ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



225 



I'AKROTS' CAGK. 



iiwinj; the opc-n character i)f the mesh of the \vi 

 the ca<re fronts. 



phrases as any parrot. The starhng-like pastors 

 and the active jays are housed here, as are also the 

 roUicking kiughini; thrushes of the Himakiya moun- 

 tains. Now and then the coo of a tiny ground tioxe 

 is heard, and sooner orkiter the deep ventnloc|uial 

 bass of a great crowned pigeon reverberates through 

 the building. Xot one person in a thousand can 

 trace it to its source — to those great purple and 

 blue birds, with their wonderful martial crests, well 

 deserving their title "king of the ])igeons." 



.\mong other grou])s of birds, which will soon 

 find homes in this betiuliful iniilditig, may be men- 

 tioned the thrushes, warblers, titmice, bulliuls, 

 orioles, tanagers, buntings, grosbeaks, waxbills, 

 sparrows, starlings, bower-birds, crows, Javs, larks, 

 horiibills and loin ans, wookjicckers, cuckoos, king- 

 fishers, fruit pigeons and doves; the smtiller (piail 

 and partridges, sand-grouse, tinamous, the sand- 

 pipers and plover, and many others. 



The middle tlying cage, with its fountain, its wide- 

 branching trees, its rocks, sand and growing plants, 

 is the most striking and beautiful e.\hil)ilion of :tll, 

 vying in interest with the great outdoor llying cage 

 of the aquatic birds — save tiiat here everything is 

 in miniature. 



When ;i pail of minnows is lihcralcd in the pool, 

 a thrill of excitement pa--es thfcuigh the wliole cai^e. 



.\ dozen terns — those swallows of 

 the sea — uttering their tremulous 

 cry. rise on fluttering wings and 

 swiftly lly through and over the 

 branches, now hovering over the 

 Mtrface of the water and dashing 

 diiwn for a fish, now swinging 

 rapidly toward the o|)])()site end of 

 the enclosure. These little fellows, 

 reared from chickhood in ca|5tivity, 

 are as strong and ha])py as if they 

 were darting over the .sand dunes 

 cif the Mrginia coast. The skim- 

 tncr, loo, witli itsstrangel)- uncouth 

 bill, li\('s here contentedly. Al- 

 thciugh one of the most specialized 

 cif all our native birds, yet in ca|)- 

 ti\ity it has learned to pick up its 

 food, to lly and to give the various 

 call notes of its kind. 



The mention of these -American 

 1 irds brings to mind the fact that 

 in this country we have a splendid 

 and interestitig avijtiuiui, many 

 members of which would well re- 

 ])ay rearing and breeditig in con- 

 linement; ;ind, although luiropean 

 and other foreign birds will alwavs 

 be largely represented, yet it is 

 Iioped that, little by little, a repre- 

 sentative collection of North and 

 South .American birds can be as- 

 sembled, whicii in interest, both 

 scientific and popular, will be unsurpa.ssed. 



At present the skylarks in the central cage sing 

 ujion the wing as sweetly as any ])oet of Ktiglatid 

 ever heard tlietn; the nightingales are just coming 

 into song: but although etishrined and made famous 

 in the literature and romantic folk-lore of many 

 centuries, yet we can match, if not indeed surpass, 

 everv one of them with songsters from our own 

 continent. What land can ])roduce a song as full of 

 rollicking joy as that of the bobolink? \\'hat a 

 choir of pure and liquid voices we have in our 

 thrushes alone — the wood, the olive-backed, the 

 grey-cheeked, the hermit and the veeryl .\nd 

 thus we could run the gamut of our native choris- 

 ters, through the clear-toned sparrows and orioles, 

 the wild tiiusic of the meadow larks of the West, and 

 oliiers intiumerable. up to the leaders of tiieir class 

 — the mocking-bird and the solitaire — the jilgiicro 

 of the Mexicans. When, in one building, one may 

 listeti to the song of the varied thrush, britiging to 

 mind the spruces of .\laska; to the solitaire, whose 

 song is the embodiment of fern-scented tropical 

 cativons; when as to-day, we see the snowllake and 

 the honey creeper happy and content under a single 

 nil if. then the marvel of the bird-life of our con- 

 tiiHiU becomes more real to us than museum or 

 book could ever make it. 



chich is used in the 



