25



Cage Birds in the Frankfurt Zoological Gardens.


colouring of the parents, but grey down shows amongst the red

feathers on the breast; the bill is still black, and it has not yet

grown a tail. It is very healthy, and its parents are devoted

to it.


[This very beautiful species, from the Island of Sumbawa, was almost

unknown before about the year 1S96, when quite a number were imported into

this country. It has now become rare again, very few having been im¬

ported recently. It has bred in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens, but as far

as we are aware Mrs. Michell’s birds are the first to have reared young in

the United Kingdom if not in any European country, and their owner is to-

be heartily congratulated upon her success.


A coloured plate of this species appeared in Parrakeets .— Ed.]



CAGE BIRDS IN FRANKFURT ZOOLOGICAL

GARDENS.


By E. G. B. Meade- Waldo, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.


During a recent inspection of some ot the Zoological

Gardens on the Continent I was much impressed with the

beautiful condition of the collection of “German birds” in the

Zoological Gardens of Frankfurt-am-Main, and possibly a short

account of this collection may be of interest to readers of the

Avicultural Magazine, for the success appears to depend far more

on careful detail of management than in any particular of their

surroundings. The collection in question occupies the whole

back of the bird-house. The front consisting of large aviaries

opening into open-air aviaries.


There are two tiers of cages in the building all of the

same size, some 2ft. 6in. in length by about 18 in height and

depth. All cages are of the same size, all are served from the

passage at the back, and all have galvanized iron sliding bottoms,

which are thickly covered with quartz grit and sand. The

perches are at each end with one along the front, and all food is

given in glazed white earthenware oval bowls, water being

supplied in similar vessels which also serve as baths. These are

stood in the middle of the back of each cage, and consequently

are out of reach of being fouled in any way by the birds. All

this is very ordinary, and so is the food supplied to the various



