96 



that the horizontal bars be placed outside both the 

 upright ones and the wire netting, so that the birds 

 cannot roost on them and be within the reach of cats 

 at night. The bottom rail (resting on the ground) is 

 a length of floor-boarding, 7 in. wide by i in. thick. 

 Wire-netting of ^ in. mesh is tightly strained over all 

 but the doorway, being fastened down by small wire 

 staples to the back of the floor-board and horizontal 

 bars and to the front of the uprights, which are next 

 doubled in thickness b}- nailing lengths on the front 

 surface, thus making them both neater and stronger. 

 The door having then been made in like manner and 

 fixed in the doorway by a couple of butt hinges, the 

 whole is ready for painting. The bottom board, or at 

 any rate its lower edge, should have two or three coats 

 of gas tar with a little paraffin in it and applied hot : 

 the rest should be primed with a coat of good lead 

 colour, followed by two more of dark Brunswick green. 

 In giving the final coat it is advisable to include the 

 wire netting, not only because it willpreservethe wire 

 from the effects of weather, but also because the dark- 

 ening of it shews up the birds and prevents one's eye- 

 sight from being dazzled and confused. A common 

 window-sash fastener makes the neatest and handiest 

 combination of doorhandle and latch. If it is considered 

 advisable to close in one or both ends, that can be best 

 done with ^ in. or f in. match boarding. Care must 

 be taken not to let the ends of the boards be quite 

 flush with the lower edge of the floor-board or bottom 

 rail ; if they are an inch short of this it will be all the 

 better, since as the structure will stand o?i the ground, 

 it will be as well not to let the cross section of the 

 grain be in contact with it. In a boarded-in end the 

 middle horizontal rail may be on the inside ; indeed 

 this is desirable, since it may be utilized as a support 

 for a shelf, etc. 



The roof is constructed in the same way as a 

 boarded end. Three longitudinal rails of slate 



