23 



A brief explanation of these fundamental principles may 

 be necessary for a proper understanding of the subject from 

 the writer's standpoint. It is well known that many ani- 

 mals, wdien held in restraint, exhibit all the symptoms 

 of fear, grief, rage, etc., and frequently refuse all food, 

 and pine and die. Many birds will beat themselves to 

 death on the wires of their cages. All such restraint, 

 evidently involving great suffering, is necessarily cruel and 

 objectionable from that standpoint alone. From a financial 

 standpoint it is altogether objectionable, because the great 

 mortality resulting from keeping animals in an unhealthy 

 or unhappy condition makes the expense of maintenance 

 of great collections of animals of any kind too great for 

 financial return for private enterprise, or for popular sup- 

 port for educational purposes. 



The attempts heretofore made in this direction in the 

 United States, as well as the known financial aspects of 

 the establishment of aquaria abroad, and of zoological 

 gardens as well abroad and at home, justify the statements 

 herein made. There is nothing to be gained by ignoring 

 them. Whatever advance is made in the future must 

 come from a recognition of the general principles herein 

 sought to be exj)lained. The establishment of the 

 National Zoological Garden at Washington, under the 

 direct management of a naturalist who has studied animals 

 in their natural homes and haunts, instead of in books, 

 promises to make a departure in such work in many re- 

 spects, in a closer approximation of natural conditions, as 

 far, at least, as the limited extent of space provided will 

 allow. A much greater park, such as the entire Rock 

 Creek Valley would make, affording all the room and vari- 

 ability of surroundings necessary to the contentment of 

 animals of widely divergent natures, would only be worthy 

 of so great a country. 



In the establishment of great aquaria, when the subject 

 assumes an importance deserving consideration, it will be 



