Abstract
Editor's Note: Perhaps the major reason why most people are in aviculture is to observe and propagate birds. The enjoyment received from watching these creatures grow and develop can be matched by few other activities. If it were possible to never clean, water and feed these birds, but merely enjoy their activities, most of us would probably desire this. However, birds do require much care and since most are confined and not given the freedom to follow their natural instincts, it becomes important for the aviculturist to understand his birds so as to provide them with an optimum environment. Much information that is passed around concerning bird care is filled with myth and is based upon limited experiences. Such information in the hands of an inexperienced person can lead to disappointing and sometimes lethal results. As times approach when bird acquisition will become more difficult due to fewer imports, it is imperative that aviculturists have a solid scientifically based knowledge in all aspects of bird care. The time may be near when the death of even the most common bird will carry with it a significant sense of loss. For these reasons the following series is being initiated. It hopes to provide the bird-keeper with a sound base of information that will aid in the proper nutrition of birds. The present article begins with a fish story and ends with some theoretical considerations.
THE FISH STORY
At the age of fourteen 1 had the privilege of being employed at the Chicago Zoological Park (Brookfield Zoo). Although the then exciting aspects of working at a zoo for the mighty sum of sixty cents an hour have faded, several things of greater significance have remained. One of these was the development of a friendship with Ralph Small. When first we met, Ralph was a guard at a main entrance, a position he held after encountering a not-so-friendly Giant Panda. I was assigned to assist him with a rental concession of kiddie strollers and wheelchairs. It was not too long before we discovered a mutual interest in animals. Ralph would bring various pet journals for me to read. At that particular time my interests centered around tropical fish. Ralph had a significant interest there also. What I read at those times has long been forgotten, but what has remained concerns a short conversation held one summer day. Although the precise situation is slightly foggy as one looks back over the years, the main thrust and intent has become more clear and vivid with time.
As memory serves, l was one day looking through a tropical fish journal and came upon a technical article dealing with water conditioning as a part of aquarium management. Ralph, knowing the dreams that were running through my fourteen-year-old head, stated that if I wanted to succeed I should know, understand and practice that technical information. Such statements to a young hobbiest were truly disheartening. The technical stuff was a bore, totally uninteresting. I wanted stories about how others had bred these animals and, in my imagination, I dreamed of the future. It was simple: fish were fish. The fact that they were alive should mean that they should grow, look good and reproduce like rabbits.
Through continued association with Ralph the need for technical excellence became more vivid. As I would visit his home and see fish tanks filled with young while my tanks contained only unreproductive adults, the desire to learn these boring technical aspects became more stronger. That I truly needed such information was forcibly brought home when he bought some fish from me that I was unable to have reproduce. I visited him about 6 weeks later and was utterly shocked to see these same fish completely changed. They were over twice the size as when I had them and they had an enormous brood of young. Not only that but he raised them to maturity and sold them at a profit to the same pet store where I purchased the adults.
Why this long prologue about fish in a bird journal? Although the animals are different, the principles are the same and are more strongly applied to the raising of birds. The technical information concerned with raising birds does not feed the imagination as does an article on the breeding of an exotic bird. But the understanding and application of these technical ideas can rapidly change a person who dreams of breeding that favored species into one who has actual success.