it must be remembered that this cage is used for a large number of birds in winter only a non-breeding season. However, even indoors, the magpies in the flying-cage have built nests and laid eggs, and were not molested. In spring all of the birds are placed in the immense outdoor Flying Cage, where every facility is offered to induce them to breed.

To appreciate the test which the large indoor cage has successfully stood for two years, a few of the birds living in it will be mentioned, and their diversity in habits and food will indicate the remarkable degree in which the dispositions of these birds have changed to enable them to live in intimate and friendly relations with species with which in a wild state they would never associate.

On the topmost boughs of the cedar-trees the wood ibises are generally balancing their ungainly forms, while near by are the favorite perches of night herons, little blue herons, and also the cormorants, when they are not taking their turn in the pool and swimming from end to end under the water. At times the brown pelicans dispute the possession of the topmost branches, but generally are contented to perch on lower perches in company with the American and snowy egrets and Louisiana herons. About half way to the top of the tree are branches regularly engaged by mandarin and wood ducks, and they are seldom disturbed when in possession of these favorite perches. Possibly the

larger birds found that limbs close overhead made comfortable roosting there impossible, and so the smaller tree-perching ducks occupied these unused places.

Despite their name and natural habits, the so-called "treeducks "-Java and black-bellied are never seen above the ground. The various ibises-glossy, white, and scarlet-spend much of their time, as is their wont when wild, along the edge of the water probing for small particles of food. The sheldrakes, ring-billed and laughing gulls, white pelicans, coots, black swans, and the flock of flamingoes (two species) are of course altogether terrestrial, although, in comparison to the short-legged ducks, the stilted flamingoes occupy a different stratum of air. Of course only the favorite relative positions have been meant, as every hour, every minute in the day, shows changes due to the healthy activity of the birds.

I. The Health and Contentment of the Birds. For the satisfactory exhibition of birds certain conditions are necessary, and their health is, without question, the most important. To be kept in perfect health, birds in captivity must of course have suitable food, but equally necessary, almost, is the need of exercise. In the New York Zoological Park it has been proven again and again that a bird may have an abundance of good food and water, and yet die in a short time from gout, from excess of fat, or other diseases consequent to a sedentary life. Give it any inducement to activity, even such as a more or less antagonistic species which keeps annoying it, and it will improve. The large cage in the Aquatic Birds' House has gained the reputation of a veritable sanitarium for birds. When a bird is moping in one of the side cages, it is removed and placed with the eighty-odd individuals in the large central cage. One of several things happens. Once, in the case of the snake-birds, a disposition was manifested entirely different from that of all other birds which have since been tested. It is impossible for this species to be confined with other birds. They manifest fiendish delight in picking out the eyes of other birds, or killing them in other ways, and so far as the flying cage is concerned they are a complete failure. Happily, the snakebirds are exceptional among all the birds which have so far come into possession of the Zoological Society, and the interest attaching to their feats of diving after live fish in their tank partly compensates for their ugly tempers.

Occasionally when an ailing bird is introduced in the flying cage, it is killed by the other inmates, but in every such case it has been found that the murdered bird was afflicted with some undiscovered disease, sometimes contagious, and therefore its death was a benefit, rather than a loss. Thus, not infrequently, unavoidable mistakes have been corrected by the birds themselves. In the great majority of the cases wherein a drooping bird is placed with the others, the newcomer continues to droop until some resident individual finds the stranger in its way, when a sound peck administered on its back gives a hint to move on. The bird either does so or resents the blow, when a little harmless sparring takes place. Usually in a wonderfully short time the new inmate is flying around, feeding and bathing with the others, and in less than a week is fit to take up its life in its own cage.

In such cases as the above recovery is not difficult to understand, but in others it is, as yet, inexplicable. In other cages a number of valuable birds have been lost from the ravages of a parasitic mite beneath the skin of the breast, which increases in number until thousands are sometimes found in one bird. In some unknown way, before the successful eradication of this pest was worked out, it spread from cage to cage and even across the Bird House, but yet not one death from this cause has occurred in the sanitarium.

Deaths from conflicts between residents of the large cage are very infrequent, many times fewer than in the cages where four or five individuals of the same species are confined. No matter how bitter may be the feeling against an individual bird, give it room to escape by running or flying, and the animosity is soon forgotten. In a small cage, however, where it is continually in sight of the bullying bird, if not removed speedily, its death is merely a matter of a few days.

The "sanitarium" appears to exert a salutary effect on the minds as well as the bodies of its patients. In their own cage the American egrets fought until three of their number were hardly able to rise from the ground. All were at once transferred to the flying cage, where the wounded birds soon recovered, and, although all have been allowed to remain, not an egretine voice has been heard raised in anger since that day.

Referring to the matter of indiscriminate feeding, it has seemed that the occasional nibble which the tree-ducks take at the her

on's fish, or the small amount of grain which the ibises pick up, instead of causing any harmful results, really is beneficial in giving variety of diet.

II. and III. Economy of Room and of Labor in Cleaning and Feeding. A factor second only in importance to the health and contentment of the birds is the facility and dispatch with which the necessary cleaning and feeding may be accomplished; and this is altogether in favor of cages like the one under consideration. Keeper Gannon reports that, owing to the generous water-supply, ample room in which to move about, and for other reasons, the large center cage of the Bird House requires only about as much work to clean as three of the side cages, but its capacity for accommodating birds is equal to twenty of the others!

IV. Added Interest to Visitors. Viewing the results of this cage from the stand-point of the visitor, its greatest advantage lies in the fascinating spectacle it presents of life in an avian republic a life governed by intricate laws and precedents; which are more democratic and binding than anyone not seeing daily in evidence would be led to suppose could exist. If the mere identification of the birds is enjoyable, how much more so is the exhibition of new traits and characteristics, of casual encounters, of laughable by-plays, and the remarkable intelligence shown by some of the birds, all so generally absent from the "single-species" cage. One could write of this phase of the subject indefinitely, but the constantly changing life of this interesting community must be seen and watched to be appreciated.

A bird "taking its turn at bathing was spoken of; and this is not a meaningless phrase. Almost every species has its separate "turn" at the pool and feed-troughs. Perhaps early in the morning the cormorants enjoy the water for a while, then fly to the upper branches to dry themselves. Next the flamingoes may go in, and, after doubling up their thin legs, nothing is visible above the water but their long, snaky necks. After much splashing they go out on the bank to preen themselves, and a medley of little ducks and coots takes possession, shooting and diving through the water in all directions. A serious clash hardly ever occurs between old residents of the cage, and only with recent comers, because the rights of the birds, the established leges salutis, are not yet known and recognized.

One example of the good-natured dispositions of the birds is