. high at the shoulders and is 6 ft. 7 in. in total length. Our first specimen was a female, two years old. She stood 3 ft. 2 in. high at the shoulders, and was 4 ft. 10 in. in total length. Her entire body was covered by a dense mass of fine light brown hair, of a woolly nature, overlaid by a thatch of very long, straight hair specially designed to shed rain.

The Musk-Ox inhabits the Barren Grounds of northern Canada north of Latitude 64° from Great Bear Lake to Hudson Bay, Grant Land, and the northeast coast of Greenland from Franz Josef Fiord (Latitude 70°) to the mostnortherly point of land. About twenty living specimens have been taken when very young at Franz Josef Fiord, by Swedish and Norwegian whaling parties. The Peary Arctic Club, of New York, presented to the New York Zoological Society a young calf which was captured by Commander Peary at Fort Conger, in 1902, but it lived only a few months.

MOUFLON

ARCAL SHEEP

HIMALAYAN TAHR

BURRHEL

The Big-Horn Mountain Sheep, (Ovis canadensis), is exhibited in the Zoological Park, whenever it may be obtained. The efforts that have been made in New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago to acclimatize the Big-Horn of the Rocky Mountains have proven the extreme difficulty involved in keeping specimens of that species alive and in good condition anywhere in the Mississippi Valley, or on the Atlantic coast. The changes of atmosphereand temperature seem more violent than American mountain sheep are fitted by nature to endure, and thus far all specimens tried have died within a comparatively few months.

CHAMOIS

MARKHOR

In his own country, the Rocky Mountain Big-Horn is a bold, hardy and robust animal. He is high-headed, keen-sighted, and a sure-footed mountaineer. He dwells in the wildest and most picturesque country that he can find between the “bad-lands” of western North Dakota and the line of perpetual snow on the Rockies. His massive circling horns render his head a much-coveted trophy, and his flesh is most excellent food. A full-grown ram (Ovis canadensis) stands 41 inches in height at the shoulders, and weighs 316 pounds.

AOUDAD

PERSIAN WILD GOAT

This species ranges from the northern states of Mexico to northern British Columbia and it culminates (i. e.,reaches its finest development) in southeastern British Columbia. In Northwest Alaska other related species occur. A female specimen from southeastern British Columbia was exhibited in the Zoological Park during 1905 and 1906, and in 1902, a male specimen of a closely related species (Ovis nelsoni) was also here.

As opportunities offer to procure male specimens, that have been kept in their home region until they are at least a year and a half old, they will be purchased and exhibited.

The Mouflon, (Ovis musimon), orWild Sheepof Sardinia, is represented by a fine pair of specimens presented by Maurice Egerton, Esq., of London, and a young male born in the Park. The female of the adult pair was captured when a lamb in the mountains of Sardinia by Mr. Egerton. The ram of this species is handsomely colored, and this specimen is noted for his friendliness, and his fondness for admiration.

The Arcal Mountain Sheep, (Ovis cycloceros), is one of the smallest mountain sheep of India of the “big-horn” type (with circling horns). The fully adult male, with its long undermane of coarse, shaggy hair and proud postures, is a very noteworthy creature. This species inhabits the mountains of northern India, Tibet, Afghanistan, Beluchistan and southern Persia.

The Burrhel, orBlue Mountain Sheep, (Ovis burrhel), also of northern India, is of quite a different mould from the preceding species. Its countenance has almost a benign expression, and its curious out-pointing horns, of large size give it a most jaunty air. By some it is regarded as the most beautiful of all mountain sheep. In size, however, it is not imposing, for it is one of the smallest species. It is not so hardy as the preceding species, and there may be periods when there are no specimens on exhibition.

The Aoudad, orBarbary Wild Sheep, (Ovis tragelaphus), comes from the hot, dry mountains of northern Africa, and it endures the cold, wet climate of New York in a manner sufficient to put to shame our American mountain sheep, goat and other western ruminants. The largest male Aoudad of our herd is a very fine specimen of its kind. He is as fond of admiration as any peacock, and often poses in striking attitudes on the highest point of his rocks. He was born here on March 19, 1902.

The Himalayan Tahr, (Hemitragus jemlaicus), is really a wild goat, of very odd and picturesque aspect, native ofthe higher ranges of the Himalayas of northern India. Its horns are short and thick, and its body is covered with long, purplish-brown hair which is much blown about by the wind. It dwells amongst the most dangerous crags and precipices, just below timber-line, and in reality is a forest-loving animal. Its hair is the longest to be found on any member of the two subfamilies of goats and goat-like animals. The pair on exhibition have bred here, and the young have been successfully reared to maturity. The young Tahr is very small, but remarkably nimble-footed and capable.

The Chamois, (Rupicapra tragus), has usually been represented in the hoofed-animal collection, but always out of its proper installation. Our individuals have not thriven on Mountain Sheep Hill, always becoming ill soon after being placed there. They thrive well, however, in a small wire pen with a sanded floor quite near the Puma and Lynx House (No. 33A), and there we keep them.

