J. Delacour—American Aviculture



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captivity, under special conditions, and lie has been particularly

successful in this endeavour. He has a very large and high aviary,

thickly planted with trees and berry bushes, with a very roomy shelter ;

another good-sized aviary, half a dozen compartments, and a smaller

flight, with a good shelter, as well as a number of cages complete his

accommodations. I forgot to say that, so far, Mr. Kinsey has specialized

on Californian passerine birds, and keeps no others, except a few

Anna and Allen’s Humming-birds. Of course, he can only do so by

enjoying a special scientific permit from the Federal Government

and the State of California, as most species of birds are strictly protected.

In Mr. Kinsey’s aviaries one sees practically all species of local passerine

birds. I was thrilled to watch in captivity such rarities as Varied

Thrushes, Mountain and Western Bluebirds, Townsends’ Solitaires,

American Flycatchers, Horned Larks, Pipits, Eock Wrens, Nuthatches,

Wren-Tits (Chamasa), Thrashers, Waxwings, Phainopeplas, several

species of American Warblers, including the beautiful “ Long-tailed

Chat ” (Icteria virens), a fine songster, Troupials, Western Tanagers,

different Grosbeaks and Buntings, Towdiees, and Sparrows. Later on,

I spent several days up country with Mr. Kinsey to trap some of the

birds that I was kindly allowed to take home with me, and I had a

very interesting experience, watching and catching such lovely species

as Western and Mountain Bluebirds, of which I’ll say more later on.

Mr. Kinsey’s enthusiasm and helpful kindness cannot be praised too

much, and it is thanks only to him that I have been able to take with

me an excellent collection of Californian birds, most of which had never

before reached Europe alive.


There used to be a wonderful collection of Waterfowl near San

Francisco, that of my late friend, Mr. de Laveaga. It was unfortunately

dispersed after his death, although it had been donated to the Whittier

Bird Club, a public institution situated near Los Angeles, which,

unfortunately, could not be maintained owing to financial difficulties.

Mr. N. B. Tucker had also built up an equally good one, at his duck¬

shooting club on the south-east of the Bay. Unfortunately, Mr. Tucker

has just given it up, so that there are no more large Waterfowl collec¬

tions in California. There are some, however, in Oregon, Washington,

and Utah, I hear, but I had no time to visit them.



