NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 73 



Parks aided the SocieU by consenting that the particularly diffi- 

 cult tasks in road-making, fence-building, paving and other minor 

 construction should be performed under the personal direction 

 of the officers of the Zoological Park. It was chiefly due to this 

 arrangement that so great a number of tasks were undertaken 

 and completed both economically and satisfactorily in the work- 

 ing season of 1904. 



The Ostrich House. — Under a contract awarded and super- 

 intended by the Park Department, the George L. Walker Com- 

 pany erected, at a total cost of $36,890.00, a building 150 feet 

 long by 29 feet wide in its interior, for ostriches, rheas, emeus 

 and cassowaries. This structure was opened to the public on 

 December 25, 1904. The exterior yards for this installation, 

 eight in number, have been graded, drained, paved and fenced, 

 wholly under the direction of the Society's Chief Constructor. 

 Mr. H. W. Merkel, quite apart from the contract for the erection 

 of the building. 



The Siiiall-Moiniual House. — For the accommodation of the 

 small fur-bearing animals and many other small species not pro- 

 vided for elsewhere, a building of the same size as the Ostrich 

 House was erected imder the same contract, and at the same 

 cost. It is connected with its twin structure by a handsome and 

 spacious portico. It represents the very latest improvements and 

 methods in the care of small mammals of all kinds except mon- 

 keys, and it brought its living contents through the very severe 

 winter of 1904-5 very successfully. It is provided with 176 

 cages, and constitutes a very important addition to the exhibi- 

 tion equipment of the Zoological Park. 



Large Bird House. — The construction of this large and impor- 

 tant building, also under contract wnth the George L. Walker 

 Company, began early in 1904, and progressed favorably through- 

 out the year. The contract price is $115,644.00, not including the 

 glass addition in the southeastern angle. This structure is in- 

 tended for perching birds generally, the parrots, macaws and 

 cockatoos, the shore birds, guans, curassows, toucans, hornbills 

 and woodpeckers. The completion of tb.e main structure is 

 expected in May, 1905. 



The Pheasants' Aviary. — In October a contract for the erection 

 of an aviary for pheasants, doves and pigeons, was awarded to 

 Mr. Conrad Hewett, in the sum of $19,546. The old aviary was 

 immediately removed, and work began very promjnly upon the 

 new structure. The new aviary is 240 feet long and provides 38 

 runways of various sizes. The upper story of the shelter house 



