Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park 27

Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park 27

The Soemmerring Pheasant, (_Phasianus soemmerringii_), sometimes very

aptly called the Copper Pheasant, is a native of Japan, and a bird of

which any country might well be proud. In size, form and length of tail

it matches the common ring-necked pheasant. Its head and neck plumage is

of a warm copper-bronze tint, but its most beautiful colors are found in

the elaborate cross-bar markings of its tail. The pattern of the latter

reveals first a strong cross-bar of chocolate brown, above that a broad

band of fawn-color, and this blends into a mottling of black on

cream-color, edged across with black.

 

The True Ring-Necked Pheasant, (_P. torquatus_), of China, brings to

view a question that frequently is asked regarding the English Pheasant,

(_P. colchicus_), which is the common species of southeastern Europe and

Asia Minor, and of Great Britain and other continental areas by

_introduction_. We are asked, “Has the English Pheasant a white ring

around its neck, or not?”

 

The answer is, _the true, pure-blooded_ English, or Common Pheasant,

(_P. colchicus_), has _no ring_ around its neck; but so many persons

have crossed the true Ring-Necked Pheasant, of China, with that species

that in many flocks of the former species the majority of the

individuals are of mixed breed, with necks perceptibly ringed, yet

passing as English Pheasants. As a matter of fact, in the world to-day,

pure-blooded English Pheasants are rare. Both the English and

Ring-Necked species have been successfully introduced into several

portions of the United States.

 

While on this subject, we will here record the fact that the name

Mongolian Pheasant, as often applied to the Ring-Neck, is a misleading

error. The real Mongolian Pheasant, of Turkestan, (_P. mongolicus_), is

a species of such extreme rarity that it is almost unknown, alive, in

the United States. A fine pair of these birds is now on exhibition at

the Pheasant Aviary.

 

The Argus Pheasant, (_Argusianus argus_), is a bird with a great

reputation for beauty, but as seen alive in zoological collections it

does not always come up to expectations. Both its secondary

feathers—which when fully developed are of enormous length—and its

primaries, are extremely beautiful; but unfortunately those beauties are

not visible until the bird is dead, and its plumage displayed in a

manner very rarely adopted by the living, captive bird. But the eyes on

the huge secondary feathers are wonderful, and each primary is a dream

in ecru and brown tints, laid on in a most elaborate pattern. The Argus

Pheasants are most shy and wide-awake birds, inhabiting the dense, hot

and moist jungles of Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, and are

almost impossible to shoot. They are snared by the Dyaks and Malays, and

after the skin has been removed and carefully preserved for museum

purposes, the flesh is as fine eating as the breast of a quail and quite

as palatable. A few successful attempts have been made to breed this

species in captivity.

 

The Impeyan Pheasant, (_Lophophorus impeyanus_), is the neighbor of the

Himalayan tahr, the burrhel, the ibex and the markhor, and the delight

of every sportsman who dares the rocks of “the Roof of the World” in

quest of Himalayan big game. Its beauty is due chiefly to its metallic

colors, and the splendid iridescence of its plumage. Its home is in the

world’s most gigantic mountains, and it is not uncommon for a bird that

has flown out from a mountain-side and been shot on the wing to fall

2,000 feet, and beyond human reach. No wonder this bird is popular with

Anglo-Indian sportsmen.

 

The Pheasant Aviary is a _double installation_, and as an aviary for

Pigeons and Doves it is quite as perfect as it is for Pheasants.

 

During the year 1910 and part of 1911, the pheasants of the Old World

were studied in their haunts by Mr. C. William Beebe, Curator of Birds.

By reason of a cash gift to the Zoological Society made by Col. Anthony

R. Kuser, he was enabled to make the expedition. The results will be

embodied in an elaborate monograph, which probably will be published in

the near future.

 

 

THE OSTRICH HOUSE, No. 43.

_This entire collection presented by the late Charles T. Barney._

 

Originally it was our intention to devote this fine building solely to

the great “running birds,”—Ostriches, Rheas, Emeus and Cassowaries; but

the pressure for space has been so great that this intention never has

been carried into effect, and we fear it never will be. There are so

many cranes, seriemas, tropical vultures and other large birds which

appeal for space in these very pleasant and healthful quarters, we have

felt compelled to set our original plan half at naught. It seems

probable that some of the feathered interlopers now in the Ostrich House

will remain there, indefinitely—or at least until we erect a Crane

Aviary.

 

Architecturally, the Ostrich House is the counterpart of the

Small-Mammal House, the two being identical in size and form, and

connected by a handsome pavilion. Each building is 170 feet long, and 54

feet wide. The Ostrich House contains 13 cages, each 10×12 feet, by 8

feet in height. A flood of warm light pours through a glass roof into

these cages, and makes them as light as the yards without. It is no

wonder that birds thrive in this building. Movable partitions were

provided, so that a few of the cages might be subdivided whenever

necessary. This provision has proven of much practical value.

