Kenton C. Lint 361 Taxa

an American aviculturallegend . In assessing a great life, it is often fit Kenton C. Lint 361 taxa. December 31, 1959, there ting to begin with details. March 19, 1912 - December 3, 1992 were 2,109 specimens of 559 taxa. While attempting to decide where to December 31, 1962, San Diego's spe begin in writing this appreciation, I Part I cies and subspecies count was rapidly was leafing through the AFA Watch byJosefLindholm, III catching up with the New York Zoolo bird for December/January 1993, Keeper II, Birds gical Park's; 2,185 specimens of 635 when I came across the editor's note Fort Worth Zoological Park taxa at San Diego, 1,533 specimens of appended to an article on a still-all 646 taxa at the Bronx. For more than too-infrequent breeding of the 50 years, the Bronx Zoo had the larg Gould's or Sparkling Violet-ear Hum est collection of bird taxa in the West mingbird (Colibri coruscans) (Bieda, ern Hemisphere. This was to change 1993), Our editors request that "if any in 1963; at year's end, there were person has knowledge of any species 1,543 specimens of 622 taxa at New of South American hummingbird York, and San Diego Zoo (the Wild being successfully parent reared in Animal Park was still nine years from captive conditions in North America, opening) held 2,234 specimens of 698 we would welcome this information:' taxa. A year later, San Diego's taxon In 1970, the San Diego Zoo hatched count stood at 854. Until Walsrode, in two Sparkling Violet-ears and reared Germany (entirely devoted to birds), one. The same thing happened there shot ahead in 1973, San Diego would the next year. Finally, in 1973, both remain the largest collection of birds the chicks that hatched at San Diego in the world, and it has never lost its reached adulthood. I extracted these first place in the Western Hemisphere dry facts from the august pages of the (with a count, at present, ofsomewhat International Zoo Yearbook (Zoologi under 500 species). cal Society of London, 1972b, 1973 & San Diego's year-end collection sta 1975). The 1970 hatching is far more Kenton C. Lint tistics reached an all-time high engagingly documented in the pages Marie, and his son Roland in 1964 December 31, 1969, with 3,465 birds of the San Diego Zoological Society's (Lint, 1965). Through the '60s, before of 1,126 species and subspecies. And Zoonooz, where staff photographer Newcastle's quarantine and govern what a collection it was! A quick scan Ron Garrison's typically magnificent ment export restrictions, the hum through my childhood memories of pictures accompany a detailed, mingbird collection was rich and var visits in the late '60s and early '70s unsigned account of a U.S. first breed ied, and shared its exhibit with more calls up Black-footed Albatross, Euro ing (Anon., 1970). Uncredited as it than 20 species of tanagers, a wonder pean Common Teal, Indian White may be, the style ofthis article is famil ful array of shorebirds (Lint, 1971), backed Vulture, Steller's Sea Eagle, iar, especially to long-time readers of and a startling variety of other soft Burmese Pygmy Falcon, Australian Zoonooz, as its author, K.C. Lint, bills. Less than two years after its Brown Falcon, Wattled Brush Turkey, wrote or co-authored 98 articles for opening, Black-necked Stilts, Indian Maleo, Fiji Banded Rail, Heerman's this magazine, from 1939 to 1991 White-eyes, and Golden, Silver Gull, Wild Rock Pigeons, Layard's Par (Lindholm, 1993). throated and Lady Wilson's Tanagers akeets, Lear's Macaw, Giant Touraco, K.C. Lint came to work at the San had bred there. The first captive Tawny Owls (both the central and Diego Zoo in 1936. Though it was breedings of the Orange-breasted western European subspecies), Amer always his intention to work with Cotinga (Lint & Dolan, 1966), and ican Great Gray Owl, Green-tailed birds, until 1938 he managed the cats White-naped Honeyeater (Lint, 1968a) Sylph, Costa Rican Quetzals, White and bears. In 1938, he effected a trans were other early successes in a build headed Wood-hoopoes, Black-billed fer to the Bird Department as a ing which continues to this day to be a Mountain Toucan, Clark's Nutcracker, keeper, and, with the exception of his site for important reproduction of soft White-capped Redstart, and Golden WWII service in the Pacific, he did not billed birds. winged Sunbird. leave until 1976, when he retired as K.C. also loved Albatross. As long as No doubt, by today's standards, Curator of Birds, to which he had the zoo had any, through the '70s, he many would regard such a collection been