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NOT longr ago Rag Makonncn, Gov
ernor of Harrar Province. Abys
sinia, after tlie manner of old
world potentates presented to the United
States a rare species of zebra. With the
aebra came a lion, and later a pair of
ostriches was shipped from the same
source. From Sir Reginald Wingate. the
successor to . Lord Kitchener as Govern-Dr-General
of Sudan, there has come an
other lion, and from th? Governors of
states in Brazil such as the Governor of
Pars and the Governor of Amazonas,
the United States has accepted a number
of South American animals. Within a
fortnight Mr. Nelson, of the Depart
ment of Agriculture, shipped to Wash
ington two Mexican tiger-cats and a
number of rare forest birds, the gift of
Mr. Carlos H. Jones, of Campeche,
Mexlao. ,
The international courtesies exchanged,
It is not generally known what becomes
of these animals. The future of many
other beasts and birds which In one way
or another, through consuls or depart
ment agents come into the possession of
the United Slates Government is not
usually followed up. To whose charge
are they given and how do they pass the
rest of their lives?
Twenty years ago they would have beea
turned over to some private menagerie,
or housed In crude wooden structures
back of the Smithsonian Institution at
Washington where zoologists and biolo
gists could gtudy them at close range.
Perhaps the daily sight of these tempo
rary structures had something to do with
the purpose the late Dr. S. P. Langley.
secretary of the Institution, took steps
to carry out at -that time to found on
the outskirts of Washington a National
Zoological Park.
It was not an easy task to convince
Legislators why they should pay to "have
the Nebraska elk and Florida 'alligators
cooped up." In 1890. however, a bill was
finally passed through Congress to es
tablish a zoological park for the "ad
vancement of science and the instruction
and recreation of the people," and also
as a haven of refuge where tjiose "na
tive animals 'that were threatened with
extinction might live and perpetuate
their species in peace."
The bill allotted J200.000 for the pur
chase of land nd building. The few ani
mals caged back of the Smithsonian In
stitution were turned over to new quar
ters and the administration of the Na
tional Zoo became a branch of the Insti
tution's work.
Animals In Natural Surroundings.
Now a hundred and sixty-seven acres
of hilly, woody land two miles from the
center of Washington Is the final home
of nearly every beast that comes into the
the possession of the United States Gov
ernment. There Is no law making It the
only depository for such gifts, but as a
tnatter of fact, very few are sent else
where. An Idea, of Secretary Langley, when he
founded the Zoo. was to furnish for. the
animals surroundings as nearly like their
natural homes as possible. The idea
was a new one at the time. The few
menageries in the country had not the
facilities to execute any such plan. He
opposed any too evident artificiality in the
architecture of the grounds. He wished
the National Zoo.to be a natural park In
every mode practicable. ' The large acre
axe helped him In this course, for our
Zoological Gardens are 2i times aslarge
as the celebrated Thlergarttn at Berlin
and four times as large as the Zoo at
London.
Since the National Zoo was founded
ever 2000 animals have been housed here,
and during the last few years the collec
tion has averaged about 1300 birds and
beasts at a time.
The animals thus gotten together have
come, necessarily, from very varied
sources. Bison lent by "Buffalo Bill."
polar bears brought down by adventurers
from the far arctic regions, Hons from
Sudan, snakes from Manila and Cuba,
peculiar birds from China, gifts from
foreigners through Consuls and, other
Government agents, besides any rarer
species for scientific study purchased or
exchanged by the Zoo officials, make up
the great animal family.
Not a Faked Story.
If the lives of some of these beasts could
be put Into story an Interesting volume
would result. As it Is. Head-Keeper
Blackburn has many a little yarn about
their doings. He will invariably polnt
cut two healthy, rolling bear cubs from
Canada which weighed! when they ar
rived, not more than two pounds each.
These, he insists, he has brought up en
tirely on the bottle.
Near them sits a big, pensive grizzly
from Yellowstone Park who, when the
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keeper calls "Dooley." looks up and.
slouches lazily forward to the bars. Doo
ley had been a pet, when a cub. of the
owner of a large hotel In the Yellowstone.
