104



Mr. W. E. Teschemaker,



name who have succumbed to the lure of the “ mixed series,” have

crammed their aviaries to the limit of repletion with a heterogeneous

collection of indigenous and foreign birds, and have never produced any

definite or interesting results whatever. The “ misery ” (pity) of it!


Eighteenth Century Aviculture : the Bird-room.


In the next century we note the growth of another distinctively

German idea—the bird-room. Probably this was in its inception

rather a matter of chance than of design, and may be attributed to

the greater suitability of the German closed stove, as compared with

the English open fireplace, for avicultural purposes. These stoves

are of large dimensions and made of some kind of glazed earthenware.

Standing well away from the wall of the room, they diffuse an even

heat and need only to be stoked at long intervals ; also all fumes are

carried away by a stove-pipe. This appears to be one of the very

few articles, “ made in Germany,” which are not normally imported

into this country. I have only seen one here, and that belonged to

a German family.


Though greatly inferior to the modern “ Tortoise” stove, con¬

nected to radiators (I have the smallest size of “ Tortoise ” in my

house, yet it sufficiently heats a billiard-room, a fair-sized con¬

servatory, a large bed-room, and a bird-room), it is obviously handy

for avicultural purposes.


(Since writing the above, an acquaintance, who has resided in

Germany, has sent me the following details : “ The German stoves are

generally made of iron with a large superstructure of tiles—generally

white ; the iron heats the tiles wonderfully, so that the latter are

often quite warm in the morning and make the room beautifully

warm in all parts—so different from an English room, where one is

only warm close to the fireplace. The latest type has a regulator

and burns all night without any trouble. They burn coals or peat,

not wood. They would be splendid for birds, being so clean, safe,

and easy to manage, but they are not elegant, except those in very

large houses, which have ornamental tiles.”)


It is fairly obvious that the seventeenth century English bird-

room could not easily have been systematically heated, and therefore

its owner would have had no inducement to spend much time with



