94 ANKUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



tance from town and is annually visited by over 1,000,000 people, 

 including many young children. The present restaurant is so only 

 in name, it being a makeshift affair, open on all sides, established on 

 a temporary platform and affording no shelter during the driving 

 and violent rainstorms that are so common here in summer. It fre- 

 quentl}^ occurs that large numbers of- people are drenched with rain 

 before they can traverse the considerable distance between the deep 

 valley in which the park is situated and a place of shelter. Most 

 zoological parks are provided with spacious and commodious quar- 

 ters of this kind. 



Gatehouses. — Suitable gatehouses should be erected at the principal 

 entrances to the park, viz : Those near Connecticut Avenue, at Quarry 

 Road (Harvard Street), and at Adams Mill Eoad. It is sometimes 

 necessary to close the entrances promptly, as in the case of the escape 

 of an animal or for arrest of some offender. Besides this, the present 

 entrance gates are far from dignified or suitable for a Government 

 institution. They are properly merely temporary, awaiting the time 

 when the boundaries of the park are definitely fixed. Each gate- 

 house should have not only quarters for the watchman but also toilet 

 facilities. 



Boundary fence. — In connection with this the inclosing boundary 

 fence of the park should be considered. The present fence is of the 

 type known as the " Page woven-wire fence." 



It is believed that it would be more economical and efficient to con- 

 struct a practically permanent iron fence than to replace the present 

 nearly worn-out structure by another of similar character. It is sug- 

 gested that the matter be referred to several iron-fence builders with 

 a request for designs and prices. While the first cost of such a fence 

 would undoubtedly be much greater, it would many times outlast the 

 present structure and could be absolutely depended on to stop animals 

 and men. Certain animals and game birds could be allowed to run 

 at large within the park were it entirely certain that the fence would 

 prevent their escape. We alreacty have at large peacocks, wild tur- 

 keys, and squirrels, and it would be easy to considerably increase this 

 list. It should be remembered that on several rare occasions caged 

 animals have become loose within the park, and it is by no means 

 certain that such accidents will not again occur. A few years ago 

 the superintendent of the park was sued for damages alleged to be 

 due to the escape of a wolf. The park is well wooded and a sudden 

 heavy gale may throw tree trunks across the paddock fences, break- 

 ing them down and thus leading to the escape of the animals. Should 

 this occur during the darkness of a stormy night it would be practi- 

 cally impossible for the keepers and watchmen to confine the animals 

 again until daylight. 



