REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 



109 



Attendance by months aa'qs as follows 



1927 



July 303, 800 



August 266, 900 



September 307, 300 



October 238, 050 



November 134, 700 



December 40, 300 



1928 



January 65, 150 



February 68, 875 



March 122, 750 



April ■ 286, 624 



May 211, 250 



June 252, 150 



Total for year 2,298,449 



During the year the park has been the center of a number of 

 scientific activities. The American Society of IMammalogists, the 

 American Ornithologists' Union, and the Society of Ichthyologists 

 and Herpetologists all visited the park officially and had their annual 

 smoker at the administration building. The Vivarium Society has 

 held monthly meetings at the park. 



The attendance of organized classes of students was 27.959, from 

 445 different schools. 



IMPROVEMENTS 



The bird house was completed in June and the installation of the 

 birds commenced, so the building will be opened to the public early 

 in the summer. This building is unique of its kind in providing four 

 rooms under one roof, with 145 indoor cages. The great flight cage 

 in the center room is 58 feet long by 22 feet wide and 30 feet high, 

 with rock work and running water at one end, a large pool in the 

 middle, and a fine tree at the opposite end, and makes, with its con- 

 tents, a remarkably fine exhibit. Mr. Harris, the District architect, 

 find Arthur L. Smith, the contractor, deserve great credit for this 

 building, which has been highly praised by visitors from other 

 zoological parks and by the public in general. 



Outdoor cages will be built during the coming fall, which will 

 make the bird house the center of the ornithological section of the 

 park. It is planned to develop the area about this building as runs 

 for outdoor birds. 



In connection with the bird house, the maintenance force of the 

 park has done a great deal of work, cutting down a considerable hill 

 to permit a good approach to the building, building walks and roads, 

 installing sewers, and other details necessary to the new building, so 

 that in general we have been able to make few improvements in other 

 parts of the park. 



NEEDS OF THE ZOO 



At present a consicierable part of the appropriation has to be spent each year 

 in repairing temporary structures. (Report of June 30, 1902.) 



The inadequacy of the appropriations for the proper equipment of the park 

 has made it necessary to exercise an unwise economy in the construction of its 



