if they mind it at all, they would enjoy 

 their existence quite as much as the hu- 

 man visitors who take to these resorts 

 in their spare half-hours to watch the 

 habits and movements of their feathered 

 companions for delight and study. It is 

 here that the skill and experience of the 

 aviculturist become a necessity ; it is here 

 that the utility of ornithology as a branch 

 of human knowledge becomes patent. The 

 reproduction of conditions pleasant to the 

 birds, and suitable to their ways of living, 

 is possible only to a specialist who has 

 a deep and intimate knowledge of bird- 

 life. It is the application of this knowledge 

 that serves to keep alive the birds in the 

 artificial conditions of the aviary and enable 

 them to thrive there. It also supplies 

 the means by which the bounds of human 

 knowledge in regard to birds may be made 

 wider and wider ; for the aviaries are 

 the laboratories of the ornitholoorist and 

 it is through them that aviculture has 

 become a handmaid of ornithology. The 



