48 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



intended for the use of one pair of birds only, 

 is known as a sinoic brccdin<^ cafre. Tiic- 

 illustration on tliis patjc shows such a caoc 

 fitted with a nioval)le wire front, sccd- 

 hopper, glass drinking vessel, and earth- 

 enware egg drawer, all in their proper 

 positions as used while breeding. A small 

 glass vessel may also he fixed against the 

 perch by ])assing a wiiv pin through the 

 lip of the vessel. In this may be placed 

 other tit-bits, such as a. little maw-seed. 



SINGLE BOX BREEDING CAGE. Willi WIKH 

 FRONT AND FITTINGS. 



bread and milk, or l)oilcd rape, any of which 

 are best given in a sc})arate vessel. The 

 only other article requii'ed in this cage is 

 the earthenware nest-pan, hung either in 

 the centre of the back of the cage, or at 

 one end, whichever the breeder prefers. 

 A small wire rack on the outside of the 

 wire front, in which to place the nest- 

 building material for the hen to ])ull 

 through the wires, completes the fittings. 

 It will be observed in the illustration 

 of this cage that the turn-rail at the bottom 

 is open ; it is arranged thus to show its 

 method of working. This cage is free 

 from any fixed tra])i)iiigs inside in whicii 

 insect pests may gather ; the fittings 

 are all movable. 



Sand-tr.iys can. of course, be used where 

 preferred, but this cage has no sand-tray 

 — simply the turn-rail in front, which is 

 removed when tiie cage is cleaned out. 



A two-compartment c;i,ge is called a 

 " double breeding cage," Jind allords accom- 

 modation for two pairs of 



Compart= birds, one pair in each com- 

 ment Cages. . , , 



partmcnt. and so on. In 



describing cages we shall adopt these 

 terms. A " stack " of cages is simply a 



nuiltiplieation of compartments built either 

 in one ])iccc or in sections, though when 

 built in one |)iccc it is more generally 

 spoken of as an eight- or sixteen-eompart- 

 mcnt cage, according to the number of 

 pairs it is intended to accommodate, and 

 is understood to be one piece of furniture. 

 Thirt}' years ago it was quite a common 

 thing in the North for fanciers to make 

 long cages with eight or ten breeding com- 

 partments ; others were made in a ehest- 

 of-drawcrs I'ashiitn, with a " stack " of 

 twelve compartiuents. There were thus 

 four compartments at the bottom, the top 

 of which formed the base of four compart- 

 ments above : the top of these again formed 

 the base of the topmost four eompart- 

 mcuts. A little wood is saved by such an 

 arrangement, but these large structures are 

 awkward to move and handle when it is 

 necessary to wash and rc|)aint them, and 

 altogether these disadvantages far out- 

 weigh the little gained by the saving of 

 wood. The single-storey cages of some- 

 what smaller dimensions — not exceeding, 

 say, four compartments arranged side by 

 side with movable jiartitions -are very 

 handy, and are as easily moved about for 

 the jiurpose of cleaning or for arranging 

 in order as are double cages ; during the 

 moulting season and winter mouths they 

 are easily converted into flight cages by 

 removing the partitions. 



We only projjose to deal with the double 

 breeding cage, leaving it to the fancier to 

 cut his coat according to his 

 clcith in the matter of multi- 

 j)lication. 



We will luiw proceed to 

 con.struct our cage, which, to begin with, 

 is nothing more than a box 40 inches 

 long. If) inches high, and 10 inches deep 

 (for Vork.shires it might be 17 inches or 

 IS inches high), made of yellow ])inc wood 

 about three-eighths of an inch thick. It 

 must be i)Iaiu(l smooth. rubl)e(l down with 

 fine glasspai)cr. and neatly and securely 

 put together. Every joint should fit as 

 <losely as got)il workmanship can ensure. 

 These dimensions allow reasonable space 

 in each compartment for a pair of birds, 



The Double 



Breeding 



Cage. 



