7 
The enclosure of this new. land was undertaken at 
once; it necessitated the construction of over two thous- 
and feet of concrete wall, eighteen inches above grade 
by two feet wide, and the removal to its new site of as 
much of the old iron fence, still in excellent condition 
after nearly forty years of service, as could be utilized 
on the new grade, and the construction and placing of 
nearly five hundred feet of new fence of similar design, 
as well as, on the west, along the line of Zoological 
avenue, recently placed on the city plan, of another 
five hundred feet of high wooden fence; much filling 
in of the new ground has also been done and while there 
remains much to do before it is ready for utilization 
the general appearance of the Garden, particularly 
from the Thirty-fourth Street Drive, has been greatly 
improved. 
Among the minor improvements of the year, mention 
may be made of the construction of an outdoor chim- 
panzee cage; of twelve additional cages for monkeys 
and small mammals; of a large enclosure for pheasants, 
crowned pigeons &c.; an enclosure for brush turkeys 
and outdoor runs for the rhinoceros and hippopotamuses. 
The galvanized iron work of the large skylights in 
the Monkey House conservatory was replaced with 
copper; the lighting in the Small Mammal House was 
much improved by five additional skylights and over 
1500 square yards of asphalt walk was renewed. 
A great improvement in the appearance of the western 
buffalo paddocks was effected by the substitution of 
electrically-welded wire fencing for the heavy wooden 
structure formerly used, and new interior iron chimneys 
were erected at each end of the Antelope and Elephant 
Houses, the old ones having become useless through 
corrosion after many years of use. 
During the past winter the month of February was 
unusually cold. On several nights the temperature 
dropped to zero at the Garden; and on a number of 
days it did not get above 15°. There were kept 
out day and night, without any artificial heat, eighteen 
