68 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



THE ANIMALS OF THE LION HOUSE 



* I ■'HE procuring of a collection of lions, 

 -'■ tigers, leopards, and other large felines, 

 suitable to display in a lion house costing 

 $150,000. is no child's play. Manifestly it 

 will not answer to exhibit third-class ani- 

 mals in a first-class building. The erection of 

 any particularly fine structure for wild animals 

 inevitably sets a pace for the animal men of 

 the Zoological Park that is decidedly warm. 

 The specimens exhibited must, in size and 

 quality, be equal to the best found elsewhere ; 

 they must be abundant in number, and they 

 must also be kept in good health. 



In more senses than one, Carl Hagenbeck 

 — the king of animal dealers — is the friend of 

 zoological garden directors. But for his far- 

 reaching enterprise, backed by genuine en- 

 thusiasm in his work, the task of stocking 

 zoological garden installations would be far 

 more serious than it now is. 



When it became necessary for the Execu- 

 tive Committee to take up the question of 

 providing a collection for the Lion House, it 

 was decided that the Founders and Patrons of 

 the Society should be invited to contribute 

 sums of money with which to purchase ani- 

 mals to take their places in the collection as 

 individual gifts. A list of the animals desired,, 

 and their probable cost, was prepared and sent 



out, with a suggestion that anyone desiring to 

 contribute to the collection should choose his 

 gift, and provide for its purchase. This happy 

 thought met with prompt and generous re- 

 sponse, and as a result, every animal in the 

 Lion House collection is the special gift of 

 some individual member or friend of the So- 

 ciety. 



Believing it unwise to attempt to purchase 

 this important collection by correspondence, 

 the Director of the Park was instructed to 

 visit all the principal dealers and zoological 

 gardens of Europe, personally inspect all fe- 

 line animals offered for sale, and make such 

 purchases as circumstances seem to require. 

 Accompanied by Mr. W. W. Niles, the Direc- 

 tor sailed for Europe on August i6th, and 

 visited the gardens and dealers located at 

 Liverpool, Manchester, London, Rotterdam, 

 Amsterdam, Hanover, Achen, Hamburg, Ber- 

 lin, Frankfort, Cologne, Dusseldorf, and Ant- 

 werp, with the following results : 



In London, the Society's representatives 

 purchased one clouded leopard and two snow 

 leopards : in Antwerp, one Senegal lioness ; in 

 Hamburg, five lions, two tigers, two black 

 leopards, one African leopard, and one jaguar. 

 In Berlin, the only cheetah procurable in 

 Europe was purchased of the Berlin Zoologi- 



