236 



RECREA TION. 



embraced within the Yellowstone National 

 Park. After taking into consideration the 

 peculiar features of the paint pots, with their 

 fine tints of cream, pink, drab, and deli- 

 cate blue, all bubbling up and forming beau- 

 tiful flowers of every color embraced in a 

 rainbow — and all of mud; after standing 

 in awe and silence a thousand times, medi- 

 tating over the wonderful geysers, throw- 

 ing out their boiling streams 150 feet into 

 the air; after meditating over the wonders 

 of the fiery region of Hell's-Half-Acre, 

 with its prismatic pools and diamond 

 sparkling bottoms; after taking into con- 

 sideration all the great wonders to be found 

 along the Fire Hole river, which certainly 

 must be the pathway to Hades; after pon- 

 dering over the countless geysers which 

 pour forth their clouds of steam and water, 

 the one most horribly grand sight, in my 

 opinion, is the mud geyser. The rumblings 

 of this strange freak can be heard long be- 

 fore one reaches its immediate vicinity. As 

 it is approached one becomes aware of a 

 sickening odor, of something which cannot 

 be described. Away down in the side of a 

 mountain is a tremendous open mouth, and 

 from it is belched forth a seething mass of 

 boiling mud, accompanied at all times with 

 the awful rumblings of a vomiting world. 

 To look down into the open jaws of this 

 huge monster, one imagines he can gaze 

 into the very gates of hell. 



L. M. Earl, Salt Lake City, Utah. 



AN EXHIBITION OF ANIMAL PAINTINGS. 



About June 1 the executive officers of 

 the Zoological Society began a systematic 

 effort to increase the membership of the 

 organization. A News Bulletin was pub- 

 lished, containing " A Call for Friends and 

 Funds," and the friends of the Society and 

 the Zoological Park were invited to hold 

 up their hands and be counted. 



At once applications for membership 

 began to come in, from oersons desiring to 

 become patrons ($1,000), life members 

 ($200), and annual members ($10 a year). 

 Since June 1 the Executive Committee 

 has held 2 meetings for the election of 

 new members, and the membership of the 

 Society was increased by the addition of 2 

 patrons, 18 life members and 151 annual 

 members. On July 20 the total member- 

 ship consisted of 3 founders, 10 patrons, 64 

 life members and 313 annual members, with 

 new applications coming in daily. 



The result of the campaign, thus far, has 

 been very gratifying to the officers and 

 members of the Society: for it shows the 

 public is in hearty sympathy with the work 

 undertaken. The first result of this practical 

 manifestation of sympathy and good will 

 was the decision of the Executive Commit- 

 tee to at once take steps to carry out its 

 long-cherished plan to make a systematic 

 effort to encourage and promote the paint- 



ing of American wild animals. The Society 

 has therefore decided to hold, next Febru- 

 ary, a general and competitive exhibition 

 of oil paintings (in colors) of American 

 quadrupeds, birds and reptiles, and to offer, 

 for the best work, a series of cash prizes 

 and medals. The details of the plan are 

 now being perfected and an announcement, 

 to American animal painters, will soon be 

 made — possibly before this issue of Rec- 

 reation shall have gone to press. I am 

 assured, however, that every effort will be 

 made to stimulate not only the production 

 of high-class paintings of our animals, but 

 also the purchase of them, by our art gal- 

 leries and art patrons. It is the deliberate 

 intention of the Society to make the New 

 York Zoological Park the centre of the 

 world for animal painting and sculpture; 

 and the exhibition proposed will be only 

 the first of an annual series. 



The readers of Recreation need not be 

 told that the editor of this magazine re- 

 gards this important step of the Zoological 

 Society with intense satisfaction. As a 

 lover of wild animals, I am naturally inter- 

 ested in the production of good pictures of 

 them, in the preservation of their beautiful 

 forms, on canvas and in bronze, as well as 

 in museums and zoological gardens. The' 

 long series of animal pictures which Rec- 

 reation has been placing before its read- 

 ers, ever since it began to be a magazine 

 (and the best pictures to be had for 

 money!) fully attest my own love for such 

 works of art, and my belief that other peo- 

 ple also love them. 



The results of the Zoological Society's 

 movement, in behalf of our animal painters 

 and sculptors, will be far reaching, and of 

 great importance. Its benefits will be 

 shared by millions of people who thus far 

 have not even heard of the Society. To our 

 shame be it said that at present there is 

 not, so far as I can learn, a single high-class 

 painting of an American wild animal to be 

 found in any public art gallery m the United 

 States? And this in a country which has 

 the finest big-game fauna of any temperate 

 region in the world! 



I hope that before the expiration of this 

 year, enough more persons will have joined 

 the Zoological Society to bring the total 

 membership up to 1,000. And to that end 

 I shall labor. Send me your check for $10 

 and I will present your application for 

 membership. 



THE DEATH LOCK. 



Chicago, 111. 



Editor Recreation: The accompanying 

 photo of the heads of 2 deer, with horns 

 interlocked, is, in some respects, the most 

 remarkable ever secured, one of the deer 

 having been alive when found in their des- 

 perate plight. 



In November, 1895, Mr. F. F. Strong, a 



