CAGB-BIKD TRAFFIC OF THE UNITED STATES. 171 



Many small bird stores are scattered over the country, and some of 

 the large department stores have added birds to the great variety of 

 merchandise they handle. Small consignments are shipped to retail 

 dealers by express (at double rates). In the cages or boxes are placed 

 water and food suiBcient to last until arrival at destination. Some- 

 times, when the distances are unusually long, the express messengers 

 supply fresh water and food en route, and large consignments are 

 often accompanied by agents of the importers. Several of the princi- 

 pal importers have branch establishments at various points, such as 

 New Orleans, Chicago, and San Francisco, which fill western orders. 



THE RETAIL TRADE IN BIRDS. 



While retailers do more or less business during the entire year, 

 three well-defined seasons are established. In February canaries 

 begin to breed, and for the first two or three months of the year the 

 trade in breeding canaries, especiallj'^ females, is brisk. About the 

 time it subsides the first shipments of young parrots arrive from Cuba 

 and Mexico. These at once take the stage and hold it until the mid- 

 die of August, when it is no longer possible to secure young birds. 

 Interest tlien turns chiefly to singing canaries and the many other small 

 cage-birds that are imported. The sale for these grows greater and 

 greater and reaches its maximum by Christmastide, after which it 

 abruptly declines. Many dealers probably make more sales in Decem- 

 ber than during all the rest of the year. In the Christmas season of 

 1905 one Philadelphia department store sold 4,000 canaries, besides 

 other cage-birds. 



From the character of the demand for cage-birds it is evident that 

 the retail trade is, as a rule, not enough by itself to 5deld a profitable 

 income. It is usually, therefore, combined with some trade of an 

 allied nature. In retail bird stores one may usually find fowls of 

 various kinds, pheasants, dogs, monkeys, squirrels, white mice, guinea- 

 pigs, goldfish, and even lizards and snakes. The sale of food and 

 cages also constitutes an item, and sometimes the proprietor acts as 

 surgeon and physician to domestic pets. 



SPECIES IMPORTED. 



During the year ending June 30, 1906, more than 200 species of 

 cage-birds were imported into the United States. These comprised 

 canaries, parrots (under which term we may include parrakeets, cocka- 

 toos, macaws, and lories), European birds, Oriental birds, African 

 birds, Australian birds, and a few South American, Mexican, and 

 Cuban birds. It is obviously impossible, in the space of the present 

 article, to consider all these in detail; but a brief account of some of 

 the most important will be of interest. 



