14 NKW VOKK ZOOI.OCKAI. S(»CII:TV. 



the study or observation of animal life. Allhouj^li our Ameri- 

 can zooloj^ists have done nuicli toward popnlari/.inj^ /ooloj^y, 

 much more remains to be done. The New York Zoological 

 Society believes that it can serve a ^ood ])urpose in this coni- 

 mnnit\' by extending and cultivating in every jtossihle manner 

 the knowledge and lo\e of nature. 



IIII-; l-K(Jl'<)SI-;i> /.()(»!.(»(. IC.M. I'AKK. 



In the matter of tlie establishment of a great \ivarium, or, 

 in other words, a collection of collections of such li\ing creatures 

 as it is practicable and desirable to bring together for purposes 

 of exhibition and study, the vSociety believes it can create an 

 institution which will be a decided advance beyond anything 

 thus far accomplished in that line. After carefully examining 

 the numerous fine zoological gardens now in existence in 

 various parts of the world, it really .seems that the wisdom and 

 foresight which in INM added .'^S()0 acres of park lands to the 

 municipal domain, has made it possible for New York Cit\' to 

 locate, in a part of this vast area, a zoological park which will 

 enjoy finer and more extensive natural advantages than any 

 similar institution either in this country or abroad. 



In a zoological garden of the average size, say ;*)0 acres, 

 close confinement of the animals is a condition impossible to 

 escape. In the great private game preserves of many thousand 

 acres each, of which, happily, there are now numerous line 

 examples in this country as well as in Europe, the wild crea- 

 tures are so completely hidden in forests as to be quite lost to 

 the visitor. While these great game preserves do protect from 

 extermination the species they enclose, they are not intended 

 for the instruction of visitors. We believe that the ideal vi- 

 varium is one if/ 'ivhicli the livino creatures can be kepi under con- 

 ditions most closely approxiniatinQ- those ii'ith which nature usually 

 surrounds them, in spaces so extensive that with many species the 

 sense of conjincment is either lost or greatly diminished, ret at the 

 same time sufficiently limited that the animals are not inaccessible 

 or invisible to the visitor. 



The ideal zoological park, such as this vSociety has planned 

 to estal)lish. will, therefore, stand midway between the typical 



