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Smithsonian Report, 1917.-Secretary's Report.

PLATE 1.

FIG. 2.-VIEW ON THE NEW NORTH AMERICAN WATERFOWL LAKE IN THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK. TWENTY-FOUR OF OUR NATIVE SPECIES OF WILD DUCKS AND GEESE MAY BE SEEN ON THIS LAKE.

FIG. 1.-HIPPOPOTAMUS AND YOUNG (BORN IN NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK, MAY 23, 1917).

FIG. 2.-ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP RECEIVED AT THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK, MARCH 7, 1917, FROM ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK, BANFF, ALBERTA, CANADA.

SUMMARY.

Animals on hand July 1, 1916.

Accessions during the year.

1,383

397

1,780

Deduct loss (by exchange, death, return of animals, and animals liberated)

557

The number of visitors to the park during the year, as determined by count and estimate, was 1,106,800, a daily average of 3,032. The greatest number in any one month was 171,400, in April, 1917, an average per day of 5,713. The attendance by months was as follows:

1916: July, 78,800; August, 80,500; September, 122,550; October, 92,200; November, 43,250; December, 44,625.

1917: January, 37,750; February, 55,675; March, 108,400; April, 171,400; May, 110,550; June, 161,100.

Excepting 1916, this was the largest attendance in the history of the park. The number of visitors was only 50,310 less than in 1916, and doubtless would have exceeded that record year but for the unseasonable weather on Easter Monday.

One hundred and fifty-three schools and classes visited the park, with a total of 8,492 individuals. In addition to the local schools and those from near-by States, these included schools from Alabama, Arkansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. A number of officials from other zoological gardens visited the park.

The exceptionally favorable weather made the skating pond an attractive feature during the past winter and for a much longer period than usual. The ice was kept clean of snow throughout the season and the appreciation of the public would seem to warrant the construction of additional lakes to be used for exhibits of waterfowl during the summer and skating in winter.

IMPROVEMENTS.

The hospital and laboratory, which has been mentioned in the reports for the last two years, is still unfinished, but a considerable amount of work was done on the interior cages so that the building now lacks only the necessary outside yards and the laboratory equipment. The hospital cages are designed for the care and special comfort of indisposed or quarantined animals, and accommodations are provided for two mammals of lion-size, three of leopard-size, three large ruminants, and a number of smaller animals. In addition, there is a large, well lighted, central room for laboratory use. The completion of this building will greatly facilitate the work of the pathologists from the Department of Agriculture who visit the park.

The largest water fowl lake, in the southeastern part of the park, was enlarged and reconstructed to provide safe and retired breeding and resting places for the birds. It had formerly been inclosed by a fence of ordinary poultry wire without special protection from predacious animals, and there had been frequent loss from the depredations of rat's and the smaller native carnivores. In order to increase sufficiently the land area it was necessary to construct a stone wall along Rock Creek at the rear of the inclosure. By lowering the grade of the hill bordering the lake, sufficient earth was procured to fill up to the level of the wall on the inner side. A rat-proof fence was woven in the machine shop and further provided with guards against cats and raccoons. The level of the water was raised about

12 inches, greatly increasing the size of the lake, and the new fence was constructed on a concrete coping considerably outside the former boundary. Numerous shrubs, small trees, canes, and grasses were planted to supplement the fine growth of larger trees already on the area. Visitors walk along one side of the lake only and as the thick vegetation virtually hides the fence on the opposite side at all points the effect is that of a wilderness breeding lake for ducks and geese. As completed, the inclosure provides almost natural conditions for the waterfowl of numerous species and forms a very attractive exhibit. It has been given over entirely to North American species. and it is hoped that a large representation of the ducks, geese, and other aquatic birds commonly associated with them native to our continent may be kept here. On June 30, no less than 136 North American waterfowl, of 24 species, were to be seen on the lake. The natural surroundings and the fact that only American species are shown here makes this waterfowl lake of special interest to school classes, sportsmen, and bird lovers, and it has become one of the popular features of the park. A cement walk was extended from the bridge near the Harvard Street entrance along the south side of

the road to the cross roads, to connect with the cinder path bordering the lake.

The work of grading and filling around the old buffalo house and the remodeling of the building for other uses, which was commenced last year, has been completed. As reconstructed the building makes an ideal shelter of pleasing design and furnishes house space for the animals occupying the six large paddocks that surround it. The Canadian Rocky Mountain sheep, the elands, and the Kashmir deer are provided for in this group of yards.

An outdoor cage and shelter, summer quarters for the chimpanzee, were built near the north entrance to the lion house. This provides not only for the better health of this interesting trained ape, but makes it possible for larger crowds to gather about at the time his meals are served.

New paddocks were provided for ungulate mammals on the piece of ground recently leveled by grading northwest of the llama yards. Much-needed repairs were made on the wolf dens and to the lionhouse roof.

A considerable portion of the pasture land near the office was plowed as an addition to the garden, in an effort to decrease the cost of feed for the animals. For the same reason horseflesh has been substituted for beef as food for the carnivorous animals, with the prospect of saving at least $6,000 on this item alone during the next fiscal year. A portion of the nursery was fenced and breeding pens for quail and other game birds were installed within the inclosure. It is hoped that most of the quail of various species needed for park purposes may be reared in this place and that important experiments in the breeding of game birds may at the same time be conducted without additional expense.

THE PARK AS A BIRD SANCTUARY.

The entire 169 acres of the National Zoological Park constitutes a carefully preserved sanctuary for native wild birds. Every effort is being made to increase the bird population within this area and to give better protection to the resident species. During the past year over 100 nesting boxes were provided for those species which commonly nest in holes in trees. These were made in the carpenter shop at odd times during the winter months from trunks and limbs of fallen trees with the bark in place. Attached to trees of the same kind or with bark of the same color these nesting boxes are much less conspicuous and unsightly in the park trees than square boxes made from planed boards. Many of the boxes were occupied during the summer by bluebirds, chickadees, nuthatches, wrens, and flickers, and additional nests will be provided from year to year. During the