20 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



instruction is evident from the fact that the record of attendance 

 has again been broken during the past year. The previous year's 

 visitors numbered 2,220,605, which figure was this year exceeded by 

 171,232, making a total of 2,400,837. One hundred and twenty-four 

 schools and classes, numbering 13,629 individuals, visited the park 

 during the year for instruction purposes. The number of animals 

 exhibited to the public is greater than at any time since 1912, while 

 the number of species represented in the collection is greater than ever 

 before. The scientific importance and monetary value of the collec- 

 tion also are much greater than in any previous year. Gifts of ani- 

 mals during the year numbered 178, including many rare and 

 valuable specimens. Mr. Isaac Ellison, of Singapore, presented the 

 park with a male orang-utan, the first of these interesting animals 

 to be shown for manj^ years. Mr. Victor J. Evans, of Washington, 

 continued his previous generosity to the park by presenting a young 

 Kadiak bear, a pair of birds of paradise, a species never before 

 shown here, and some valuable parrots. A full list of the animals 

 presented and their donors is given in the full report on the Park, 

 Appendix 6. Many valuable specimens were also secured by ex- 

 change and transfer, and a few by purchase. The total number of 

 animals in the collection on June 30, 1921, was 1,545, representing 

 478 species, an increase over the year before of 118 individuals and 

 59 species. 



Owing to a drop toward the end of the year in the cost of food 

 for the animals, it was possible to undertake a few much-needed and 

 long-deferred improvements. Sections of roads were rebuilt and 

 repaired, one of the fords across Rock Creek was rebuilt with 

 cement, a sidewalk was laid from the much-used Harvard Street 

 entrance, the great flight cage for birds was scraped and painted, 

 and several minor improvements were completed. With the aid of a 

 small sawmill, 140,000 feet of lumber and 80,000 shingles were 

 salvaged from dead chestnut trees in the park. 



The purchase of land necessary for the protection of the Connecti- 

 cut Avenue entrance, mentioned in several previous reports, was 

 completed during the year, and a small unexpended balance of the 

 money available for this purpose was reappropriated for the purchase 

 of certain much-needed lots near the Adams Mill Road entrance. 



The most urgent needs of the park are a suitable public restaurant 

 building, a building for the exhibition of small mammals, and funds 

 for the completion of grading and filling operations, which would 

 provide a large area of flat space for deer and other animals, and 

 would make possible the elimination of a dangerous curve in the 

 main automobile road. 



