176 YEAKBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Parrots often attain great age — gray pariots have been known 

 to live ninety years. They displaj' affection and intelligence, and 

 make very interesting, albeit somewhat noisy pets. They should be 

 allowed frequent liberty from the cage for exercise, where it is 

 feasible; and they are much pleased and benefited by simple toys with 

 which to relieve the tedium of confinement — an empty spool, a piece 

 of tape fastened to the wire of the cage, or some similar object. 



Macaws, large birds with glaring reds, blues, yellows, and greens 

 in their coloration and with voices to match, are secured in tropical 

 America; a few lories are brought from the Pacific regions; and many 

 cockatoos from Australia and neighboring islands. Of the last the 

 rose cockatoo from the Moluccas seems to be preferred. Nearly 300 

 were imported during the year. Both macaws and cockatoos are diffi- 

 cult to handle. Their powerful beaks are weapons not to be despised, 

 and are used so freely that speciall}' strong cages and perches are 

 needed to withstand their destructive attacks. Macaws were greatly 

 prized as pets by the Peruvians before the Spanish conqui st. 



The little yellow-crested cockateels from Australia seem to win less 

 favor here than in England, where they are fairly common in avia- 

 ries, while but 30 or 40 seem to be enough to supply our annual needs. 

 They retail here at $8 apiece and in England at about $2.50 a pair, a 

 difference in price that may partly account for the difference in favor. 



EUROPEAN BIRDS. 



The European birds ordinarily imported are sold at wholesale for $9 

 a dozen, with two exceptions — siskins, plain-colored birds, which are 

 usually secured for crossing with canaries and which bring onl}' $6 a 

 dozen, and trained or "piping" bullfinches, which command $15 each. 

 The handsome goldfinches are easily first in popular estimation, as is 

 shown by the fact that 5,000 are annually brought in. Of bullfinches, 

 1,500, mostly untrained, entered during the year. More than a 

 thousand each of siskins and linnets are imported each year and several 

 hundred skylarks and chaffinches. Song thrushes, blackbirds, and 

 black-caps show some degree of popularity; and so doubtless would 

 the robin redbreast — the true robin of our nursery tales and jingles — 

 were it easier to keep alive in confinement. Nearly a hundred night- 

 ingales are annually brought across the ocean, but ver^' few ever again 

 utter the song that has become so famous. Their silence is a mute but 

 eloquent protest against their captivity, and serves to remind us that 

 in caging a bird we do not necessarily cage its song. 



ORIENTAL BIRDS. 



The Orient furnishes several of the most popular cage birds — Java 

 sparrows, of which we imported 6.L'85 in the year ending June 30, 1906; 



