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ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



which access is gained by stumps of trees so 

 cut as to form what stage-carpenters call 

 "practicable steps." The floor of each bal- 

 cony is five feet high, and animals moving 

 about upon it present a very fine spectacle, 

 fully visible to every visitor on the floor. 



The cage fronts represent a great innova- 

 tion in the confining of dangerous animals. 

 Instead of the heavy iron bars, hitherto in 

 universal use for the confinement of large 

 carnivorous animals, which not only cut off 

 much of the view of the animal, but continu- 

 ally suggest the prison idea, the fronts of 

 these cages have been fitted with wire netting 

 specially made by the Page Woven Wire 

 Fence Company, of Adrian, Michigan, for 

 this building. The mesh is three inches 

 square. The horizontal wires are those which 

 are relied upon to resist the attacks of the 

 animals. These are of hard steel, size No. 5, 

 and each wire has a tensile strength of about 

 4,500 pounds. Each end of each wire is 

 wrapped around a heavy frame of round 

 wrought iron, twisted tightly upon itself, and 

 the end soldered down. 



The horizontal wires are held in place, and 

 equidistant, by perpendicular tie-wires, three 

 inches apart, wrapped around the horizontals 

 at each point of intersection, and firmly sol- 

 dered. The panels made by the Page Com- 

 pany have been set into heavy frames of angle 

 iron, and securely bolted. The whole of this 

 iron work has been painted dull olive-green, 

 to match the tiling in the interior of the cages, 

 and the netting comes as near to being invis- 

 ible as anything ever can which is strong 

 enough to confine lions and tigers of the 

 largest size. The mesh interferes less with 

 the view of the animals than anything that 

 has yet been devised. As to its strength, and 

 the possible ability of the animals to break 

 through it, there is good reason to believe 

 that if the attachments of the angle irons 

 held fast, an elephant could not break through 

 it. 



The interior walls of each cage have been 

 covered with glass tiling of a dull jungle- 

 green color, specially made for this purpose, 

 which is carried up a height of seven feet. 

 As a background for the display of feline ani- 

 mals, it is an unqualified success, and from a 

 sanitary point of view, it is equally perfect. 

 The walls above this have been painted with 

 oil and stippled an amber-gray color. The 

 ceiling of each cage is about one-half sky- 

 light, so that the animals have an abundance 

 of light for exhibition purposes, and quite as 

 much as is good for them. 



THE EXTERIOR CAGES. 



The exterior cages have been planned 

 somewhat differently from the interior cages. 

 This series consists of three enormously large 

 cages — two semicircular, and one square — 

 and six smaller cages. Each of the large cages 

 represents two of the large interior dens, and 

 at first will be used by the occupants of these 

 dens alternately. They have been planned, 

 however, with a view to subdividing them 

 later, if it should be found desirable. The 

 large semicircular cages at the north and 

 south ends of the series are 38 feet wide and 

 42 feet 6 inches deep. The large central cage 

 measures 38 x 38 feet, and the smaller cages 

 are each 12 feet 6 inches wide by 24 feet 

 deep. The fronts of all these are of wire net- 

 ting, the same as appears in the interior of the 

 building. During the coming spring, and 

 prior to their occupancy by the animals, all 

 the exterior cages will be provided with rock- 

 work, stumps and trees, as far as may be de- 

 sirable to promote the comfort and satisfac- 

 tory display of the animals. Following the 

 custom of most European gardens, all these 

 exterior cages have been covered with half- 

 glass roofs, chiefly for the purpose of making 

 them acceptable to the animals in rainy 

 weather. They face the southeast, and there- 

 fore receive the greatest possible amount of 

 sunshine. 



CAGE SERVICE. 



Perfect cage service demands the following 

 conditions : 



First. Direct communication for the ani- 

 mals between the interior and exterior cages. 



Second. The accessibility to keepers of all 

 cages from the rear — not the front. 



Third. Means by which animals may be in- 

 troduced to, or removed from, their cages 

 elsewhere than in the spaces provided for vis- 

 itors. 



The filling of the above requirements de- 

 mands what is really a central cage service — 

 a feature which hitherto we have found in 

 only one lion house. In the London Gar- 

 dens, the cage service of the lion house is 

 indeed central ; but the exterior and interior 

 cages are entirely separated from each other 

 by the keepers' passage. In order for an ani- 

 mal to go from one of its dens to the other, 

 the keepers must connect those two dens by 

 means of a bridge resting upon a car — a 

 matter which involves considerable time, and 

 careful management. 



In the planning of the Zoological Park 



