FIRST AXNIAI. RETORT. 17 



If half our hopes are realized, the collections of upland 

 game birds, of waders, of swimming birds and birds of prey, 

 will be to every sportsman sources of great interest. The im- 

 mense flying cage, already designed, will be a revelation to 

 every lover of wild birds. The lion house and the monkey 

 house, already designed, will be the mo.st carefully planned 

 structures of their respective kinds that have yet been produced. 

 Both will contain certain features not hitherto utilized in such 

 buildings, but which it is believed will greatly enhance the 

 attractiveness of their living contents. 



In everything thus far planned for the Zoological Park, 

 save only the neces.sary buildings and a\-iaries, the idea of pre- 

 serving the natural beauty and wildness of the spot has not for 

 one moment been lost sight of. Fortunately the best of all 

 fences for zoological park enclosures is the one which comes 

 nearest to being invisible, and therefore is the least harmful to 

 a landscape. The fence selected for the large enclosures 

 (shown in the illustration entitled "The Zoological Park 

 Idea " ) is so nearly invisible that in a photograph its character 

 is often quite indistinct unless it has first been painted a light 

 color. 



LABELLING. 



The Society believes it to be quite practicable and desir- 

 able to devote more thought and effort to the labelling of zoo- 

 logical garden animals than has been done heretofore. The 

 best scientific museums have reduced the labelling of specimens 

 to the basis of historical science, with results that to the in- 

 quiring visitor are highh' gratifying. In zoological gardens, 

 however, labelling of living animals is almost precisely what it 

 was twenty years ago, — the name of the specimen, the locality, 

 possibh- the date and manner of its acquisition, and generally 

 no more. A few of the best European gardens do post a limited 

 number of maps of geographical distribution, — of which those 

 provided in the gardens of the Royal Zoological Society of 

 Antwerp are the most admirable, as well as the most numerous. 

 Of the helpful descriptive labels, so dear to the student of to- 

 day, there are none ; and for this reason a wealth of informa- 

 tion that might be made available, is lost. 



