26 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



ficiently liberal to justify its acceptance, and accordingly Mr. George 

 H. Hedley, of Medina, N. Y., was requested to proceed to Eapid City r 

 where lie received the animals and arrived in Washington with them 

 in good condition. Being fine specimens they have naturally attracted 

 much attention. 



The overcrowded condition of the temporary cages and yards con- 

 taining the larger animals has caused extreme trouble, not only to pro- 

 vide properly for the shelter and comfort of the specimens, but to keep 

 them from either killing or injuring each other. Only with larger space 

 and better facilities will it be possible to so care for these animals, 

 and many others like them, that they will not only be a stock from 

 which to replenish their races, so rapidly vanishing from the continent, 

 but a source of constant instruction and recreation for the people. 



The department of living animals has served an important purpose 

 in aiding to bring about the establishment by Congress of a National 

 Zoological Park, for the public interest manifested in the collection, 

 forcibly emphasized the general desire and need for such an institution 

 founded on a liberal scale. During the period when the Zoological 

 Park proposition was before the Fiftieth Congress, the Secretary con- 

 sidered that the curator of this department, Mr. Hornaday, could not 

 render more important service th an by explaining to Members the de- 

 tails of the plan proposed, and he was accordingly directed to devote 

 a portion of his time to that duty. 



The actual accommodations provided for the living animals are 

 necessarily of the most temporary character, and do not in the slightest 

 degree indicate the proper construction of permaneut improvements of 

 this kind in a first-class zoological garden. At present a large num- 

 ber of living quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles are crowded together in 

 one small and ill- ventilated building heated by steam, which, during 

 exhibition hours, is usually filled with visitors to an uncomfortable ex- 

 tent. It will be a great boon to the public and to the animals com- 

 posing the collection as well, when the latter can be transferred to the 

 Zoological Park and provided with suitable accommodations. Under 

 the circumstances it is very desirable that this should be accomplished 

 at the earliest date possible. 



The total number of living specimens received during the year was 

 271, of which 126 were gifts, 37 were deposited, and 8 purchased. The 

 final catalogue entry on June 30, 1889, was 341, which represents the 

 total number of specimens received since the collection was begun. In 

 spite of the disadvantages the curator and his two assistants have la- 

 bored under in the care of this collection, it is gratifying to be able to 

 report that during the year the losses by death have been almost wholly 

 confined to the small and least valuable animals ; and, with the excep- 

 tion of an antelope which was presented by Senator Stanford and died 

 before it had time to recover from the effects of its long journey, all the 

 large and most valuable specimens are alive and in good health. 



