98 



purpose above-mentioned these also keep the floor ot 

 the aviary dry, and allow the outside soil to be 

 worked without any danger of tliat inside the aviary 

 falling away and having its level disturbed. 



To allow of the drinking and bathing water being 

 changed without opening the door it is advisable to 

 have a small hinged flap within a few inches of the 

 floor and just large enough to allow of the passage of 

 the drinking vessel and bath. This will be found to 

 greatly minimize the chances of the birds' escaping if 

 at any time a servant is deputed to look after these 

 requirements of the inmates. 



A coat of lime-wash inside, and the fixing of 

 suitable perches, shelves, feeding hoppers, and nesting 

 places, not forgetting a two inch layer of coarse 

 washed river sand on the floor, completes the whole 

 arrangement. 



Such an aviary will, as a store pen, accommodate 

 at a pinch from thirty to forty birds of the size of a 

 Canary and under if it is kept perfectly clean, but as 

 breeding quarters it should hold not more than five 

 hens at the most, and even then there may be trouble. 



If it is thought advisable to modify the above 

 idea, say for instance through the proposed site being 

 an exposed one, a chamber built entirely of wood, and 

 having only a window opening and a door, can be easily 

 built at one end for the birds to retire into if they will. 

 Such an aviary is shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion. The closed in chamber (seen towards the right 

 of the picture), is a little over 7 ft. long ; then there 

 is a portion, 6 ft. in length, open in front but covered 

 in at the top; the remainder, 18 ft., is entirely com- 

 posed of wirework, and can be differentiated from the 

 remainder by the wall not being lime-washed. It 

 contains a pear tree and a couple of spruce firs, and the 

 floor is thickly sown with grass and other green stuff. 

 In it I keep only about from thirty to fifty birds 



