40 Ni:\V YORK ZOOLOC.ICAI. SUCIICTV. 



Akka of Kukopean Gardens. — Without exception, the 

 area of every European zoological jj:ar(len is decidedly circum- 

 scribed. The Berlin Garden, wliicli is the largest of all, con- 

 tains GO acres. Next comes the Paris Jardin d'Acclimitation, 

 with ")0 acres ; Rotterdam follows, with 'M ; Hamburg, 85 ; 

 London and the Jardin des Plantes with 30 each ; Amsterdam, 

 25 ; Cologne, '22y2; Leipsic, 20, and so on down. Many of the 

 gardens are overcrowded with buildings and yards, and at- 

 tempts to suggest the natural haunts of the creatures exhibited 

 are necessarily few and far between. The larger carnivora, 

 the elephants and rhinoceroses, the tropical antelopes, the 

 monkeys, and the tropical birds are generally found in large 

 and costly Intildings, some of which are of elaborate architect- 

 ural design. It is quite a conunon idea to strive to provide 

 oriental buildings for oriental animals, but to my mind the re- 

 sult is not always satisfactory. It is my opinion that con- 

 formity to a uniform style of architecture is much more de- 

 sirable than a succession of startling contrasts. 



In European gardens, the large game animals, such as the 

 various species of deer, elk, bison, buffaloes, etc., are kept in 

 small pens, because ample park space is not available. Living 

 trees are never utilized as homes for arboreal mammals. Ledges 

 of natural rock are entirely absent, but hills of artificial rock, 

 and small masses of stone, are quite conunon. With the ex- 

 ception of the great flying cages at London, Rotterdam and 

 Paris, the homes provided for birds are always of the most con- 

 ventional and artificial character, — but it will be difficult to im- 

 prove upon them. The large flying cages, however, are so very 

 large, and contain so much of nature in the form of living trees, 

 shrubs, plants and water, that the large birds living within them 

 seem as much at home as if they were realh' in a state of 

 nature, in a leafy wilderness. 



For a complete pictorial expo.sition of the contents of the 

 gardens recently inspected by your representative, reference is 

 made to the mounted collection of nearly oOO pliotographic 

 views, submitted herewith, many of which were taken expressly 

 for the u.se of this Societv. 



