Morning journal and courier., 1880-04-19
Life Among the Animals.
Births, Deaths, and Casualties ina tne
 Central Park Collection.

CehLrSIA 4ATk COIAeCtkOh
 EFrcm the New York sup.l
 Mir. William A. ConklIn, Director of the Central Park Menagerie, has just submitted to the Commissioners his annualreport, which gives much interesting information. There were 1,206 animals in the park during the year. Of these 402 were birds, 242 man. mals. and 24 reptiles. The births were as follows Flight lions (two filters of four each), 1 puma, prairie wolves Cat one birth), 1 Nubian goat, zsbu, Cape buffalo, Wapiti deer, Virginia deer, l Mexican deer, Toul- ouse goose, 5 wild geese, white swans, black swans, pea fowl, white turkeys, 20 Guinea fowls.
 The mortuary record is as follows:
 One leopard, one prairie wolf, one sea lion, one tapir, one Vicuna, one camel, one yak, Bamboo deer, one tiger bittern, and one European crane.
 The leopard died of dropsy, after finger ing illness she had been in the collection ten and one half years. The prairie wolf and the vicuna died of old age and inanition the for mer having bsen nearly eleven years and the latter nearly nine years in the collection. The wolf was about ? years old when it was re- ceived from the Western prairies, and had lived about his allotted span, Mir. Conkln said yesterday. He grew shaggy, and became blind and toothless. The deaths of other an- inals were thus told by the director yesterday The yak had pleuro pneumonia; the camel was sick, and in staggering around fell with one of her legs under her and broke it the deer had paralysis the tiger bittern got out of it's cage one winters night, and lost its feet by frost the sea lion and the tapir had dis eases that medicine would not cure. The handsome crane that ussd to wander around the sea lions cage met the saddest fate of ah It was his favorite amusement to march around and peck at the sea lions as they lay asleep, and stir them up. They would rouse up at his attacks and move away. At last the I,ir, linn that RorrI1po 1afE in fha mark eynf vexed, and one day, when the crane was peck ing viciously at his hind legs, the animal wheeled around and took the cranes head of at one snap of his jaws.
 The animals consumed 193, $50 pounds of hay, 8, 926 pounds of straw, 541 bushels of oats. 566 bushels of corn, 136 bags of bran, IS bushels of seed, Y ,350 pounds of meat, 25,- 792 pounds of bread, 7,493 pounds of fish, 3, 116 quarts of milk, and 10 barrels of crack CTS. 4 large portion of the above provision was furnished by the owners of animals. The maintenance of the animals cost the city near ly $11, ,oOO. Repairs, &c., made the total ex- penditure $14, ,992.99.
 The most valuable animals on exhibition, according to the report were two black leop- ards, four polar bears, one two-horned rh1noc- eros, see lion and cub. The mother sea lion was the one that died. The cub was discon- solate and refused food, but alter tom cod smelts had been forced down its throat for time it took regular diet and survived.
 Among the fish in the Central Park lakes are catfish, white peach, yellow perch, goldfish, sunfish, black bass, suckers and eels.
 Thirty gray squirrels and fifty quail set free in the park have increased and multiplied wonderfully, and their presence has drawn great numbers of hawks, of which many have been shot.
 The extermination of cats end dogs does not come in Director Conkln's province. Su- perintendent Dawson, wko has charge of this work, reports the killing of nearly 500 cats and 130 dogs in the past year, besides many moles and few nauskrats.