NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 73 
Parks aided the Society by consenting that the particularly diff- 
cult tasks in road-making, fence-building, paving and other minor 
construction should be performed under the personal direction 
of the officers of the Zoological Park. It was chiefly due to this 
arrangement that so great a number of tasks were undertaken 
and completed both economically and satisfactorily in the work- 
ing season of 1904. 
The Ostrich House——Under a contract awarded and super- 
intended by the Park Department, the George L. Walker Com- 
pany erected, at a total cost of $36,890.00, a building 150 feet 
long by 29 feet wide in its interior, for ostriches, rheas, emeus 
and cassowaries. This structure was opened to the public on 
December 25, 1904. The exterior vards for this installation, 
eight in number, have been graded, drained, paved and fenced, 
wholly under the direction of the Society’s Chief Constructor, 
Mr. H. W. Merkel, quite apart from the contract for the erection 
of the building. 
The Small-Mammal House—For the accommodation of the 
small fur-bearing animals and many other small species not pro- 
vided for elsewhere, a building of the same size as the Ostrich 
House was erected under the same contract, and at the same 
cost. It is connected with its twin structure by a handsome and 
spacious portico. It represents the very latest improvements and 
methods in the care of small mammals of all kinds except mon- 
keys, and it brought its living contents through the very severe 
winter of 1904-5 very successfully. It is provided with 176 
cages, and constitutes a very important addition to the exhibi- 
tion equipment of the Zoological Park. 
Large Bird House-—The construction of this large and impor- 
tant building, also under contract with the George L. Walker 
Company, began early in 1904, and progressed favorably through- 
out the year. The contract price 1s $115,644.00, not including the 
glass addition in the southeastern angle. This structure is in- 
tended for perching birds generally, the parrots, macaws and 
cockatoos, the shore birds, guans, curassows, toucans, hornbills 
and woodpeckers. The completion of the main structure is 
expected in May, 1905. 
The Pheasants’ Aviary.—In October a contract for the erection 
of an aviary for pheasants, doves and pigeons, was awarded to 
Mr. Conrad Hewett, in the sum of $19,546. The old aviary was 
immediately removed, and work began very promptly upon the 
new structure. The new aviary is 240 feet long and provides 38 
runways of various sizes. The upper story of the shelter house 
