on the Influence of German Aviculture.



101



Two Old German Bird-Books.


One hundred and fifty years pass, and the first work really

devoted to German aviculture, of which the writer can find any

record, appears upon the scene. It has a dreadfully long title

(N.B.: this appears to be a marked and constant characteristic of all

early bird-books!), which we will spare the reader, simply referring to

it as the ‘ Grundliche Anweisung,’ and translating the title for his

benefit. I ask the reader, however, to particularly notice the ideals

which the German aviculturist of this early period set before himself,

as deduced from the title. “ Practical directions on catching and

domesticating all sorts of birds, on distinguishing them by their sex

and other characteristics, on making them tame, and managing them,

on recognising their attractive qualities, on teaching them songs other

than their oivn, and on accustoming them to fly in and out of the

house." Authors anonymous ; date 1754.


This is a very interesting old work in several ways. We will

particularly call attention to the art and practice of teaching birds

other songs than those they have inherited from their parents—an

art which the Germans have since most carefully cultivated and

most successfully developed. It is also interesting as being the

foundation of Bechstein’s later work—indeed Bechstein himself

brought out a later edition of the ‘Anweisung ’ in 1797.


Forty-one years pass, and Johann Matthaus Bechstein, M.D.,

presents to German aviculturists his celebrated ‘ Naturgeschichte

der Stubenvogel,’ 1795, so well known in this country through the

medium of a translation. This translation, however, has greatly

detracted from the real value of the work. Even the title (‘Natural

History of Cage-birds ’) is quite incorrect. We lay special emphasis

on the fact that Stubenvogel should he translated “ house-birds ”

(literally “ bird-room birds ”), and that the author adds the definition

“those birds which one can keep in the bird-room,” because we have

here the first complete and detailed description of the system of

keeping birds flying loose in a room heated by a closed stove, which

was afterwards so successfully developed by Dr. Russ and others, and

has become so distinctive of German avicultural methods.