 

Each interior cage connects with a spacious outside yard, in which the

big birds spend the warm months. The yards are enclosed by wire fences,

and to the eye of the visitor they are open from three directions.

 

The members of the Subclass _Ratitae_,—once called the Cursores, or the

“running birds,”—are the present-day giants of the avian world. We have

reason to be glad that all these splendid birds did not disappear from

the earth before ornithology took form as a science. Undoubtedly, they

mark the end of the line of birds of their kind, for the far-reaching

destructiveness of civilized man has already put a period to the natural

evolution of animal life. To-day, the preservers of wild life are

engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle with the annihilators, over the

preservation of a remnant for those who come after us.

 

The African Ostriches are now very prominently in the public eye, not

because of their relationship to the Dinornis and Aepyornis of the past,

but by reason of the value of their plumes in enhancing the

attractiveness of woman. And surely, no plume-bearing bird ever enlisted

in a better cause, or on a more satisfactory basis; for to-day the plume

crop is being grown and plucked and marketed with almost as much

certainty as the annual crop of wool. In the United States, the most

important plume-producing ostrich farms are situated in southern

California and Arizona, where the industry is quite successful. So

valuable are the adult birds that it is possible to purchase specimens

imported from Africa for less money than would be necessary to procure

them in the United States.

 

[Illustration: NORTH AFRICAN OSTRICH: MALE.]

 

A full-grown male African Ostrich stands 8 feet in height, and weighs

about 300 pounds. Its value on arrival in New York, before

acclimatization and moulting into perfect plumage, is from $200 to $250.

The female lays about 90 eggs in a year, each of which is equal to about

20 hen’s eggs. The time of incubation is about 40 days. In captivity

only about 60 per cent of the eggs hatch, and of those not more than

one-half live to attain full maturity. The plumage of immature birds and

adult females is gray, but that of the adult male is black on the body,

and white on the wings and tail.

 

The South African Ostrich, (_Struthio australis_), differs from the

species found in the north. The color of the naked skin of its neck and

thighs, and the front scales on its metatarsus, is distinctly bluish,

and dark. This is the species of the southern half of Africa, now so

successfully farmed in Cape Colony for its feathers that the annual crop

is said to yield about $5,000,000. And it is this species which is kept

on the ostrich farms of California and Arizona.

 

[Illustration: RHEA.]

 

[Illustration: CASSOWARY.]

 

The North African, or Sudan Ostrich, (_S. camelus_), is the species

first and longest known. Its neck, thighs and front metatarsal scales

are of a decided pink color. Originally the range of this species

extended from north Africa well into southwestern Asia, embracing

Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia.

 

Generally speaking, the African Ostriches originally covered all the

open, sandy plains of Africa; but they never inhabited the regions of

dense forests. To-day their total inhabited range is small, and rapidly

becoming more so. It is highly probable that within the life period of

many persons now living, wild Ostriches will totally disappear from the

earth.

 

The Common Rhea, or South American Ostrich, (_Rhea americana_),

represents a group of ostriches much smaller than those of Africa, and

found only on the open plans of Argentina and Patagonia, below the great

equatorial forest belt. There are three species in the group. In general

terms it may be stated that an adult Rhea is about two-thirds the size

of an adult African ostrich. It is with great difficulty that these

birds are reared to maturity in the United States.

 

[Illustration: EMEUS.]

 

The Common Emeu, (_Dromacus novae-hollandiae_), of Australia, is the

neighbor of the kangaroo and wallaby, and in form is as odd as are the

majority of the birds and mammals of that continent of strange

creatures. Its body suggests a pile of gray-brown hay elevated on

stilts, to one end of which a hay-covered neck and head have been

attached. The bird-lover should make much of this creature, for in its

home country it has been almost exterminated. Fortunately, in climates

reasonably well suited to it—but not in or near New York—it is possible

to breed this bird in captivity. In size the Emeu is next to the African

ostrich.

 

The Ceram Cassowary, (_Casuarius casuarius_), of the Island of Ceram,

Malay Archipelago, represents a group which contains a number of

well-defined species which are scattered through the northern cape of

Australia, New Guinea, the Aru Islands, Ceram, and other islands of

Malayana east of Celebes. They are all distinguished by their glossy

purple or black body plumage—which looks far more like coarse hair than

like feathers—their huge legs, and their helmeted heads. The differences

between species are based chiefly upon the bright orange red and purple

colors of their upper necks and wattles.

 

In size the Cassowaries are all of them smaller than the emeus. In

captivity they are the best of all the large cursorial birds, and live

longer than either ostriches, rheas or emeus. They are essentially birds

of the thick forests rather than open plains, and can not bear the

glaring light and heat of midsummer that is the delight of an ostrich.

In captivity they are very apt to be quarrelsome toward each other.

 

Miscellaneous Birds in the Ostrich House.—At present these are so

numerous and so important it is necessary to mention a few of them, even

though the labels may be supposed to speak for them. They fall into

several groups, chiefly birds of prey and cranes.