274



Mr. Wallace Craig



line kl. The result is shown in Fig. 10. Figs. 7-10 are all end-

views. The back end of the cage, Fig. 3, is fastened to the bottom in

the same way, the projecting ends of the wires being thrust through

the holes, a straight beam of wood 124 in. long laid along the line Im

and clamped, and the bottom bent up. It is at this time that the

piece Fig. 1 is fastened to the piece Fig. 2 by means of the projecting

ends j, j ; similarly, the back, Fig. 3, is fastened to the sides. But

when it comes to fastening the back to the top, I insert a connected

piece, as op, Fig. 3, behind the first strand of the top, and bend the

whole over, bending along the line ef ; an end-view of the result is

shown in Fig. 13.


The front piece, Fig. 5, cannot be fastened to the bottom,

because the whole space qrst, Fig. 12, must be left open, for pulling

out the drawer or inner floor. For this reason, take a stout wire

(No. 12, American gauge; diameter, 2 - 8 mm.), place it in the position

qr, and bend each end around the first wire of side of cage. Then

take the front, Fig. 5, and bend each of its projecting wire-ends i, i

around this stout wire as shown in Fig. 14. This front is then

fastened to the sides and top in the same manner as the back was.


There are three doors—one in the front end and one in each

side. Each of these is closed by a piece of the welded wire fabric cut

as shown in Fig. 4. The four projecting wire ends are bent around

the upright wires on either side of the doorway (see photograph) ;

the door is opened by raising it, and it closes by its own weight.


Drinking-water, as is seen in the photograph, can be kept in a

glass outside the cage, which keeps it clean, the glass being held to

the cage by a single loop of fine wire. The bird puts his head out

between the wires to drink. In some cases one must see that the

bird learns to do this in order that he may not die of thirst. The

quickest way for him to learn is to see another bird drink, and then

have a chance to get a drink himself from the same glass. Once he

has learned to put his head out between the bars to drink, he never

fails to do this, and even seems to take a certain pleasure in it.

Seed also may be put in hoppers that hang on the outside of the

cage. Dr. Karl Russ* says that a cage should never have spaces


* ‘ Die fremdltindischen Stubenvogel,’ vol. iv, “ Lehrbuch der Stubenvogelptiege,

Abrichtung und Zucht.,” p. 41.



