42 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



miilc'd to the floor close to the wall, and a 



sharp k)ok-oiit kept lor holes that tiiey 



may be stopped up at once with plaster of 



Paris or cement. Any holes in the floor 



itself must be covered with tin. 



If mice sho\ild take possession of the 



room, summary ejection of 



D "-"^ *°M- the whole fraternity is better 



Poison Mice. •' 



and more easy of accom- 

 plishment than tedious operations with 

 traps. Poisoninfj can be resorted to with- 

 out any risk of unpleasant results from the 

 mice dying in their holes, for if one or two 

 should do so their bodies are only very 

 small. If the floor be well swept for two 

 or three nights in succession and baited 

 with a small heap of oatmeal, which must 

 idtimately be mixed with some vermin 

 poison, the entire colony can be cleared out 

 without any trouble in one or two nights, 

 when mice and poison should be buried. 

 But if poisoning be oljjected to, examine 

 the room for holes and stop up all but one. 

 If the room be entered at night with a light, 

 the mice will at once make for this one 

 loophole of escape, which can be closed 

 before even a single mouse has time to 

 reach it ; for unless the cages are so placed 

 that the mice cannot by any possible means 

 get into them, they will be foimd ban- 

 queting in the seed-hoppers. If a large 

 box be previously placed on the vacant 

 side of the room, about an inch from the 

 wall, every marauder will run behind it. 

 There need be no hurry to bring about 

 the (U'noiicment, and every long tail must 

 be beaten out of cover ; not one will 

 attempt to leave the shelter of the l)ox. 

 A gentle squeeze, and that batch can be 

 swept up, the box replaced, the hole un- 

 stopped, and the operation repeated in an 

 hour. There will soon be no mice to 

 squeeze. It is wholesale slaughter, but 

 death is instantaneous and merciful. Dirty 

 cages, filthy little tracks in their frecpicnlcd 

 runs, soiled seed, ;uhI ixrhaps a dead bird 

 or two, are sullicicnt incentives to a massacre 

 which need never occur again if the proper 

 ])rccautions are then taken to prevent the 

 ingress of these ])csts. 



^Ve have referred to the cat as an 



Cats f. Mice. 



eirccti\c mouse destroyer. Some persons 

 succeed in training their cats in such a way 

 that they are allowed free 

 access to the bird-room; 

 indccfl, not a few turn puss into the 

 room every night to mount guard antl 

 protect the cages from the inroads of 

 mice ; and where the cat has been brought 

 up to the work from kittcnhood, it is 

 astonishing how faithfully it will dis- 

 charge its trust. We cannot but think, 

 however, that the practice is fraught with 

 great danger, and do not consider that a 

 breeding-room containing valuable stock is 

 the right place in which to connncncc 

 " happy family " experiments. We say 

 so in justice to the claims of the birds, 

 which have no right to be exposed to 

 such a risk. Our general experience of 

 cats is that they are cats, and that, under 

 favourable conditions, the cat nature will 

 assert itself. It has to do so but once to 

 entail disastrous consequences, and we 

 think that the chance of that once shoidd 

 not be allowed. Ciranted that puss sits 

 down to watch her favourite hole from w hich 

 she has bagged many a mouse, and watches 

 it as only a cat can ; but a slight flutter in 

 one of the cages breaks the stillness of the 

 room, and she is there in a moment, and 

 that unfortunate bird is either " killed 

 fatally dead " or frightened to death. The 

 cat's appetite thus whetted, she makes a 

 complete job of the work before she tires 

 of the anuisement of jnitting her velvet 

 paws through the wires. We have known 

 it to happen in more than one instance 

 and think that shutting a cat in a nxim 

 among birds is like smoking a pipe beside 

 a keg of gunjiowdcr with the head out : 

 but one single spark is wanted to do 

 mischief. " A place for everything, and 

 everything in its place," is the motto for a 

 well-ordered room ; and the jilace for the 

 cat is on the outside of the door. 



Wc have spoken of mice only, as tliey 

 are the most connnon depredators, and 

 arc ccrlain tf) be attracted to a bird-room. 

 J{ut in counliy districts, where other kinds 

 of vermin not unrreciucntly visit the home- 

 stead, the greatest care should be taken 



