Some of the paddocks for deer, moose, caribou and the like are as fine as can be found anywhere in the world, and the animals inhabiting them are probably as contented and certainly as comfortable as their relatives enjoying their freedom in their native wilds. One of my pictures (Fig. 4) gives a view of one of these paddocks in which deer are confined; it is just this side of the flying-cage, which may distinctly be seen through the trees in the background. There is a beautiful bunch of deer in sight, and it is easy to recognize the ideal conditions under which these elegant animals are kept. Even the skeleton wire-fence which surrounds their paddock fails to mar the general effect of the naturalness of the locality, which is greatly enhanced by the attitudes assumed by the deer, each being the very exemplification of alertness and curiosity as to the intentions of the photographer.
All the animals at the park, however, are by no means living under such ideal conditions; in fact, the lives led by some—altogether too many of them—are fit subjects for the action of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and it is only a short time ago that the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution was compelled to print in his annual report that