He was captured in the Spring and
chained at a safe distance from the kitch
en where he could get the dainty morBels
left by the guests at dinner. Dooley
lived contentedly all Summer, receiving
In a philosophical way the attentions of
visitors, but the day before the hotel
cjosed In the Fall, he heeded the call of
the wild, slipped his' collar, and went
roaming the mountains. Curiously enough.
when the Spring again arrived and prep
arations were being made to open for the
Summer, to the terror of the servants
Dooley ambled up with the air of a pre
vious owner. He had grown consider
ably during the Winter; therefore it was
thought, safest to trap him and send him
to Washington.
The animals are not always peaceful at
the Zoo. A buffalo battle between a
young and an old bull several years ago
Is a classic In the annals of the park.
More recently the usually sleepy croco
diles have had differences which must be
settled by physical combat. A vicious
contest resulted In the complete sever
ance of a leg of one of them before the
keepers' could Interfere. With much trou
ble the big beast was placed on a thick
plank and wrapped round and round with
rope. Only when the beast was thus
helpless did the keeper dare pick up the
foot and sew it back Into place. A plas
ter of parts cast the keeper thought would
hold It. SO" it would, If several weeks
afterwards the -rivals had not again
found a difference which ended in the In
jured foot, plaster of Paris cast, sewing
and all being again snapped through.
Minor surgical operations, often neces
sary among so many animals, usually
result successfully.
One Monkey's Antics.
The antics of the monkeys are not
less popularly amusing than they are
Interesting from a scientific point of
view. The keeper tells of a young
South American monkey which was
placed near several old-worlof cousins
with large mouth pouches. The young
ster, trying to Imitate his elders of
another tribe, forced a big Brazilian
nut Into his cheek In such a way that
it could be got out only by cutlng
from the outside. The operation was
performed and the cut sewed up, but
the stitches bothered the little fellow.
He pulled them out and was surpiaed
to find that he could now feed through
another mouth. Just like a magician,
the keeper eays, he formed an audience
of his companions and. to their great
amazement, kept passing a piece of hay
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and a email nut through the newly
made opening. It was necessary to
lock the little fellow by himself where J
he could not perform, and even to tie
his hands before he would let the
wound heal.
It Is by such Incidents as these that
some of the animals relieve the mono
tony of their lives of captivity. For
in every ease it has not been found
compatible with safety to carry into
accomplishment the plan for construct
ing natural surroundings. Some of the
animals, to be sure, can be held In a
setting somewhat similar to that of
their wild life. The buffalo has his
rolling plain, the deer his clump of
shrubbery, his stream and hillside,, the
bear has his cave and swimming pool,
the seal his tank- and sunning spot,
the peacock is allowed the freedom
of the whole park where he can dis
play his plumage and select his nest
ing place, the- raccoon has his tall
dead tree, the colony of beavers has
Its stream and submarine lodge, ita
dams and fallen timber, and half a
hundred varieties of birds fly about, as
if In freedom. In a "flying cage," the
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size or three or four, dwellings. But
the lions and the tigers, the leopards
and the pumas and other carnivorous
beasts, must be carefully penned in a
house by themselves, with outdoor
cages attached for fresh air in' the Sum
mer. The snakes and monkeys must be
confined, and there Is no Jungle for
"Dunk." the big elephant, to roam In.
Opportunities for providing more
roomy quarters for a number of the
beasts are still many. These oppor
tunities will be grasped as soon a
Government appropriations, to the
minds of those in charge, Justify the
expenditure. Built from the current
funds of the park, there has recently
been opened a "mammal house." which
embodies the latest Ideas in the hous
ing of animals.
Where Animals May Be Studied.
The execution as far as possible, how
ever, of the original Idea Is invaluable
from a scientific point of view. For the
Zoo Is designed not alone to afford
amusement and recreation to Washington
and Its thousands of annual visitors. To
the student of biology, of zoology, of lch-
JULY -21, 1907.
THE .NATIONAL 'ZOO AT WASHINGTON
&A1S 2:000. CREATCfftES, 7705 T' OF
WHOM ARE IN NATURAL SCJRROUNDMGS.
J3LVr&JJL O AVZ OICF AT TJIE OO
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thyology, and many allied subjects, the
park affords material for original re
search In a form probably more available
than' any other collection in the world.
The animals, even those born In the
grounds, retain to a remarkable degree
the habits of the wild. They learn that
protected from men. they may live to a
certain extent their own lives among
men.. An investigator may here study
the danger signals of the startled Vir
ginia deer, the burrowing instlncta of the
prairie dogs, or the habits .of the diving
eranea and pelicans.
