148 



boxes, and shelves should be regularly cleaned with 

 a hot solution of either boric acid or Jej^e's fluid. In 

 a general way the former antiseptic is indicated, 

 though on occasion the latter will be found useful, 

 inasmuch as it is particularly fatal to the various lice 

 and acari which infest birds, and of which I believe 

 more than one species finds a hiding place in the 

 chinks and crevices of the wood-work. At least once 

 a year — preferably twice — the inside surface of the 

 walls and roof should be well scrubbed with Jeye's 

 fluid solution and then brushed over with hot lime 

 wash in which a little common salt has been dissolved. 

 What is then left of this should be sprinkled on the 

 floor before the fresh sand is laid down. 



If any of ni}' readers, and I am afraid there are 

 some, wdio have previously neglected the simple 

 hygienic measures which I have here somewhat 

 meagrely sketched, will but adopt them, I can 

 confidently prophecy a marked improvement in the 

 condition and health of their birds. And if they 

 will also intelligently consider a question which is 

 intimately connected with that of cleanliness, viz., 

 overcrowding, and will act accordingly, I can promise 

 them an even greater measure of success. 



We frequently see it laid down that an aviary 

 will accommodate one bird of the size of a Norwich 

 Canary for each square foot of ground space. This 

 dogma appears to have been based on nothing more 

 than the mere custom of keeping a bird in a small 

 cage. Its authors have argued that if one Canary 

 can live in one cage a foot square, and twenty 

 Canaries can live in twenty cages of the same size, 

 then two hundred Canaries can live in an aviary with 

 the same floor area as two hundred of these cages 

 would shew. But just imagine what an aviar}^ 20ft. 

 by loft. and one foot high would look like with two 

 hundred Canaries in it ! Why even the aforesaid 



