This paper is an essay on aviculture. It presents general information on the keeping of gallinaceous birds and waterfowl with an emphasis on the relationship between man and the avian subjects of his interest. The reasons for keeping rare decorative birds are often an economic nature. The scale of reproduction in captivity may result in the change of an ornamental species into a culinary species. The subsequent use ofa domestic animal may very well deviate from its original taming in prehistoric times, for instance from an offering to bio-industry production. The rearing of a species may also be connected with the re-stocking of shoots. Propagation of birds in captivity may ensure the survival of a species. Still the re-establishing of species in nature by means of specimens raised in confinement tends not to be very successful. The relationships between certain goose species and man is treated in greater detail and based upon observations on such birds in the author's own menagerie.