This animal is one of the rock antelopes, and is related to the American Mountain Goat. It is a bold mountaineer, and even to-day is pictorially represented as leaping “from crag to crag” across chasms apparently 200 feet wide! Its home is in the mountains of southern Europe, especially the Pyrenees, the Swiss Alps and the Caucasus Mountains. But it is not so exclusively a crag-dweller, as most persons have been led to suppose, for in many localities it inhabits mountain forests. Like most other mountain ungulates, the Chamois dwell high in summer, and in winter they seek lower and more sheltered situations. They are exceedingly wary and agile, and sure-footed on dangerous ground.

The Antelope House occupies a commanding situation on a high, tree-covered knoll at the south end of the Zoological Park. The situation seems as if specially formed by Nature to be occupied by this building, and its outside enclosures. The drainage is quite perfect, and the yards are well-shaded.

The building has been designed to meet the wants of giraffes and large African antelopes of all kinds, more especially those which require 60° of heat in winter.

NILGAI: INDIAN ANTELOPE.

The Antelope House is 142 feet long by 78 feet in extreme width. In architectural style it conforms with the other large animal buildings of the Park. Both for visitors and for its animals, it is roomy and well lighted, and in every way fitted to house and display a large and valuable collection of tropical hoofed animals. It contains 24 interior compartments, directly connected with 23 open-air yards for use in mild weather. This building was completed and occupied on October 17, 1903, and with all its surrounding improvements has cost about $80,000.

As the visitor will observe from the following enumeration of species, our collection of large and rare African and Asiatic antelopes is very rich. Unfortunately, until the completion of the Zebra House releases the apartments now occupied by the equines, a number of species which belong in the Antelope House must temporarily be quartered elsewhere.

The NubianorThree-Horned Giraffes, (Giraffa camelopardalis), are at present the most important and interesting animals in the building. The pair came from German East Africa, are now (April, 1913) about twelve years old, and cost $5,500. The male stands 14 feet 4 inches in height, and the female 12 feet 6 inches. Both are good-temperedanimals, and have been in good health ever since their arrival. Their food consists of clover hay, broken forage-biscuits, an assortment of raw vegetables carefully cut into small pieces, a small quantity of bran, and rock salt.

A study of the Giraffes reveals most interesting conditions. According to the point of view, the total number of species and subspecies may be reckoned at any number from three to six, inclusive. According to the specimens in hand, the Southern, or Two-Horned Giraffe, (Giraffa capensis), seems clearly defined from the Northern, or Three-Horned Giraffe, (G. camelopardalis). Next, the Somali Giraffe, (G. reticulata), of the Lake Rudolph region and northern British East Africa, seems fairly separable. At first the Five-Horned Giraffe, of western Uganda, seemed quite distinct, but now British naturalists hesitate about according to it rank as a separate species, because of its intergradation with the Nubian form, (camelopardalis).

Judging from all evidence now available, it seems that the Giraffes of to-day represent the midway stage of an effort to develop several species from the parent stock, the Three-Horned Giraffe, which is the species here represented. The existing forms, including all species and subspecies, intergrade and run together in a manner that is fairly bewildering; but if the Giraffes could remain uninfluenced by man for a sufficiently long period the probabilities are that the species now branching off would be clearly established.

The oldest, the best-known and the most common Giraffe is the three-horned species, found from central Uganda southward. The five-horned variety meets the former in Uganda, and occurs from that region westward to the edge of the great equatorial forest, and on westward even to Lake Tchad, and the lower Niger Valley. Excepting in Uganda, Kahma’s country, and a few other protected districts, the Giraffe is now rare, particularly throughout the regions that are accessible to hunters. Thousands of these wonderful creatures have been killed by hunters, both white and black, solely for the sake of seeing them dead, and leaving them as prey to the hyænas and hunting-dogs. It seems to be beyond the power of most men who can shoot to see living wild animals, no matter how large or wonderful, without desiring to reduce them to carcasses, fit only for scavengers.

NUBIAN GIRAFFES.

The Eland, (Taurotragus oryx), is the largest and most imposing of all antelopes. As might be inferred from its great size, it is now so nearly extinct that it has almost disappeared from the lists of dealers in wild animals. The fine young pair now in the Antelope House was presented by the Duke of Bedford, from his famous animal collection at Woburn Park. The fully adult female is the gift of Mr. C. Ledyard Blair.

Of Elands there are two well-marked species. That of eastern and southern Africa, here represented, was once numerous on many of the fertile plains of the great plateau now known as Rhodesia, and in fact throughout nearly the whole of the uplands of eastern Africa, from the Cape to the Sahara. Unfortunately, however, white hunters and modern firearms have reduced the countless thousands of the great herds to numbers so small that the capture and exportation of Elands have practically ceased.

Although a number of Elands have been born in captivity, the number on public exhibition still remain very small. The only captive herd known to the writer is that of the Duke of Bedford, in Woburn Park, England, which is at once the admiration and envy of all collectors of living wild animals.

