INDOOR AVIARIES 



75 



all extremes, must be avoided, for it should 

 be remembered that the birds will to a 

 certain extent lead an artificial existence 

 and be more liable to feel the injurious 

 eifects of external influences. Tlie most 

 important consideration of all is to effect 

 thorough ventilation with complete free- 

 dom from draughts — a more frequent 

 cause of death to Ca- 

 naries than many people 

 imagine. Too much at- 

 tention cannot be paid 

 to this, and our instruc- 

 tions on the point are 

 most emphatic. A bird 

 which can be acclima- 

 tised to almost any 

 extent can be killed in 

 twenty-four hours in a 

 draughty room. 



Having selected a 

 suitable room, proceed 

 to furnish it by placing 

 in it a nvunber of 

 " Christmas trees " — 

 small firs — of various 

 sizes. These, if obtained 

 at a nursery, can be 

 lifted in the autumn, and 

 will, if carefully raised 

 and well potted, live the year through, 

 by which time they will be 

 about done for ; as, apart 

 from the unfavourable cir- 

 cumstances in which they 

 are placed, the birds will make sad havoc of 

 them. In their selection substantial plants 

 with flat, spreading branches, should be 

 chosen. They should be tastefully arranged 

 on such stands as can be extemporised for 

 the purpose, singly or in clumps, filling up 

 corners — arranging them, in fact, in any 

 way and every way to suit the individual 

 taste. Avoid, however, placing them so 

 that any part of the room cannot be got at 

 if necessary; for old birds as well as young 

 are apt to flutter away into inaccessible 

 corners, and make no effort to release them- 

 selves from positions not dangerous in 

 reality, but from which the birds seem to 

 think escape is hopeless. For instance, 



if a bird, when frightened, should happen 

 to flutter about and scramble between a 

 tree-box and the wall, the chances are 

 that it would remain there and die 

 without ever trying to get free again. 

 It is this sort of contingency that must 

 be guarded against as far as jiossible. 

 These are simjDle matters, but the result 



Trees and 

 Plants for 

 the Aviary 



HIGHEST TYPE OF INDOOR AVIARY. 



of experience shows them to be important. 

 Nothing jars more unpleasantly on sensitive 

 minds than to find that any creature under 

 our care has suffered through circumstances 

 which we might have prevented by the 

 exercise of a little forethought ; one such 

 death in the little household is quite 

 enough to leave behind it unpleasant 

 memories which detract greatly from our 

 pleasures. 



One would think that, to use a common 

 expression, birds would " have more sense " 

 than to behave so foolishly ; but it is not 

 exactly the want of what we call sense 

 which induces such misfortunes. The bird 

 from some cause or other becomes fright- 

 ened, or perhaps it leaves its nest before 

 it is able to take care of itself, and naturally 

 betakes itself to the quietest corner it can 

 find, where, removed from observation, it 

 remains till the little heart ceases to beat. 



