ZOOLOGICAL SOCIKT^ lULLLTIN 



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r\i<kiii> HAIL IN rill-: .\i;\\ iuki 



\ icw lookinj; towrinl tlu- Main Hall, showing a numln 



luiililini^. 'I'liis niakfs it pii^siljlu lo kc'f|) all the 

 ck-aniiiL; opcralion.s uul of sif^ht. and also pcrmil.-n 

 the kce])crs to have access to any of the cashes, with- 

 out (listurbint; the visitors in front. 



Each ca.^e has its separate drinking and bathing 

 basin, controlled by individual water pipes. 



The mesh of the cage wire is another radical de- 

 parture from the usual aviary, lieing very large, and 

 wherever possible compo.sed of horizontal and ver- 

 tical wires. The intention is to give as unobstructed 

 a \ iew of the birds as is possible, without allowing 

 them to csiapc through the wires. 



,\ dumb waiter, for carrying sand or grain, leads 

 down into the cellar, whence an underground tunnel 

 extends to the outside roadway. Hy this means a 

 tart can drive into the cellar itself, bringing grain 

 or other sup]ilies, atid cartingawavashesand refuse. 



.\t the north end of the 

 building i.^ the olTice of the 

 Curator, and above this a 

 second large room — a glass- 

 roofed laboratory. .\t the 

 south end of the building are 

 the keepers' and feed rooms, 

 while three additional rooms 

 overhead are of the utmost 

 \alue as hosjjilals and as 

 breeding rooms for the more 

 timid species of birds. 



Such is a bird's-eye view of 

 the building. The success of 

 its various new features could 

 not be foretold until the birds 

 them.selves were introduced. 

 Taken from the small, dark, 

 temjiorary cages, in which 

 [\\v\- had s])ent the winter, 

 and set at liberty in the s|)a- 

 cious enclosures of the new 

 building, the etTect was almost 

 magical. Birds are the very 

 antitheses of stoics; and their 

 delight in the warm tlood of 

 sunlight and in the running 

 water, room to spread their 

 wings and lly again, was p-a- 

 thelic in its excess. 



Birds, which for months 

 had hardly uttered a chirp, 

 now burst into song. 'I'hcy 

 liatheil and bathed again, 

 s|)read wide their wings and 

 tails upon the warm sand, or 

 ])reened their |)lumage, until 

 every feather was clean and 

 in ])lace. 



Xo atteni])t has been made 

 to fill all the cages with the 

 birds procurable at short no- 

 tice. On the contrary, a 

 careful selection is being made. I'iven now many of 

 the cages are \acant and will remain so until young 

 and healthy birds can be purchased or collected. 



One of the large halls has been given the name 

 of parrot room, but only the more beautiful and 

 tyjjical of this class will be exhibited; the intention 

 being to avoid the large series of these birds, which 

 not only closely resemble each other, but l)y their 

 screams make the average parrot house of a zoo- 

 logical garden a perfect Babel. 



Even in the mere nucleus of a lyjiical collection 

 one cannot fail to marvel at the wealth anfl l)eauty 

 of form, so characteristic of this tropical Eamily. 

 Comjjare the tiny tovi parrakeet — an absurd pinch 

 of green feathers uttering its insect-like chir])S — 

 with one of the giant macaws, thirty-six inches of 

 blue and \ellow and red. with a voice, which in the 



.f the wall cu" 



