SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I929 53 



The great flight cage for the eagles was the finest we saw. It is 

 oval in shape, about 200 feet long and 50 feet high, with all the 

 construction on the outside so that the inner space is left entirely 

 open for the birds. The background is formed by a rocky clift", so 

 that the birds may be viewed from above as well as below. 



Despite very cool and rainy weather the zoo was crowded, and one 

 can see why, for there are many unusual features here, including 

 a pair of elephants, one of them an African, which performs daily, 

 as do lions and chimpanzees. 



LEIPSIC (Director, Johannes Gebbing) 



The Leipsic Zoo was started in 1876 with a small structure built 

 especially to house a little collection of crocodiles, but soon developed 

 into one of the foremost gardens of Europe. As you enter the gar- 

 dens you are confonted by an enormous clifif of rock work, pierced 

 by a tunnel and a grotto with artificial stalactites. Down one side 

 of this mountain tuml)les a water-fall, on the other side is a semi- 

 circular cavern which serves as a bandstand. It was Whitsuntide, 

 and the crowd in the park was so great that we had to worm our 

 way through even in the early morning. 



The finest building is a new pachyderm house, an enormous brick 

 structure with barless enclosures both inside and out, the animals 

 being separated from the public only by pits. The indoor hippo- 

 potamus pool, a very large one, was partially sheltered by a shelv- 

 ing rock which was thickly planted with flowering tropical plants. 



The collection is large and contains many great rarities, with a 

 choice collection of fishes and reptiles. 



HALLE (Director, Dr. Fritz Schmidt) 



This is a mountainous zoo, built on a hill in a series of terraces, 

 with paths winding up the hill and around the cages. The finest build- 

 ing is the lion house. Ijuilt in 1926, which has also an outdoor tiger 

 cage 40 feet in length. The hillsides have been excavated here and 

 there and cages set in for various small mammals, an attractive and 

 practical arrangement. The monkey house is small but well lighted 

 and arranged. In a small aquarium building were 100 small tanks 

 with a collection of European fishes and batrachians. 



MUNICH (Director, Hans Heck) 



This, the geo-zoo of Europe, was opened only two years ago, The 

 park is well out of the city, and comprises 35 hektares of mostly 



