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Small songbirds have been popular pets over the years. Many pioneer women kept canaries, parakeets or finches for their beauty, companionship and for their song. Birdcages are often seen in photographs of pioneer homes as well as in urban Victorian home interiors. This Art Deco style wire cage is painted pale yellow, has two wooden perches and two white ceramic feeders. On the door of the cage is a metal tag reading "Hendryx New Haven, Conn. USA.” 

Andrew Hendryx was a self-taught mechanical engineer and inventor. He began manufacturing wire cloth and birdcages in 1874. In 1889, the Andrew B. Hendryx Company was incorporated in New Haven, Connecticut. The company produced and sold songbird cages and stands, parrot cages and stands and squirrel and mouse cages. They also manufactured fishing reels, spoons, lures, chains and an assortment of brackets. By the 1920s, Hendryx had become the largest cage manufacturer in the U.S. In their advertising, Hendryx promoted the therapeutic benefits of owning birds.