The White-Tailed Gnu, (Connochaetes gnu), once was abundant in South Africa, south of the Vaal River. But it has shared the fate of all the other large mammals of thatregion, and only a few scattered bands still exist. Nearly all of the specimens now living in captivity were born in captivity, for both species of Gnu take kindly to life in parks and gardens.

Every way considered, the Gnu is an animal of odd and remarkable form. It has a nose of strange shape, its horns are curiously formed, the hair on its head and neck exhibits various peculiarities, and its hips are oddly modeled. Its long, flowing tail is so horse-like that for many years this animal was pictured and popularly known as the “Horned Horse.”

The White-Bearded Gnu, (Connochaetes albojubatus), is noticeably larger than the white-tailed species, and in some respects it presents a finer appearance. Its bulk is considerably greater, and its color is more pleasing. This species bears a strong resemblance to the third species, which is known as theBrindledorBlue Gnu, (Connochaetes taurinus), from which the former is distinguished by its white mane and jaw-tufts, and generally paler color. At wide intervals the White-Bearded species inhabits southern East Africa, from about S. Lat. 23°, to the Albert Nyanza and Lake Rudolph, but chiefly near the coast. In only one locality do we learn of its occurrence west of the 30th meridian. To-day it is most numerous in German East Africa and the southern portions of Uganda.

The Addax Antelope, (Addax naso-maculatus), is a spiral-horned antelope which inhabits the southern edge of the Sahara Desert from Dongola quite across Africa to Senegal. Its extremely broad and spreading hoofs betoken a dweller upon sand, and are strongly suggestive of the snow-shoe hoofs of the caribou. It is said that this animal is not to be taken without making a journey into the desert, with camels.

The Leucoryx Antelope, (Oryx leucoryx), is the only member of its genus which has curved horns. Because of the length and very slight curvature of the horns, this species has by some writers been spoken of as theSabre Antelope, and by a mischievous perversion that name has been turned into “Sable” Antelope, which refers to a totally different creature, (Hippotragus niger). Anyone who places an order for the purchase of a real Sable Antelope, and receives a Leucoryx instead ofHippotragus niger, is profoundly disappointed.

This species is a desert habitant, and its home is the desert region of North Africa from Dongola to the Senegal country.It is breeding regularly here, and the offspring mature successfully. The largest Leucoryx horns on record measure 39⅝ inches.

BEATRIX ANTELOPE

BLESSBOK

The Beisa Antelope, (Oryx beisa), is a good representative of the group of straight-horned antelopes found in the genusOryx. Of all the long-horned species, the two Beisas and the Gemsbok of Africa, and the Beatrix of Arabia, are the only species possessed of horns that are practically straight from base to tip. The Gemsbok is the largest and most showy species, being painted like a harlequin, in a startling pattern of roan, black and white. The Beisa is a good second, however. The horns of all these antelopes grow to great length, and are excellent weapons for use in encounters with the smaller game-killing carnivores. The largest horns of record measure 40 inches.

The Beisa inhabits eastern Central Africa, from Suakin on the Red Sea southward to the Equator.

The Beatrix Antelope, (Oryx beatrix), of the Arabian Desert, is one of the rarest antelopes to be found in captivity, and at this date this interesting species is represented by a fine pair of specimens. The longest horns of record measure 26 inches. Very few sportsmen have seen this animal in its native haunts. Our pair has been breeding for three years, and has reared two young.

The Sable Antelope, (Hippotragus niger), is by many persons regarded as the handsomest of all the numerous species of African antelopes. In appearance it is very proud and high-headed; it has imposing horns that sweep backward in a semicircular curve; its large eyes and alert air betoken keen intelligence, and its glossy black coat, marked with purewhite, render it a most conspicuous animal. On its native veldt it has now become a very rare species, and seldom is taken by sportsmen. The fine male specimen in the Park was presented by Miss Jean Walker Simpson.

LEUCORYX ANTELOPE

WHITE-TAILED GNU

The Sing-Sing Waterbuck, (Cobus unctuosus), is a creature of the lowlands, and frequents the dense tangles of tall reeds that border many of the rivers of West Africa, above the great equatorial forest. In captivity it sometimes is one of the most insanely nervous and irrational creatures imaginable, ever seeking self-inflicted injuries.

The Blessbok, (Damaliscus albifrons), is a small but handsome purple-and-white antelope which is now very nearly extinct. Formerly a number of herds were preserved on fenced farms in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, but it is feared that none of them survived the Boer War. This species never lived north of the Limpopo, but south of that river it once was so numerous that a truthful traveler described a vast plain as being “purple with Blessbok.”

The Nilgai, (Portax tragocamelus), is the largest of the Indian antelopes, and while it has the stature and the high shoulders of a Baker roan antelope, its absurdly small horns give it, beside the large antelopes of Africa, a very commonplace and unfinished appearance. The males and females are as differently colored as if they belonged to different species. This animal inhabits the roughest portions of the central plains of Hindustan, from Mysore to the Himalayas. In northern India it is found along the rivers Jumna and Ganges, in rugged and barren tracts of ravines which in character and origin resemble our western “bad-lands.”

Back to Index Next