The object of furnishing, here a haven
of refuge . where the native animals
threatened with extinction might live and
perpetuate their species in peace, has, it
must be confessed, not met with as great
success as was at first hoped for. It has
been physically impossible to provide for
the buffalo a range as large as his natural
one. and the excitement of the hunt for
food cannot be furnished. The surround
ings are, of course, in many ways differ
ent, more perceptibly so to the animals
than to the men who" have studied them.
And it is a known fact among zoologists
that. In order to perpetuate their species
successfully, some beasts must be allowed
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to a great degree their natural freedom.
Not only in their living state are the
animals valuable for scientific study.
But wheri. In the course of Nature or by
accident, any of them die. their remains
are turned over to the experts at the Na
tional Museum, who may Investigate the
structure of their bones or the symptoms
of any disease they may have contracted,
or use their skeletons and skins for ex
hibition purposes.
The opportunities afforded at the Zoo
for experimental breeding for Industrial
Eggs Were Put
Only Small Per Cent of
THE egg which appears so innocently
upon the breakfast table may by
reason of commercial ingenuity be any
where from several months to several
years old. This knowledge led to an In
vestigation by the Department of Agricul
ture, and the result is favorable to the
use of egg preservatives. Said' one of
the department experts:
"I have examined a very large num
'ber of eggs preserved in water glass. In
general I found the eggs to be of good
quality, and they had not been preserved
under the best conditions, either, as they
were not placed in the water glass solu
tion on the day on which they were laid,
but were collected In the country and sent
Into town in large lots, and were two or
three days old before preservation.
"As might have been expected, some of
these eggs were bad, but the. proportion
was not large. In one Instance out of
384 dozen eggs preserved between April
and June and sold between October and
December only five dozen, or I.S per cent,
were bad. and the majority of these were
broken or cracked.
"These preserved eggs are attractive
In appearance, as the shells are very clean
and fresh looking after the water glass
Is wiped off. Even those Which have
been several years In water glass have a
fine, fresh appearance.
"Another advantage of preservation In
water glass over certain older methods is
that the contents of the egg do not shrink
through evaporation. The eggs there
fore do not rattle when shaken, no matter
how old they are. The cost of preserva
tion is very small.
"It was found that eggs which had been
kept in water glass for a few months
could hardly be distinguished In appear
ance, flavor and smell, either raw or
cooked, from what are called fresh eggs.
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PELICANS
purposes have not as yet been Utilized ex
tensively. The energies of Superintendent
Frank Baker and other officials have
been devoted to housing the animals,
properly caring for them, and beautifying
the grounds, leaving industrial experi
ments to the Department of Agriculture.
The field opened for the future, of devel
oping perhaps stronger beasts of burden
or Industrial .animals better capable of
resisting disease Is a large one In which,
a single success would offset very many
failures.
Up for Years
Them Turned Out Bad.
that Is. fresh", eggs of the' commercial
sense, which are eggs free from decompo
sition or taint, but several days old. A
really fresh egg only a few hours laid
is easily distinguished in flavor and ap
pearance when cooked from the fresh egg
or preserved egg and is known as the
new laid egg. The eggs which had been
preserved in water glass for about six
months tasted and smclled like well-kept
eggs a few days old.
"I found that as eggs get older a
distinct change occurs which can b
appreciated both - by the eye and the
palate.. Eggs which have been three
or four years In water glass are easily
recognized..
'The white becomes pink in color and
very liquid. The egg acquires a slight
ly peculiar taste which suggests soda.
At the same time, even when 4 years
old, the eggs had no pleasant tast
or smell, and the white coagulated In
cooking.
"Though there was a slight charac
teristic odor when the eggs were
cooked, it was not a stale or bad odor
by any moans. Knd did not at all
suggest sulphurated hydrogen. The
changes in the preserved eggs take
place very gradually. At one year old
they are hardly noticeable: at two'
years they are distinct, but not so dis
tinct as at three or-four years old.
"Water glass t -a" sodium ellcate.
Though Its use was introduced ony
comparatively recently, it has largely
superseded older methods and also ap
pears to have led to much more fre-v
quent preservation of eggs on the small a
scale in households and by small
traders. -
"It will be recommended, however,
that eggs preserved in water glass be
required to be so labelled when offered
for sale."