780 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from Fix 

 NO LAUGHING MATTER IS THE JUDGING OF CANARY CARUSOS 



This is a tense moment in the annual Tournament of Song at Benneclcenstein, in the Harz 

 Mountains of northern Germany, a region renowned for the breeding of sweet-voiced canaries. A 

 holiday is declared and families from near and far bring their finest pet vocalists, picnic out of doors, 

 and crowd around the judging tables. Cages are cloth-covered (left foreground) to keep the tem- 

 peramental performers quiet and undisturbed b>' the e.xcitement (page 778). 



the camera lens. On cool mornings it lay 

 across my slippered feet for warmth, and as 

 I wrote and worked it leaned contentedly 

 against my legs. 



In various tropical countries I have seen 

 many semidomesticated birds — parakeets 

 that flew or climbed in and out of native 

 houses; strange, large-headed plovers known 

 as "thick-knees," kept in patios to eat the 

 cockroaches; and little native sparrows that 

 skipped in and out of doorways to search 

 for crumbs. 



I recall also the scores of wild birds that 

 I kept for study and as pets around a little 

 field laboratory on the Bear River Marshes 

 in Utah. A California gull that I cured 

 of a sickness became as tame as any do- 

 mestic fowl, though it lived at freedom. A 

 young great blue heron that grew enor- 

 mously came at evening to rest on my knee 

 and to poke curiously with its long bill 

 at my glasses. A Canada goose with de- 



formed wing feathers accepted me as an 

 equal three days after its capture and fol- 

 lowed me constantly like a dog. With these 

 were hundreds of wild ducks of a variety of 

 kinds, some of which fed from my hand and 

 then returned voluntarily to their pens. 



A PRIVATE AVIARY AND ITS BIRDS 



Aviculture, the practice of keeping and 

 rearing birds in captivity, has many devo- 

 tees, from the housewife who raises a few 

 canaries in her living room to the land- 

 owner with broad estates who delights in 

 exotic species of birds brought from distant 

 countries. Some of these collections rival 

 zoological gardens in their extent. 



The country home of my friend Jean 

 Delacour is found at Cleres in the north 

 of France. The chateau, located in a little 

 valley, is surrounded by broad lawns. Be- 

 yond are spacious meadows through which 

 meanders a little stream, and behind the 



