The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-14
A COLLEGE FOR BIRDS.
now THE FEATHERED sONGsTERs
ARE TAUGHT MUSIC.
Canaries Are Brigbt Scholars, and
Never strike the Wrong Note After
a Few LessOns-NightingaIe Bull
inches and Others as Singers.
from the scientific American.

a Few LessOns-NIghtingaIe Bull
Hnches and Others as Singers.
From the Scientific American.
Buying and importing song birds occu-
pies the time and attention of several
scores of people in New York and as the
distributing center of this peculiar trade,
the city is often the home OF considerable
numbers of song birds gathered from all
quarters of the globe. On the East Side.
in Fourth street. there are several remark
able aviares where. without doubt, a
study of one branch of ORTHODOXY can be
pursued under conditions more favorable
than elsewhere on this continent, and a
visit TO one of these bird Conservatives
of music is better than a trip to the fields
or woods to listen to the songs of the wild
warblers The owner of the aviary is a
German-more than probable from some
little village in the Hartz mountains,
where bird raising is the chief industry
and he not only feeds and tends his little
birds with loving care. but teaches them
to whistle and sing in tune 70 the accom-
paniment of an old read organ or flute.
There are several large importing houses
of song birds in New York, and in the
busy season they employ from twenty to
forty travellers who go back and forth
from Europe to purchase the pick of the
canaries, buphnches and other European
songsters. The consignments come chiefly
from Germany and England Nearly all
of the canaries raised in the world for
cage purposes come from these two coun-
tries and of
houses have distributing branches in New
York. The birds are sent over by steamer
In large consignments under the charge of
an expert care-tender, who does nothing
else but feed and doctor the little pets
placed under his charge. One experienced
man can take charge of five large crates.
each one containing 210 cages of birds. or
a little over 1000 in all. Some times dur
ing the rush season the care tender has
hVe hurricane deckers to watch, or / 400
cages and birds to look after during the
long hours of the days and nights.
That this work is not easy, any one who
has had the privilege Of looking after a
single canary for a week can wen under
stand Feeding and watering over a
thousand birds, and cleaning out their
cages every day, makes up a routine Of
work on shipboard that begins at o'clock
IN the morning and does not end until
late in the afternoon. When seasickness
the canaries are apt to be uncomfortable
III their crowded quarters. Sometimes a
disease known as ''schnappen" breaks ont
among the canaries at such times and as
this rs fearfully contagious il sweeps
through the crowded bird quarters on
shipboard and decimates the ranks at a
terrible rate. Cases are known Where
only ten birds have survived out of an i'm
portation of eight hundred to a thousand
the disease performing its terrible work In
a weeks time This is supposed to he
caused as much by the overcrowded and
poorly ventilated condition of the birds
quarters as by the rolling of the shin IF
you ask Fritz If his birds get seasick. he
will answer emphatlcally, NO" but he
Will add softly TO himself "schnappen
And in that word is conveyed much of
meaning that the lay mind cannot APP
precate.
When the imported birds arrive IN mort
they are hurried Immediately to the i'm
porting houses, or to the different quiet
aVlarles in the German quarters, where
experienced bird-raisers take them in
chafge II is at this latter place that one
may make an inspection of the singers
which are destined to carry song and de-
llght into so many homes. Most of them
are trained birds, and they sing and whis-
lie TO perfection, and all that their Ger
man attendant has to do is to feed and
water them properly. If disease breaks
out among them, he is supposed to know
just what to do, and IN most instances
he does prove an expert bird doctor.
In the mating and breeding season. how
ever, young birds appear in the great
2Viary which must be taught to whistle
snd sing accurately. Most people ina CINE
that all the perfection of song cage-birds
as inherited, and they would be surprised
10 learn the amount of labor bestowed
upon them i'm order to make their tunes ac-
CnT1ta The hf,,ls
proper voices for great artists ara trained
in the most careful manner In the Hartz
Mountains, where canary training reaches
its highest development, the throat and
voice of each young canary is tested and
those selected for the highest training are
set apart by themselves. They are sent to
a school for instruction that is unique in
its methods AT the head of the school is
probably a canary of the st. Andrea sberg
type, which strikes the right note for all
the youngsters to initiate. The young
birds are taken into the room in
their cages, with cloth draped over them
TO shut out the light until the proper time
has come for singing. Then the light IS
admitted and the teacher begins her Warb-
Ing The young birds, which have prob
ably never attempted TO, pipe, leave off
their feeding and listen to the marvellous
outburst of pure song. They become I'M
easy and enraptureds and in a short time
they try to initiate the song; but they
make miserable failures for many days
Eventually some of them strike the right
note, and at the end of the week the most
promising ones are separated from the
rest and placed in rooms with the best
singers. In this way their voices are
gradually cultivated, and new songs ere
taught them
There are several such schools for cana
ries in New York, but they are devoted !