SUCCESS OF THE INDOOR FLYING CAGE. 



BY C. WILLIAM BEEBE, 



ASSISTANT CURATOR, IN CHARGE OF BIRDS. 



THERE has always been a class of people to whom a caged 

 bird, no matter how happy and songful it appears, is a 

 pathetic sight, and the phrase " winged prisoner " is a favorite 

 exclamation indiscriminately applied. While there have undoubt- 

 edly been and still are abuses due to ignorance or neglect, birds 

 which appear from their song or activity to be contented and 

 happy really are so, for birds are free from hypocrisy. 



Referring only to zoological gardens and parks, it has been 

 usually the custom to keep birds in comparatively small cages, 

 each species by itself, in preference to turning many species into 

 a large indoor cage wherein room to fly and run might mean to 

 them all that the word " palace " when compared to " cell " sug- 

 gests to a human mind. In the Aquatic Bird-House of the New 

 York Zoological Park the idea of an indoor flying-cage for large 

 birds has received its first practical test, and as the idea was orig- 

 inal with the New York Zoological Society, the experiment seems 

 of sufficient importance to be reported upon in detail. 



Before discussing advantages and objections, it may be said that 

 the cage has proven an unqualified success, and not only has it 

 equalled, but, in many ways, it has exceeded the expectations 

 which influenced its trial. The cage in the Aquatic Birds' House 

 of the New York Zoological Park measures sixteen by forty feet, 

 and is twenty feet in height. The wire-work consists of chain- 

 netting, of No. 12 wire and 2-inch mesh, set in channel-iron 



