IMPORTATION OF BIRDS 



FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND CANARIES AND THREE HUNDRED 



THOUSAND OTHER BIRDS BROUGHT TO THE UNITED 



STATES IN 1913, THROUGH AN IMPORTING 



HOUSE OF LOWER NEW YORK CITY 



By W. DeW. Miller 



Special Inspector of Foreign Animals and Birds at the Port of New York, for the United 

 States Department of Agriculture 



PROBABLY no importing house 

 in this country is more unusual 

 than that occupied by Mr. 

 Louis Ruhe at 248 Grand Street, in 

 lower New York Cit}'. Seen from the 

 outside there is little suggestion of its 

 interesting character, but the moment 

 the visitor opens the door of the building 

 hundreds of voices greet him, and he can 

 easily imagine himself in a tropical 

 jungle. 



There are birds everj'where, on the 

 shelves, on the floor, overhead and in 

 the windows, birds of all kinds and colors, 

 each singing in his own way regardless 

 of his neighbors. Quite different how- 

 ever, is the effect as one mounts the 

 stairs to other floors. On the second 

 floor in particular, where there are 

 canaries to the exclusion of all other 

 kinds, the effect produced by the thou- 

 sands of small voices blended together is 

 indescribable. 



It is on this floor that one gets a more 

 adequate idea of the extent of the bird 

 importing industry, for here small 

 wooden cages with two canaries in each 

 cage are piled high and so close to- 

 gether that only a narrow passage is 

 left in which a person can move about. 

 Here, almost hidden by the cages, one 

 may be so fortunate as to meet Mr. 

 Ruhe, the proprietor, and learn from 

 him a little about his business and its 

 history. The beginning was made by 

 his great-grandfather, who traveled in 



Russia and Australia in search of birds 

 long before there were any railroads, 

 and when it was necessary for him to 

 tramp about with cages upon his back. 

 The business is now the largest of its 

 kind in this country. 



Last year over five hundred thousand 

 canaries, and about three hundred 

 thousand other birds were imported. 

 All come direct from Germany and not 

 a week passes that a shipment does not 

 arrive. The majority of the small birds 

 are bred in captivity in Germany, 

 France and Belgium. Most of the 

 canaries are raised in the Harz Moun- 

 tains, where the climatic conditions are 

 unusually favorable, and chiefly between 

 December and June. The proficiency of 

 the canaries as singers is determined by 

 an expert who stands before the rows of 

 cages and in the babel of voices judges 

 the ability of each bird by the move- 

 ments of its bill. The birds are then 

 marked as to grade, the value ranging 

 from eighteen to ninety-six dollars per 

 dozen. 



On the other floors of the building are 

 to be found scores of varieties and some- 

 times a single shipment will include as 

 many as seventy kinds of birds. Among 

 the birds that are imported in particu- 

 larly large numbers, the canaries of 

 course come first; and then the wax- 

 bills or weavers (comprising many spe- 

 cies of small finchlike African and Asiatic 

 birds), bullfinches, Australian shell parra- 



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