ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



619 



this time there were two installations for birds, 

 the Aquatic House and the Duck Aviary, and 

 the collection consisted of thirty-six species, 

 numbering 175 specimens. 



Ignoring for the moment the ratio of in- 

 crease, the department of birds at present, on 

 January i, 1910, is exhibited in ten installa- 

 tions: the Ostrich, Aquatic and Perching Bird 

 Houses, the Hying Cage, Pheasant and Duck 

 Aviaries, the Wild-Fowl Pond, Wild-Turkey 

 Range, Macaw Tree and Crane Paddock. At 

 this date the collection is probably the largest 

 in point of numbers in the world, and includes 

 27 Orders, 665 Species and 2880 Specimens. 



Three additional structures will complete 

 the installation plans for the department ; the 

 Eagle and \'ulture, the Upland Game Bird 

 and the Crane Aviaries. 



The rate of increase of the collections of 

 Birds is shown in the following table : 



Onle 



Species Specimens 



The only check to numbers in gather- 

 ing a collection of living birds is accommoda- 

 tion : and with the world-wide interest in 

 birds which exists among men, together 

 with modern methods of transportation, it 

 is not a difficult matter to assemble several 

 thousand living birds. The gain of more than 

 100 per cent, in species and specimens during 

 the year 1905 hence reflects merely the com- 

 pletion of the large bird house with its series 

 of 125 cages. 



The critical and difficult problems with 

 which a Curator of Birds has to contend are 

 those of housing, feeding, and doctoring. 



It is not my intention here to enlarge upon 

 these subjects, as I have treated them in de- 

 tail in my contribution to the volume on the 

 "Care of Birds in Captivity," soon to be pub- 

 lished by the Zoological Society. But some 

 idea of how a pioneer worker in this field 

 learns by experience may prove of interest. 



^\'hen I use the word pioneer, I refer, of 

 course, to the scientific care of birds in cap- 

 tivitv in the United States. In Europe there 

 has been such a keen interest taken in birds 



for hundreds of years that a great deal of ex- 

 perience has been gained. But no one has ever 

 taken the trouble to put this on record for the 

 benefit of others. So, after poring over many 

 English and German works on private aviaries, 

 I gave it up and began experimenting for mv- 

 self. 



The problem of "small cage" vs. "flight 

 cage" was decided in favor of the latter, and 

 to-day the loss of life from accident or fighting 

 is practically nothing. In the first few years 

 considerable time was devoted to the study of 

 avian diseases and their cure, and while much 

 was accomplished, it was soon discovered that 

 prevention was the keynote to success. To- 

 day the most careful attention is given to 

 prophylactic treatment. When a bird arrives 

 it is quarantined, its eyes, throat and body ex- 

 amined, and its feathers dusted with insect 

 powder. Then, before being placed in a cage, 

 the pugnacity of its prospective cage-mates, 

 the temperature, water supply, etc., are con- 

 sidered. 



For the thousand and one contingencies 

 which constantly arise in work of this kind 

 no hard and fast rules can ever be framed. 

 Snowy Owls are most interesting and beautiful 

 birds, but they invariably sickened and died in 

 the intense heat of summer. But instead of 

 putting this species on the black list, whose 

 keeping would mean only cruelty, the ex- 

 pedient was tried of putting the birds in cold 

 storage as it were, placing them in a cool, 

 dark, damp cellar — the nearest approach to the 

 conditions of an Arctic night. It worked like 

 magic, and at the first frost in the fall they 

 appeared in perfect plumage, fat and with 

 every feather cleanly moulted. 



Or, when we found ourselves with a score 

 or more of recently hatched terns and skim- 

 mers clamoring for predigested fish, starvation 

 seemed imminent until the thought of the 

 wood ibises came to mind. Two hours after a 

 hearty meal these birds, if slightly annoyed, 

 will regurgitate a clean mass of half-digested 

 fish, which proved to be the salvation of the 

 little terns. 



The macaws were the bane of the bird 

 house. Kept together in one cage they 

 screamed from dawn until dark ; they cut 

 through the wire and gnawed the floor, and 

 occasionally they committed murder. The 

 Raccoon Tree gave a hint, and a big dead 

 cedar was set up in Bird Valley ; a two-foot 

 sloping wall of metal was placed around it, the 

 primaries of the half dozen macaws were 

 clipped and the birds turned loose upon the 

 tree. Result : their voices were lost in the 



