The most important improvement undertaken was a building for hospital and laboratory. The construction of this was begun near the end of the year, part of the cost being met from this year's appropriation and the balance to come from the appropriation for the following year. The total cost is expected to be about $5,000. The building will be of stone, 30 by 56 feet, and one story high. There will be a room at each end fitted up for the accommodation of animals, and between these a laboratory room, 16 by 27 feet. Each room will be provided with four skylights. The location selected for the building is entirely separate from all other animal quarters, but yet easy of access for those who will have charge of the animals that are kept in it.

The cost of these improvements was as follows:

Hospital and laboratory (1915 appropriation) –

Cage and house for pumas..

Outdoor cage and house for monkeys.

Additional machine-shop equipment__

Additional equipment for food house_-.
Footbridge --

Rustic shelter at new stone bridge---

$2,300

1, 325

250

700

250

325

210

MAINTENANCE OF BUILDINGS, INCLOSURES, ETC.

The roads and walks in the park had received almost no repair since 1910, when a special appropriation was made for that purpose. Their condition had become so bad that repairs had to be made early in the year. The roads were extensively patched and given a general surfacing throughout with tar and crushed stone, over 2 miles of roadway being thus treated. Portions of the walks were repaired in the same manner. The total area of roads and walks repaired was 8,330 square yards. The ford near Klingle Road also had to be thoroughly repaired, and toward the close of the year it became necessary to pave with concrete the ford on the driveway to Cathedral Avenue, which, from the effects of high water and heavy ice in the creek, had become impassable. The total cost of this road work was $4,075 (upper ford $325, lower ford $615).

It was also necessary to clean out and repair the larger pond for waterfowl, in which an extensive bank of sand and mud had been deposited at time of flood by the water supply from the creek; this cost $850.

Progressive deterioration of the temporary bird house again made repairs necessary there. The wooden floor, which had already been rebuilt twice, was replaced with concrete, as was also a part of the wooden foundation. The cost of this work was $700. This building is an example of the ultimate costliness of cheap temporary con

struction.

The roof of the office building had to be reshingled and some other repairs made at a cost of $400.

The section of the heating main between the temporary bird house and the antelope and elephant houses was repaired and a considerable part of the pipe replaced. A new hot-water boiler, for auxiliary heating of snake cases, was also put in at a total cost of $500.

ALTERATION OF THE WEST BOUNDARY OF THE PARK.

The acquisition of the land required to extend the park to Connecticut Avenue from Cathedral Avenue to Klingle Road, for which an appropriation of $107,200 was made in the sundry civil act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, has not yet been accomplished. There was great delay at several stages in the proceedings for the condemnation of the land. A special survey and map of the property involved was required; the preliminary proceedings were then postponed from time to time in order that the property owners interested might submit arguments regarding the instructions to be given to the jury of condemnation; the work of the jury in arriving at the value of the land to be taken and the amount of benefits which should be assessed against neighboring property occupied several months; the hearing by the court of objections on the part of property owners to the verdict further delayed the matter, especially as the time of that court from November, 1914, to May, 1915, was almost entirely occupied by the contest in an important will case. Changes in the personnel of the court and of the Government attorneys also operated to delay and complicate the matter. The court finally, on June 28, 1915, confirmed the verdict of the jury as regards the awards of damages for land to be taken and a portion of the benefits assessed against neighboring property, but set aside the verdict as to benefits in all cases where the owners of the property had filed exceptions to the verdict. The amount awarded for the land to be taken was $194,438.08, and to this is to be added the cost of the proceedings, $2,203.35, making a total of $196,641.43. The benefits were assessed at $66,013.50, but a considerable part was set aside by the court. The exact amount that is involved in this decision of the court has yet to be determined by the Government attorneys upon examination of the land records.

The total amount required to purchase the land and meet the costs of condemnation will therefore be considerably greater than the sum that was appropriated, so that an additional appropriation will have to be obtained in order to secure all of the land for which the act provides.

ROCK CREEK INTERCEPTING SEWERS.

The District of Columbia completed the construction of the main intercepting sewer through the park in October, 1914, and shortly thereafter built a large connecting sewer to this from the intercepting sewer that had been constructed through the park some years before. In accomplishing this work there was necessarily a considerable amount of destruction and defacement of natural features along the line of the work. The District authorities and the contractor have removed the excavated material and restored the ground to its original condition so far as that is practicable, but some expenditure on the part of the park and considerable time will be required to bring it again into satisfactory condition.

PLAYGROUND PRIVILEGE.

At its request, the playground department of the District of Columbia was allowed to install several pieces of apparatus on a meadow near which is a favorite resort of picnic parties. The apparatus has been quite largely used. Objectionable features thus far have been some temporary disfigurement of an attractive part of the park and the tendency to extend playground operations beyond the area that was allotted for that purpose.

IMPORTANT NEEDS.

BUILDINGS.

The importance of providing certain permanent buildings for housing the collection and for other purposes has been urged for several years past, but, with the scanty means available, all that could be done was to provide, from two yearly appropriations, a small building to meet the bare necessities of a hospital and laboratory. An aviary building is still a most urgent need, and repeated efforts have been made to secure an appropriation for this purpose. A building to accommodate elephants, hippopotami, and certain other animals whose requirements as to housing and care are similar will soon be a necessity, as the present temporary quarters are already too small and insecure for the young animals, which are rapidly growing and acquiring formidable strength.

The need of a public-comfort and restaurant building has been stated repeatedly and attention called to the fact that the facilities which it has been possible thus far to provide are altogether inadequate and not befitting a public institution of this character.

Gatehouses should be provided at the principal entrances, all of which are at considerable distance from the exhibition buildings, and

they should include a small room for watchmen and limited toilet facilities for visitors.

PREPARATION OF SITES FOR BUILDINGS.

The park includes but little ground that is even comparatively level, and in order to provide a building site of any considerable extent it is usually necessary to grade off a hill or fill up a valley. This involves the destruction of the trees and shrubs on the area and their replacement after the grading is completed by others required about the building for shade and ornament. Early preparation of such sites is highly desirable, in order that the planting may be done in advance and as much time as possible utilized for growth, especially of trees for shade. The site that has been selected for the aviary will require grading over practically the entire area needed for the building, the attached outdoor cages, and the walks about them. This would involve the excavation and removal of some 14,000 cubic yards of earth. The location is indicated at A on the accompanying map, which also shows where the excavated material could be used to fill a deep, narrow valley adjoining the bear yards at B. Nearly 70,000 square feet of ground would thus be made available at the aviary site and some 34,000 square feet would be added to the usable area where the fill is made. It is estimated that the cost of this work would be about $4,000, and it is recommended that Congress be asked to appropriate that sum for the purpose.

ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION.

Attention is again called to the desirability of adding to the exhibit some of the more important animals which it still lacks, such as anthropoid apes, rhinoceros, giraffe, African buffalo and antelopes, and the mountain sheep and goat of our own country.

Respectfully submitted.

Dr. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,

FRANK BAKER,
Superintendent.

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.