166 YEABBOOK OF THE DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUKE. 



interest in avicultural pursuits is comparatively slight. In Europe 

 aviaries are numerous and their owners maintain a common interest 

 by means of avicultural organizations and periodicals. Bird shows 

 are held annually or oftener in London, Berlin, and many other Euro- 

 pean cities. A friendly but keen rivalry prevails among the owners 

 of aviaries as to which shall first succeed in breeding species that have 

 not previously been bred in captivity or in producing new hj'brids. 

 The journals and magazines devoted to aviculture serve as a medium 

 of exchange of methods and experiences and keep their readers in touch 

 with each other. In Germany, particularly, the practice of keeping, 

 rearing, and studying cage-birds is very common. In many a dwell- 

 ing one room is set apart for birds, and these bird rooms are not con- 

 fined to a particular class, but are found in the homes of people of 

 every rank and condition. As long ago as 1880 some 200 societies 

 of amateurs existed, and several weekly publications and magazines 

 devoted to birds attested the general interest in avicultural pursuits. 



The breeding of cage-birds for sale is a regular occupation in several 

 parts of Europe. Germany produces hundreds of thousands of sing- 

 ing canaries in the Harz Mountains, those of St. Andreasburg being 

 unrivaled songsters ; in England, Scotland, and Belgium fancy vari- 

 eties of canaries are regularly bred for the trade; and at the Royal 

 Society's zoological gardens of Antwerp, Belgium, the breeding of 

 many species of foreign cage-birds is systematically conducted. 



The United States has few aviaries, and most of these are devoted to 

 pheasants and other large birds. For a few years an avicultural peri- 

 odical was published, but the support it received was apparently insuf- 

 ficient, and at present there seem to be no periodicals and very few 

 associations strictly devoted to aviculture. Hence in this country 

 there is not that community of interest and information that charac- 

 terizes the avocation in Europe. America supports a few small shows, 

 mainly exhibitions of canaries; and small exhibitions of cage birds, 

 mostly canaries, are usually held as adjuncts to the annual poultry 

 shows of New York, Boston, Chicago, Toronto, and other cities. 

 The breeding of canaries and cage-birds for the trade in any numbers 

 is practically unknown on this side of the Atlantic. 



TRAFFIC IN DOMESTIC BIRDS. 



The once extensive trade in native American birds has dwindled to 

 the vanishing point. Formerly mockingbirds, bluebirds, cardinals, 

 tanagers, indigo birds, and nonpareils were caught in large numbers 

 and sold either here or abroad, and more or less trade in other species 

 prevailed. Bluebirds, which are known as blue robins or blue 

 nightingales in England and France, were imported into England some 

 time before 1869, as in that year they were first bred in the London 



