Evening star., 1921-02-20
HEARD AND SEEN

Bright days last week turned peo-
pies thoughts Zoo-ward. with the re-
suit that hundrads of persons visited
the animal park for the first time in
several months.
| During the winter months the Ma
| t:onal Geological Park goes into
sort of semi eclipse. There are many
visitors, of course. especially on Sun
days. but for the most part the
crowds are slim.
| And certainly the hollows and dales
of the Zoo park are not the most in
viting upon q cold winters day. II
the intrepid hiker desires strenuous
walk he can get il any zero day by
tramping up and down the hills in the
Zoo. He need not venture into Rock
Creek Park. He can find all the sting
OF winter in the Zoo.
! Many who visited the park last
week found out for the first time why
| il is so hard to see the American
| beaver that inhabts the stream near
| the sea lion inclosure.
| Many had come to doubt the exist
| ence of the beaver. To many he
| seems more fabulous beast than the
centaur. because one has never seen
| either.
| The beaver works at night and
sleeps in the daytime: that is the rea-
son he is so hard to see. One of the
| Zoo officials is authority for this
statement.
| The best time to see that beaver. he
| said. is in the autumn. when it gets
busy on its annual dam construction
projects. There is some chance then
of seeing II al work without organiz-
| ing a torchlight party.
! Cloudy days also are favorable so
! those interested in the American bea-
YER may utilize their next cloudy dav
by visiting the park in search of the
mammal.
But do not be disappointed if the
| beaver is out of sight. He usually is
| Dreams of a rhinoceros,
Surely. a rhinoceros seems the most
I unlikely thing in the world to dream
| about, yet certain set of men openly
| confess that such a critter is the fond
| object of their waking dreams
Officials of the Zoo want a rhinoce-
ros and they want one bad as the
vernacular has it. A fine old mother
| hippopotamus graces the park. but
70 rhino. And officials are tired of
hearing children ask to see rhinoce-
| ros, when they have no rhinoceros to
| show them.
| They have a small hippo, which they
hope to trade for a rhino. however. so
| it may not be many months before
! the children's curiosity is satisfied
| Most of the new animals at the Zoo
| are obtained now by exchange, it is
stated. SO infrequent has been the
| visit of modern Noah's arks to Ameri-
| can shores that the geological parks
| in the United States have been forced
! to depend upon each other for new
animals. What one park has another
may lack. and vice versa.
! When the local Zoo secures a
/: rhinoceros and a giraffe it will have
\ almost completed its collection of the
! better known larger animals.
| While we are on the subject of
| furred and feathered creatures it
may be well to mention certain
! sparrow that has a taste for the
| original.
Certainly a sparrow that takes its
morning drink by sitting on a cake
of ice and picking off small bits.
original bird.
! Yet this enterprising specimen of
English sparrow was to be seen
! every morning last week, in front of
downtown hotel, doing just this
very thing.
| Every morning the ice man left
! several large cakes of ice on the
| sidewalk in front of the hotel, and as
regularly this sparrow came to get
his matutinai drink of ice water
Some say he came at the same minute
every morning.
| AS to that I can't say. but I saw
| this bird perched contentedly upon
| the cake of ice, chiseling away Wig
orously.