132 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



larger birds found that limbs close overhead made comfortable 

 roosting there impossible, and so the smaller tree-perching ducks 

 occupied these unused places. 



Despite their name and natural habits, the so-called " tree- 

 ducks " — Java and black - bellied — are never seen above the 

 ground. The various ibises — glossy, white, and scarlet — spend 

 much of their time^ as is their wont when wild, along the edge 

 of the water probing for small particles of food. The sheldrakes, 

 ring-billed and laughing gulls, white pelicans, coots, black swans, 

 and the flock of flamingoes (two species) are of course alto- 

 gether terrestrial, although, in comparison to the short-legged 

 ducks, the stilted flamingoes occupy a different stratum of air. 

 Of course only the favorite relative positions have been meant, as 

 every hour, every minute in the day, shows changes due to the 

 healthy activity of the birds. 



/. The Health and Contentment of the Birds. — For the satis- 

 factory exhibition of birds certain conditions are necessary, and 

 their health is, without question, the most important. To be kept 

 in perfect health, birds in captivity must of course have suitable 

 food, but equally necessary, almost, is the need of exercise. In 

 the New York Zoological Park it has been proven again and 

 again that a bird may have an abundance of good food and water, 

 and yet die in a short time from gout, from excess of fat, or other 

 diseases consequent to a sedentary life. Give it any inducement 

 to activity, even such as a more or less antagonistic species which 

 keeps annoying it, and it will improve. The large cage in the 

 Aquatic Birds' House has gained the reputation of a veritable 

 sanitarium for birds. When a bird is moping in one of the side 

 cages, it is removed and placed with the eighty-odd individuals 

 in the large central cage. One of several things happens. Once, 

 in the case of the snake-birds, a disposition was manifested entirely 

 different from that of all other birds which have since been tested. 

 It is impossible for this species to be confined with other birds. 

 They manifest fiendish delight in picking out the eyes of other 

 birds, or killing them in other ways, and so far as the flying cage 

 is concerned they are a complete failure. Happily, the snake- 

 birds are exceptional among all the birds which have so far come 

 into possession of the Zoological Society, and the interest attach- 

 ing to their feats of diving after live fish in their tank partly 

 compensates for their ugly tempers. 



