Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-14
LOOKING AT THE ANIMALS.
The Smithsonian "Zoo'' and the Crowds
That Visit 1t.
THE STRANGE FASCINATION OF THE JAaUAR-AN
OWL FROM THE DISTRICT JAIL-KEEPER
wEEDEN's FIGHT WITH A VIGOROUS BEAR CUB
THE 'CooNs AND PoRcUPINEs.

existing between the human being and
the animals in the cages, a sympathy which is
not felt for the speechess curiosities that fill
the museums, and doubtless as many people
visit the little in day as stroll through the
big museums close by. From 9 o'clock, the
opening hour, until B the crowd surges through
the building stopping before the cage in which
colony OF squirrels prance, looking with won
der and astonshment ON the large jaguar as he
takes up his unceasing tramp around his large
cage. and paying their respects to the many
other strange creatures.
GIFTS FROM PROMINENT MEN.
Many prominent people from all over the
country are represented by gifts at the garden
and the little white painted signs tackled to the
cages bear some great names. Four golden
eagles in cage outside the building the
gilt of President Cleveland. They are from
late Springs, Tenn, and were sent to him by
an admirer. They were turned over to Col.
Wilson and through him given to the depart
ment. The glorious bird of freedom. which
Americans are SO proud of, does not appear to
the best advantage in cage. and he sits all day
on his perch as If broodinG over his wrongs and
Matching schemes for vengeance on his Captors.
There is u suppressed fury in his eye and now
and then he grows restless. There is great
iluttering of wings, a piercing shrek and a
desperate attempt to make some impression on
the iron bars with his beak. But the transport
OF rage does not last great while and soon he
resumes his perch and the air OF resignation
| which SO ill becomes him.
'CooNs AND PoRcUPINEs.
The raccoons attract a great deal of attention,
especially from visitors from the north, who
have heard and read SO much about the pleas
ures of coon hunting, and they stand before
the cages and wonder where all the fun of the
thing comes in, for from the proSaic light of q
cage the coon Is certainly not very Samey.
| There are a number of varieties and they are
all SO fat that the eye of the colored citizen
from the country gllstens as he looks and his
lips come together convulsivey as he thinks of
by-gone feasts and i'll momory eats them over
again. The 'coons have grown very tame and
nothing pleases them better than to have some
one scratch their heads with pencil There
they lie supinely, astraddle Of a limb, and sleep
for hours, now and then opening their eyes to
blink lazlly at the stranger. In a cage near by
Is pair OF porcupnes, and as a STAR reporter
passed along he heard a colored man remark:
Use hearn tell oh desc hyar modern koons,
but don't bleeve dat dem tngs is fit to eat,
you hyar me-. De dogs I'D fine it mighty hard
wuk gittin way wild dem warmints. sure" The
old colored man was right, as many dog who
has tried it knows to his sorrow. The quilts
rise threateningy, and bad luck to the dog who
gets mouthful of them.
AN OWL FROM THE JAIL.
One of the most interesting specimens on ex-
hibition is monkey-faced owl, born and bred
at the District jail Truly he is a genuine Jail
bird He first saw the light of night in the
caves OF the big old building, but was arrested
for disturbing the quiet of the establishment,
and now ekes out miserable existence in a
cage. His face ID almost an exact counterpart
OF monkeys; SO much SO. in fact, that were
the rest of his body covered it would be diff
cult to distinguish the difference The bird
has a cage all to himself and is the only one of
the kind on exhibition. He sits all day quiet
and unblinking, but at night, 80 the reporter
was informed, he has high old time, and
makes the building resound with his piercing
shrieks.
THE BIRDS.
The collection of birds is not very extensive
one and is made up for the most part of native
birds. Outside domestic fowls are in abund-
ance and in the various cages inside are some
gorgeous-plumaged birds of the south. includ-
ing parrots, paraquets and macaws. There is a
very fine macaw presented by Senator Call of
Florida. The collection of carrier and other
pigeons is fine. Keeper Weeden let a gentle
man from Philadelphia have one of the birds
for breeding purposes the other day, and one
evening last week he heard a duttering of
wings outside, and going to see the cause he
found that his bird had escaped and returned
home again.
THE BUFFALO.
The collection Of buffaloes at the zoo has in
creased to a half dozen magnifcen speci-
mems of the great American animal which is
fast becoming extinct and the herd promises to
be still further increased by an addition to the
family in the shape Of baby buffalo. The
first of the herd we're given to the museum by
Col. Z. q. Backford OF New York city, who has
from the first taken a great interest in the
formation of the gardens. The others are re-
cent additions. The herd presents fine APP
pearance and artists are frequently making
studies of them.
Buffalo Bill is represented by splendid
specimen of the American elk which has a
stall in the large Enclosure south of the main
building. In an adjoining cage is a mild eyed
mule deer from Colorado. The only reminder
of the vicious mule about this little animal is
its immense ears, over which it has not much
control.
DANGEROUS"
One Of the few cages marked Dangerous" is
that occupied by a jaguar from Texas, the gift
of Hon. j. W. Riddle. 1t is strange what a
strong fascination this animal has for the aver
age crowd. Some of the visitors who crowd
about the cages marked dangerous are exceed
ingly reckless and are constantly putting them
selves in danger of having hand or arm torn off
So far the garden has been singularly free from
serious mishaps. One can easily lean over the
rail running along in front of the cages, and
many foolish people put their fingers between
the bars. Some day pair of cruel jaws will
snap together and some one will go through
life minus couple of fingers.
AT THE BEARS CAGE
there is always a large crowd, for the half
dozen bears of different varieties are among
the most popular exhibits. They are all in the
same cage, which has back yard and are as
playful as kittens, sometimes rolling and tum-
bling over each other in their play; but this is
not always the case, as Keeper Weeden can tell.
They get in bad humor now and then, and
those who are acquainted with their antics give
them wide berth. The entire party were in
just this humor the other day when Keeper
Weeden went into the cage to give them their
breakfast. He generally carries slender club
with him and playfully taps them on the nose
just to let them know that he has it with him.
| He tapped once too often this particular MORN
ing and one Of the bears rebelled. He was
cub, young and hot blooded, and didn't know
any better. He was not used to being tapped
on the nose which is a tender spot with young
bears, and he protested by trying to hug his
keeper. They had hand to-hand fight for
some minutes, but luckily the other bears did
not join in. They all retreated to the yard,
leaving their companion to fight his battle
alone. The keeper called loudly for help,
which was forthcoming in the person of his
assistant. Together they succeeded in subdu-
ing the unruly beast, but they were glad
enough when they got chance to get out of