The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-26
NEW YORK AS
 A BIRD CENTRE
NO TRUST, BUT ONLY TWO I'M PoRTERS WHO SUPPLY THE
 COUNTRY.
BOG, ,OOO Canaries. Received Here in a Year-Many Thousands of Par rots-High Prices for Fine
 Cage Birds.

New York Evening Post
 A paragraph was recently printed in naries unloaded in crates from the steamship koenigin Louise on her ar rival in this port, were consgned to the trust" and that nobody now could get canary, parrot or various other birds kept as household pets without applying to the trust for them" It was further said that the trusts headquarters were in Grand Street, and that Bernard Ruhe was the President.
 MT. Ruhe said today that no trust had been formed in his line of business. It was true that there has been some talk In the last year about organizing such trust, but it had come to nothing. As 1t was, he and one other were the only inn porters of birds for New York. and all the foreign birds shipped to this country were received in this city. except very few sent from Australia to San Francis co. A shipment of 4,000 canaries at one time was common consignment in the season, which extended from the middle of September to about the 1st of April. He received about 4.000 every week in that period, and the other importer about as many. Altogether each of them import ed about 15O,O0Q canaries a year, which were sold to the retail dealers in this city and all over the United States.
 Bird Raising in Germany.
 All these canaries. it was said, are ob- of breeding them Is now scattered all over the empire, although it was formerly confined to the Harz Mountains. Many peo- pie there make 1t their entire business, while others, engaged in other vacations, make the raising of canaries a sort of 'side show" from which they derive enough money to pay their rent. The best singing birds are still procured frfom the Harz Mountains, where the breeding Of canaries was begun as early as the six teenth century and has been carried on ever since In Germany canaries are bred only for song, while in England some are bred for size and color. Some birds are bred in this country, but they show a tendency to "hark back from the vel low plumage to the mottled green coats of the wild birds in the Canary Islands, and they are not as good singers as the German The retail price here for good young bird from Germany Is about $2.5o, but prices run up as high as $25 apiece for trained singers. The latter are edu- cated by being put when young in the company of other fine singing birds such they learn to initiate
 The demand from all parts of the world for the German canaries, MT. Ruhe said, is so great that this country can't get enough of them. The average purchaser of a canary, he added. does not keep it alive more than six months, as he Cor she) will persist in hanging it's cage near a window Although hardly in other re- spects, the birds cannot stand draughts, and when kept by a window they are very liable to take cold and die
 Parrots from uba, Mexico and Africa
 Next to the CdndTleSt the idlScSe Dil importations are those of parrots. The greater number of these are the Cuban birds which have a white head, and red breast. They are good takers. Agents of the importers make contracts with coun- try people in Cuba, who get the parrots out of their nests in the forests when they are very young and therefore easily tanned. About 15,OOo of these birds are iE1- ported to New York annually, and are sold. untrained, for 4 to $5 apiece. Next to these in number are the Mexican par rots. of which there are several Varie- ties Most of the 4OOO or 5000 year which are brought here are of the kinds known as the double yellowhead, and the red head The former are the best takers. and as young birds sell for $15 or $2O while the red-heads fetch the same price as the Cuban parrots.
 The finest takers are the gray African parrots, but, although they are in good demand 1t is said that only. 100 are sold today for every 500 that were disposed of in this country years ago. The demand fell off at one time because people had become afraid. to buy them, they were so likely to die on the purchasers hands When the demand increased again. the supply had become inadequate. As mat ter of fact, it is said, the popular idea that these parrots are delicate is a mis-