ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



793 



THE PHEASANT AVIARY. 



THE PARROT HOUSE. 



THE SONNEBERG AVIARIES. 



By Lee S. Crandall, 



Assistant Curator of Birds. 



AVICULTURE has never been a popular 

 pursuit in America; and just why not, is 

 rather difficult to say. It is not lack of 

 interest in captive living birds, for thousands of 

 canaries and large numbers of more interesting 

 species, are imported annually by the two or 

 three dealers who monopolize the greater part of 

 the trade. Unfortunately, very many of the 

 persons who purchase these songsters possess 

 only the rudiments of knowledge of their proper 

 care. Their avian interests are generally con- 

 fined to the one or two individuals which chance 

 has brought into their hands, and rarely lead 

 them to engage more extensively in bird-keep- 

 ing. 



There is another factor, however, which un- 

 doubtedly has had much influence in bringing 

 about this condition. As wild birds near at 

 hand are the ones most apt to be caged by begin- 

 ners, the passage of certain bird-protection laws 

 has had the unfortunate effect of reducing to a 

 minimum the possibility that the first impulse 

 toward this fascinating study might be received 

 from the keeping of native birds in captivity. 

 As a result, American aviculture is confined to 

 the public zoological parks and gardens, and the 

 collections of a very few private individuals, 

 whose numbers, happily, are now rapidly in- 

 creasing. 



Among the larger of the private establish- 

 ments is that of Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thomp- 

 son, at Canandaigua, New York, which may well 

 be regarded as a model for its kind. "Sorne- 



berg" is an estate of very considerable extent, 

 about fifty-two acres being walled in to form 

 the home grounds. These have been developed 

 very successfully, along unusually artistic lines. 

 The aviaries are open to the public on every 

 Saturday afternoon from two until five o'clock, 

 and the entire park is likewise open on the sec- 

 ond and fourth Fridays of July, August and 

 Sejatember. Thousands of people from Canan- 

 daigua and neighboring towns take advantage 

 of this hospitality, and enjoy the grounds on 

 those days. 



The aviaries occupy an area of about one acre. 

 They had their inception in one of less preten- 

 tious dimensions which Mrs. Thompson saw in 

 California. The first of the buildings, known 

 as "The Aviary," was built in 1902, and the 

 Pheasant Aviary, which completes the construc- 

 tion original^ planned, was completed in 1909. 

 The houses include the large Aviary, the Jay 

 House, the Parrot House, the hospital adjoining, 

 and the Pheasant Aviary. On July 21, 1911, 

 the collection consisted of 891 birds representing 

 246 species. 



The Aviary contains an indoor space of fifty 

 by twenty-seven feet, with an attached flying 

 cage thirty feet high by fifty feet in diameter. 

 Exclusive of this, there are offices, an observa- 

 tion room and a small museum as yet undevel- 

 oped. The house is built of wood and cement, 

 the roof, one end and the side toward the flight 

 cage being entirely of glass, which is protected 

 bj' one-half-inch diamond-mesh wire. Numerous 

 roof ventilators and the openings for flight al- 

 low the free circulation of air that is necessary 

 to offset the heating effect of the large expanse 

 of glass. 



