K. Plath—Birds at the New Chicago Zoological Park 175


common name as the white is not easily discernible. We have that most

beautiful Mountain Bluebird, which is blue all over, cerulean above and

turquoise below, and the Western Bluebird, differing from the Eastern

Bluebird in having the head and throat blue. Two American Robins

and a Brown Thrasher share a cage. One of the Robins is a pure albino

with yellow bill and lege and just the faintest rosy tinge on the breast,

a lovely bird. When Mr. Delacour was here last fall he remarked that

it would pass very well as an albino English Blackbird. Our collection

has been enlarged to great advantage by the addition of several rare

species which he brought for us and I understand that he was able to

take back with him over 100 specimens of our native species. Many

of them were from the West Coast, which has very attractive varieties

particularly desirable from the aviculturist’s viewpoint, and I trust

he was successful in landing them. So many of them are unknown

to us in the East or Middle West and the acquisition of such species is

as much appreciated as those from any other part of the world. To come

back to our American collection : we have that prince of singers the

Hermit Thrush, whose purity of tone is unrivalled, also his close relative,

the Olive-backed Thrush, but little inferior as a singer. Both of these

species sing up to July, starting in April, though the latter may be

heard as late as September. As these Thrushes usually only sing during

their breeding season in the north woods hundreds of miles from

Chicago it is a rare treat to hear them sing in captivity. Among our

Blue Jays is one that whistles tunes much in the manner of a small bird.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak and his Western cousin, the Black-headed

Grosbeak, add beauty and melody, as does Vigor’s Grosbeak from

Mexico. He is a gorgeous creature in brilliant orange yellow and we

often hear his liquid whistling note. There is another cage of native

Sparrows—-the White-throat, White-crowned, Harris, and Fox. All

with musical voices. A very large wall cage houses a great variety

embracing the American Scarlet Tanager, the Western Tanager—-a

beauty in black and yellow with a crimson head, and many varieties of

the daintiest of American birds, the Wood-Warblers. To mention a few

there are : Magnolia, Lutescent, Chestnut-sided, the beautiful Redstart,

which I am sure would be appreciated by European aviculturists ;

it is an exquisite creature in jet black and snow white varied with



