But this bird house that was touted as maybe the best bird house ever built and touted by Mehrtens that way, and a lot of people felt that way ’cause they had an incredible collection, he had it built out of wood, and it started to rot before the zoo ever opened. And (laughs) he had gone to Europe before he ever became director of Riverbanks Zoo. And I know, I don’t know what zoo, but he was in a German zoo. He used to tell me this story. He was in a German zoo, and they were experimenting with using light as a barrier for birds. And he went into this building, and they had built a series of cages. And the room was very dark, but the cages were very well lit. And the birds, at least it was felt like, would not fly out of their lighted exhibits into the dark.
