3 L 



I 



Ji^O I 



NEWS BULLETIN 



OF THE 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Number 2. Issued by the NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 69 Wail St., N. Y. October, 1897. 



BIRD HOUSE FOR THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



THE BIRD HOUSE. 



In man}' of the largest and best' zoological "gardens of the 

 world, the bird collections seem rather unfortunately 

 scattered and broken up. To a great extent, this is un- 

 avoidable, for the practical difficulties to be faced in provid- 

 ing comfortable homes for the representatives of the 

 feathered inhabitants of the earth are really very numerous 

 and complicated. Even of our own North American birds, 

 we must provide for the representatives of 18 orders, 

 and as many of our 61 families and 766 species as it 

 is possible to gather. When to the great diversity in size 

 and food habits of bird 1 ?, we add the requirements as to tem- 

 perature, atmosphere, light and shadow, the nature and 

 complexity of the problems to be solved begin to appear. 



In the installation of living creatures a systematic 

 arrangement is a practical impossibility. The differ- 

 ent orders must be placed where their representatives 

 gest and tj st comfortably. In the designing of 

 the Zoological Park, it has been possible, however, to 

 accomplish an end which we believe may be viewed with 

 satisfaction. The various collections of birds, filling ten 

 aviaries and buildings, are to be disposed in two great 

 groups, one in the north-central portion of the Park, and 



the other around the large pond which lies under the 

 shelter of the timbered ridge near the southwest entrance. 



W& present herewith a reproduction of the architect's 

 preliminary design of the proposed Bird House. It has been 

 planned to afford, both within and without, a great amount 

 of cage room for the benefit of the perching birds, parrots, 

 lories, macaws, pigeons and doves, diving birds, owls and 

 hawks, and the general omnium gatherum of birds which 

 cannot well be accommodated elsewhere in separate collec- 

 tions. The interior of the building, which on the ground is 

 shaped like a T with the top toward the north, as shown in 

 the engraving, will afford 330 lineal feet of cage room, on 

 a large portion of which small cages will stand in three tiers. 



The outside of the building affords room for 332 lineal - 

 feet of cages for hawks, owls, the hardy perching birds, and 

 certain others that with proper shelter can endure cur 

 winters. There will be six large and handsome dome cages, 

 similar to that shown in the illustration. The interior of 

 the building will be made attractive by the introduction of 

 plants and vines, descriptive labels, diagrams and other aids 

 to a proper appreciation of the living in] 

 cages. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the whole 

 interior will be the diving birds and their huge glass tank 

 filled with water, in which one of the most interesting sights 

 of the whole bird world will be distinctly seen. 