appointed in 1947. personally handfed them their daily as "not politically correct:' I well K.c. loved hummingbirds. For many squid. K.C. loved boobies and terns remember a table-full ofAmerican zoo visitors, the highlight of a visit to the and todies and hoopoes and pittas. curators rolling their eyes and blowing San Diego Zoo was always the Hum There will never again be an American tobacco smoke while K.C., presenting mingbird House. Designed by K.C. bird collection on the scale that K.C. the luncheon address at an interna (Lint, 1966), its initial inhabitants were maintained at San Diego for years. In tional symposium honoring Jean 105 hummingbirds of 23 species, col 1947, the year he became Curator of Delacour, cheerfully related: "And in lected by K.C. and Augusto Ruschi, Birds, 1,266 birds of 319 species and 1960, we built the Tropical Rain For the famous Brazilian ornithologist, subspecies were inventoried. A year est, and we put a thousand birds in it, and brought back by K.C., his wife later, there were 1,335 specimens of and it was the funnest aviary anyone afa WATCH BIRD 55 ever had." (K.C. later told me that book (Zoological Society of London, fully reared at San Diego in 1970. more than two hundred species were 1972a & b). Of course, it must be kept This, to some degree, was deliber involved - though 300 out of this in mind that, with the exception ofthe ate. K.c. was having one of his parrot thousand were Java Sparrows, which San Diego Zoo (with fewer than 500 years. In his own words, "My philoso bred there freely). taxa), no one in the Western Hemi phy is that the more species you have, It is certainly well to ask what breed sphere maintains as many as 400 spe the more you have to work with. Each ing success could be achieved in so cies and subspecies today. In fact, year I tried to concentrate on a differ enormous a collection, furthermore only the New York Zoological Park ent family of birds, you see. Because I maintained under the constraints of a and the San Diego Wild Animal Park had a large collection, I could do this public zoo with all its other animals. (which only opened in 1972) other and I was able to establish a lot of From the International Zoo Year wise presently hold more than 300 breeding records with that collection" book (Zoological Society of London, taxa in America. (Lint, et. al., 1990, p. 22). It must be 1972b), I compiled the appended list In the context of 1970, San Diego's agreed that 401 is "a lot." Leaving out of birds reared to maturity at the San breeding statistics are admirable, everything indicated to have died Diego Zoo in 1970 (Table I). I chose especially when the results of other before independence, I counted 401 this year, as it opened, as noted institutions are analyzed. Of the 46 species and subspecies of birds above, with 1,126 taxa, the largest taxa hatched at St. Louis, 27 were Ana hatched at the zoo between 1938 and first-of-the-year inventory in the zoo's tids (ducks, geese and swans), and 14 1976 (the period K.C. worked in the history. (At the close of 1970, there were Galliformes, primarily pheas Bird Department) from a list that he were 1,097 taxa present). Thirty-four ants. New York's figures of 40 taxa compiled from his daily logs and dis species and subspecies successfully include six species of Fringillid tributed privately (I'm not certain if reproduced. finches that were bred that year only, this was ever published anywhere). In comparison to today's avicultural in a separately funded off-exhibit And this list is not entirely complete. activities, this may seem appaling. For research project. Fifteen of the other We have all heard of people who've instance, in 1989, with fewer than 500 taxa at New York were Anatids. Eight "forgotten more than the rest ofus will taxa inventoried, the San Diego Zoo een kinds of Anatids and ten taxa of ever learn." I have published else bred 104 of them (Lieberman, et. al., Galliformes make up a substantial where a bibliography of K.c.'s articles 1990). In the context of its time, how percentage of the 41 taxa produced at for Zoonooz (Lindholm, 1993). In ever, the 1970 San Diego figure is the National Zoological Park. Los 1941, a Brown Booby (Sula leucogas impressive. I rather arbitrarily chose Angeles and Houston each numbered ter) is listed among the 38 species several U.S. zoos and bird parks, and eight species of Galliformes among hatched that year (Lint, 1941). K.C. tallied the number of fully reared bird their successes for that year.

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