Correspondence , Notes , etc.



185



Will Mr. Phillipps state in what manner a bird which develops-

ferocious habits, and whose removal without delay becomes necessary, is to

be caught in a huge aviary, say the size of the Canal Bank or the Waders*

aviary at the Zoo. I know but two ways—a gun or a fire engine.*


The future home of small foreign birds at the Zoo. cannot be in large

or open-air aviaries. At some little distance from the spectator the birds-

could not be distinguished, and a few dozen common small birds at half-a-

crown the dozen might as well be put in as rare and unique pairs.


Mr. Phillipps refers to the splendid results in bird keeping obtained

at the Frankfurt Zoological Gardens, to which Mr. Meade-Waldo also paid

a tribute of approval in a recent number of the Avicultural Magazine; he

is quite in error in attributing these to the few open-air flight cages. I

was in these Gardens on November 28th, 1904, and then made the following

memoranda on the spot. There are 95 cages of European birds, each cage

69 centimetres wide, 55 high, and 35 deep. In one of these cages a Hoopoe

then shown to me, in magnificent condition, had been housed eight years-

The cages for foreign birds measured :—


Lower range .. 87 c. wide, 80 high, 60 deep (33* x 30!" X 23')


Second „ ..66 „ „ 40 „ 39 „ (25" x 15" x 17!')


Upper ,, ..43 » >, 28 » 2 5 » (i6|' X 10J" X 9I'}


The birds in all these cages looked in the pink of perfection and better than

those in the few flight aviaries. About these separate cages and their

inmates Mr. Meade-Waldo wrote:—“The success of the Frankfurt Garden,

as regards birds, is due to the fact that the keeper of this house evidently

thoroughly understands his speciality, loves his birds, and has his heart in

his work in the welfare of his charges, and studies the individual peculiari¬

ties of each species.”


I am quite in agreement with Mr. Phillipps that the Zoological

Society may with advantage try to teach the public how aviaries and how

cages could be best arranged, but it is little use either side going into ex¬

tremes, the one side building overgrown aviaries and then being obliged to

put inharmonious occupants into it, or the other side being controverted

when advocating as many divisions or room)' separate cages as possible,

and as an unusually extensive trial of both methods has proved most useful.


To Mr. Hubert Astley’s remarks I would reply that what is suitable

and practicable at the Riviera, and in some favoured portions of England,

should not be attempted in the climate and on the soil of Regent’s Park.

The Nightingales he mentions have nothing to do with the argument, for

the Nightingale is a migratory bird par excellence, and its habits are so

peculiar that it really is very ill suited for life in captivity.



* An intelligent keeper can very soon capture almost any bird, even in a very large

aviary, by the simple method of a large wire cage and a piece of string, if he baits the

cage with food that the bird is particularly fond of, such as a few mealworms for insecti¬

vorous birds or “monkey nuts” for Parrots. It is worse than useless to attempt to catch

birds with nets in a large aviary. —Ed.



