207



Correspondence, Notes, etc.



(i.) That the cages are of ‘ moderate size,’ and the inmates are not

therefore closely confined.


(ii.) That the birds can, as has already been proved, be kept in better

health.


(iii). That nothing can be more cruel than the presence in an aviary

of a ‘bully’ or a cantankerous species, of which all the

other inmates live in terror, as we have been shown in the

earlier portion of this discussion.


The second, and perhaps the most valid reason in favour of aviaries,

is that it enables the birds to show off their habits and movements better;

which is in fact the case if the}' allow themselves to be observed. In

practice, however, their habits and movements are almost entirely kept for

the early morning.


The other main argument in favour of aviaries is their greater

economy of labour and food.


Now in a Zoological Gardens, whose chief aim, apart from scientific

study, should be to amuse and instruct the public, the small extra expense

of food need not count, while as keepers are on duty all day the economy of

labour is likewise of comparatively little moment. At the same time, the

object is not so much to breed as to interest and instruct the casual visitor,

to attract and centre his attention, a matter which I maintain can be more

easily done when he can see and closely examine a bird in a cage and com¬

pare it with its near allies.


I can hear some reader saying that this is usurping the function of a

Museum, but my reply is that the functions of a public Zoological Gardens

and a Museum are, or should be, fundamentally the same, with a large

balance in favour of greater instruction on the side of the living exhibit.

The birds, being able to be closely watched, their mode of feeding, kind of

food, etc., etc., may be studied and compared in a way impossible where

many species exist together in large aviaries. Of course I am presupposing

that there should be careful arrangement so that their different habits, etc

might be easily seen and compared. For instance, a Wryneck, Tree-Creeper,

Woodpecker, and Nuthatch might be placed in contiguous cages as

examples of various methods of climbing; the various modes of breaking

and eating seed might be illustrated by examples of Tits, Buntings, Finches,

Crossbill, Quail, and Bearded Reedling, the method being still further

worked out by giving the last-named feathery reed tops, the Crossbill

fircones, the Goldfinch thistles, when in season, the various points of note

being made evident by clearly written and concise labels. Another series

might show the different methods of insect feeding, the Warblers, Tits, and

Scops Owl, forming good examples of three different modes; or again the

use of the feet for holding of food, examples where it is held in one foot

only being found among the Parrots, Owls, and Gallinules, or among the

Tits, Jays, and Hawks, where it is held on the ground with both feet.



