446 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914, 
The total-number for Easter Monday, 1914, was found to exceed 
57,000. 
The main buildings are grouped within a comparatively small area. 
The most important is the lion house, shown in the background of 
plate 2. This contains most of the large cats, as well as a number 
of other interesting animals. Behind it are the monkey house, the 
bird house, the antelope house, each well filled with animals; at the 
west of these are the main inclosures for bears. In the valley below 
are the wolves, foxes, and dogs, the sea-lion pool, the beaver pool, 
the inclosures for otter, etc., and a shady pathway leads to the 
western entrance to the park. Along this pathway are various cages 
and inclosures. The houses for the elephants are along the main road 
beyond the antelope house. These houses and paddocks do not 
comprise the whole collection, for against the cliff at the very south- 
ern side of the park are another set of bear dens and an inclosure for 
the chamois; on the eastern side of Rock Creek are paddocks for elk, 
on the western side those for lamas, yak, and camels. 
Along the main pathways are cages containing animais so inured 
to changes of climate that they can remain out all winter. 
A flock of wild turkeys, several coveys of partridges, many peacocks, 
squirrels, and wild rabbits make their homes here and wander in 
perfect freedom throughout the whole extent of the park. At the 
opening of spring of 1913 a flock of wild geese voluntarily came down 
and settled in the pond where the other geese are kept. These 
beautiful birds became quite tame but unfortunately again took 
flight. 
THE AMERICAN BISON. THE YAK. 
When the park was first established it was thought that one of its 
principal functions should be the preservation of races of animals 
about to become extinct, and one of its earliest cares was the collection 
of a group of American bison, the great grazing animal that only 40 
years ago roamed in vast herds on the plains of the Middle West and 
was rapidly disappearing before the advance of railroads and the 
rapacity of hunters. The project for the preservation of this interest- 
ing and valuable animal has proceeded, chiefly under the stimulus 
of Dr. W. T. Hornaday, until at present there is no reason to suppose 
that it will wholly disappear, there being several large parks estab- 
lished where it breeds freely. A careful census made by the American 
Bison Society shows that there were in North America, January 1, 
_ 1914, 3,788 bison, of which 3,212 were in captivity, and that they are 
slowly increasing in numbers. 
The early settlers in America, with that strange mischance that 
seems to preside over the naming of new animals, called the American 
