188 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
esting fashion but they seem happier and more contented. The 
keepers have done all this work on their own initiative. 
Some of the cages of the reptile house were redecorated with addi- 
tional stonework, giving the reptiles crevices to lhe in and providing 
them a sense of security and at the same time keeping them on exhibi- 
tion. Some of the cages were repainted in pastel colors, and several 
were equipped with fluorescent lights, as a pilot exhibit anticipating 
the day when all of them will be lighted in this manner. The glass at 
the top of all the permanent reptile cages was replaced by wire 
screening to provide better ventilation; four of the portable cages 
were reconstructed out of aluminum as pilot exhibits. 
The parking-lot fill near the elephant house was completed, as well 
as the fill between the hay barn and the incinerator, and a service road 
was built from the sheep mountain to the basement of the reptile 
house, thus furnishing vehicular access from the reptile house to the 
buffalo pens. This means that various park automobiles can service 
this entire area without interfering with public traflic. 
The year’s appropriation included $50,000 in capital outlay for the 
replacement and refurbishing of the hoofed-stock pens at the Connecti- 
cut Avenue entrance and the acquatic-mammal area above the sea-lion 
pool. The two pens on the right side of the walk leading to the bird- 
house were refenced, using chain-link fence, and slightly enlarged; 
terraced walls were put in, resurfaced with dirt, and seeded. This 
hillside had been unsightly because of years of erosion. ‘The two pens 
in the triangle between the walk leading to the birdhouse and the 
Connecticut Avenue-Harvard Street road were refenced, using chain- 
link fencing, and enlarged, the surface was raised by the use of fill 
dirt, and another pen was added. The new type of visitors’ fence was 
put around these new pens. A new pen for deer was installed behind 
the beaver area and the sea-lion pool. The deer can be seen across 
the valley from the walk in front of the bear dens. 
Work on the aquatic-mammal area should be completed in the 
early part of fiscal year 1960. It is hoped that in the coming year 
the otter exhibit will also be functioning once again. In years past 
the public took a keen interest in watching otters at play, but this 
section of “Beaver Valley” was abandoned because of lack of funds 
to maintain it. 
The work of the gardener’s force was mainly that of removing dead 
trees, which are a menace to both animals and visitors, and replacing 
them with young trees. In all, 248 trees were cut down in the course 
of the year. The grounds department also furnishes the animal de- 
partment with forage for the animals. Heavy logs for the big cats 
to climb, perches and sawed hollow logs for small mammals, gnawing 
logs for rodents, and perches for birds are supplied on demand; and 
