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Dr. Ibopfcinson's Hviarv. 



By E. Hopkinson, M.A., M.B., D.S.O. 



The accompanying photographs show the design of a new 

 aviary which I have had built this summer to replace an old one, 

 which after an existence of nineteen years, had at last reached 

 the stage when its removal was necessary to prevent its complete 

 collapse. In designing the new one my chief aim was to circum- 

 vent the mice with which the old place was absolutely overrun, in 

 spite of hanging food-tins and the use of traps. To effect this the 

 far end of the aviary is boarded off to form a house with a raised 

 floor, (2 ft. 4 in. from the ground) and with a three feet opening 

 into the flight surrounded on all sides by at least 18 inches of 

 zinc, up which no mouse ought to be able to get. There is also 

 a window opening to the outside covered with mouse-proof 

 square mesh wire netting and closed when necessary by a move- 

 able glass shutter. The floor of the house is of zinc-covered 

 wood, strong enough to support a man's weight ; ail the corners 

 and joints are closely fitted and mouse-proof, and none of the 

 outside perches are fixed near the entrance, so that it is impos- 

 sible for anything which cannot fly to get in through the opening. 

 In this house are all the food trays, not a single seed being 

 allowed outside. I find that the birds soon learn to find the food 

 and fly in and out the house freely, the only precaution necessary 

 being to shut new arrivals into the house for the first few hours 

 till they have had at least one feed there. 



The remainder of the aviary forms an earth-floored flight, 

 half of which is roofed with wood and half with ordinary half- 

 inch wire netting, and inside the door is a semi-porch of netting, 

 which is just enough to prevent birds escaping when one enters 

 the aviary. 



The photographs show the position of the aviary against a 

 South wall, in a small town garden, and I need only add the 

 dimensions : length 16 feet, of which the house takes 4 feet, the 

 flight 12 feet, 6 feet roofed and 6 feet open; breadth 6 feet; 

 height 9 feet at back and 6 feet 6 inches in front. The old aviary 

 was covered, and in its latter days mainl)- held together by a 

 dense growth of Jesamine ; what could be saved of this can be 



