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dish let into a cement bed, provided with an efficient 

 outflow, and constantly fed by a tiny jet of water. A 

 friend of mine who keeps a couple of hundred foreign 

 birds in outdoor aviaries of the simplest design has 

 baths of this kind fitted throughout, and fed from 

 tanks which are daily filled and periodically cleansed. 

 In fecundity, health fulness, and general condition his 

 birds are much above the average. In my own 

 aviaries I unfortunately have no convenience for the 

 automatic and constant change of the bath water. 

 My plan therefore consists in the constant presence of 

 a dish about two inches deep in each aviary. The 

 water jn these is always changed once a day, and 

 since they serve for drinking vessels as well as baths 

 they require filling twice a day in extremes of 

 weather, i.e. the heat of summer and the depth of 

 winter. At the latter period, when the ice has to be 

 broken out of them before they can be refilled, it is 

 instructive to see how eagerly the birds hasten to 

 bathe directly after satisfying their thirst, both in the 

 early morning and the afternoon. The water is 

 alwa3\s drawn direct from the tap and so cannot but 

 be many degrees below the birds' own temperature : 

 3^et they come to no harm, although, as we are 

 frequently told, such a procedure as cold bathing is 

 held to be ver\'' injurious, especially with regard to 

 the production of enteritis. That this popular idea is 

 a mistaken one is amply proved by the healthy con- 

 dition and low death rate not only of Mr. Dart's birds 

 and my own, but also of all others that are allowed to 

 conform to their natural habits in this respect. My 

 friend and myself seldom lose a bird, except the 

 newly bought one which comes to us in a d3nng con- 

 dition from the dealer's shop, and which is so familiar 

 to all aviarists. 



The necessity of strict cleanliness in the aviary is 

 even more to be remembered than the desirability of 



