44^ The Smithsonian Institntion 



their native condition and the attractions of the ordinary 

 zoological garden. 



It was believed that this project was entirely novel and that 

 it marked some advance over any scheme for the maintenance 

 of animals in captivity that had up to that time ever been 

 proposed. The zoological gardens of European capitals are 

 invariably situated in the midst of a numerous population, 

 where spacious grounds cannot be spared for their mainten- 

 ance. This greatly embarrasses their development and the 

 result is that the animals therein exhibited rarely if ever 

 appear in their natural conditions, and the old methods of 

 crowding, a heritage from the royal menagerie, yet prevail 

 to some extent. It is rarely possible to accommodate their 

 captivity to their obvious needs. 



The question of a possible site for such an enterprise was 

 at once raised. Secretary Langley, with rare judgment, 

 turned his attention to the picturesque valley of Rock Creek, 

 a small affluent of the Potomac that empties at Georgetown. 

 This little stream, ordinarily very quiet and peaceful, drains 

 an area of about eighty square miles in the District of Col- 

 umbia and Montgomery County, Maryland. The steepness 

 of its watershed, which lies among the foothills of the Blue 

 Ridge, is such that in a few hours, after a heavy and pro- 

 longed rain, the little brook may swell to a foaming torrent. 

 This has caused an amount of erosion that seems quite out 

 of proportion to the size of the stream, and it accordingly lies 

 some two hundred feet below the level of the surrounding" 

 hills, in a valley varied greatly in its aspect according to the 

 devious windings of the stream and the nature of the soil. 

 It would be impossible to find in this latitude a situation 

 more admirably adapted to the preservation of wild animals, 

 combining as it does exposures of every variety, sunny slopes 

 and cool hillsides, level meadows and rocky cliffs, affording 



