24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



a male orang-utan, the first of these interesting animals to be shown 

 for many years. Mr. Victor J. Evans, of Washington, continued his 

 previous generosity to the park by presenting a young Kadiak bear, 

 a pair of birds of paradise, a species never before shown here, and 

 some valuable parrots. A full list of the animals presented and their 

 donors is given in the full report on the park, Appendix 6. Many 

 valuable specimens were also secured by exchange and transfer, and 

 a few b}^ purchase. The total number of animals in the collection on 

 June 30, 1021, was 1,545, representing 478 species, an increase over the 

 year before of 118 individuals and 59 species. 



Owing to a drop toward the end of the year in the cost of food 

 for the animals, it was possible to undertake a few much-needed and 

 long-deferred improvements. Sections of roads were rebuilt and 

 repaired, one of the fords across Rock Creek was rebuilt with 

 cement, a sidewalk was laid from the much-used Harvard Street 

 entrance, the great flight cage for birds was scraped and painted, and 

 several minor improvements were completed. With the aid of a 

 small sawmill, 140,000 feet of lumber and 80,000 shingles were 

 salvaged from dead chestnut trees in the park. 



The purchase of land necessary for the protection of the Connecti- 

 cut Avenue entrance, mentioned in several previous reports, was 

 completed during the year, and a small unexpended balance of the 

 money available for this purpose was reappropriated for the pur- 

 chase of certain much-needed lots near the Adams Mills Road 

 entrance. 



The most urgent needs of the park are a suitable public restaurant 

 building, a building for the exhibition of small mammals, and funds 

 for the completion of grading and filling operations, which Would 

 provide a large area of flat space for deer and other animals, and 

 would make possible the elimination of a dangerous curve in the 

 main automobile road. 



ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY. 



The most important event during the year was the location of a 

 new solar observing station on Mount Harqua Hala, Ariz., probably 

 the most cloudless region in the United States. This station, which 

 was erected through the generosity of Mr. John A. Roebling, of New 

 Jersey, will be used for the purpose of securing solar-constant obser- 

 vations on all possible days for several years, which it is hoped will 

 furnish, in conjunction with similar observations to be made at the 

 Smithsonian station at Montezuma, Chile, a sound basis for the 

 study of the relation between solar variation and our weather condi- 

 tions on the earth. 



At Washington the preparation of Volume IV of the Annals of 

 the Astrophysical Observatory, mentioned in last year's report, 



