Abstract
[Editor's Note: The following article is reprinted from the Avicultural Magazine (April, 1937). The A.FA. has been given permission to reprint this insightful article by Frank Woo/ham, editor of The Avicultural Magazine and Professor j R. Hodges, honorary Council Chairman of the Aoicultural Society (England).
In this article the famed ornithologist and auiculturist, Dr. jean Delacour gives his impression of American aoiculture in 193 7. He travelled to several zoological and private collections. While reading this article in 1994, one must be impressed with the great variety ofavian species found in captivity in the 1930's. Some were quite delicate in their dietary needs as the flycatchers and hummingbirds while others are now considered quite rare as the birds-of-paradise and the Weka Rail. Though many species of pheasants, curassows and waterfowl . were very common, it was also a time when a variety of finches and softbills were quite plentiful. This article can give us a chance to admire the aviculturists of the past as to their ability to keep many of these species alive. The great variety of present day commercial diets were not available to them.
Several hybrids have been mentioned in this article and the editors have left them to preserve the contents of this article. The A.FA. does not in any way approve of captive hybridization. The editors along with several knowledgeable
auiculturists have clarified several outof-date or unfamiliar common and scientific names found in this article. These additions are in brackets. Ibis article follows Dr. Delacour's travels through the eastern and mid-western US. A later article will follow his travels in the west. Dr. Delacour's wonderful sense of humor often came through in his writings. It can be seen at the end of the first paragraph of this article. Many of the names of the aviculturists of the past may be familiar to you. Tbis articletuaspriruedfor yourenjoymentandeducation. DRT}
I had not been in North America since 1927. In those days there were very good public collections of live birds in different zoos, but only a very few private ones and some commercial breeding establishments. We all know that, since then, aviculture has spread considerably over there, particularly in California, and the tremendous change in the state of things which I have witnessed during my last trip is, I think, well worth recording in our pages.
In America, aviculturists are up against a general difficulty; labour is extremely difficult to find, and very expensive, so that, unless one has large means, one must be prepared more or less to look after one's birds oneself. That, of course, bars very large collections in most cases. Another drawback is the hard climate of many parts of the country. The whole North, North-East, and
Middle-West have six months of very cold weather which practically no birds from a warm or temperate climate can stand without artificial heat, and the summers, being oppressively hot, are also dangerous to some, although they suit others very well. But it all means substantial and costly buildings. The Southern states, on the other hand, mild in the winter, very hot and damp in the summer, are good for tropical species, and the Pacific coast, with climates vaiying from that of South-West England to that of the Riviera, is extremely favourable to bird keeping and breeding in general.
I. The East
The autumn is the best season in North-East America, and I arrived in New York on 6th October, with M. Francois Edmond-Blanc. We took over some rare birds of different sorts which I presented to some of the zoos, and others which I acquired from them, all having travelled in perfect condition. Many friends met us at the wharf and Mr. P.M. Maresi took us straight to his charming house at Scardale, a pretty and countrylike suburb. A Vice-President of the Avicultural Society of America, Mr. Maresi has the best private collection of delicate birds east of the Rockies at the present time. Although he keeps Pheasants and other Game birds, he is mostly interested in the rarer insectivorous and frugivorous species. In his garden, there are two large pergola-like aviaries, containing mixed collections, mostly of seed-eaters and native American birds; a series of pens for Pheasants and other large birds, and an excellent bird-room, including three large indoor compartments, connected with outdoor flights, to which birds have access in good weather. A corridor runs in front of the indoor flights, and on the other side excellent fixed cages cover the whole wall. The room is well lighted and heated, painted with white enamel, and perfectly kept. Mr. Maresi's collection contains several hundreds of birds, and many unusual ones; there are different Rock-Thrushes, a curious Glass-eyed Thrush (Turdus jamaicensis), a lovely Fauny's Tanager (Calospiza nigrocincta), several Cuban Solitaires (Myiadestes elisabethae), Western Bluebirds, Maroon Orioles, a fine Cock of the Rock, many other species of Tanagers, Starlings, Barbets, Finches, etc.