ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



585 



The flights resemble stalls, each being j ft. x 8 

 ft. X 1^ ft. high. They are divided with wood 

 up to a height of about seven feet, and from 

 there to the roof the f wire is used. The wood 

 is set in a slot like the door of a coal bin. so 

 that two flights can be easily made into one if 

 it should be found desirable. 



I used f wire as mice cannot get through it 

 and they can get through ^-inch wire. In each 

 flight there is a door. It is purposely made 

 low — about 4i ft. in height — and at the side of 

 the door is a box jutting out about eight inches 

 into the passageway. It is 2' 6" high b}' l' 6" 

 long, divided by a board in the middle, so that 

 the same box runs from one flight to the one 

 adjoining. The cover is hinged and divided in 

 two. and by raising these covers the food can be 

 placed in the flights without opening the doors. 



I have found this arrangement very satisfac- 

 tory. If I had it to do over, the only improve- 

 ment I could suggest would be to make a metal 

 trav, like the tray of a bird cage, at the bottom 

 of each box. 



There is a one-inch water-pipe running 

 lengthwise through the middle of the flights, 

 and in the centre of each flight is a tee from 

 which a one-half-inch pipe comes up through 

 the floor to a height of about four inches. The 

 top of this short half-inch connection is thread- 

 ed, and after it had been slit with a hack saw, 

 I screwed on each one an ordinary half-inch 

 cap. I found that I could adjust the flow of 

 water by the distance I screwed the cap down, 

 and that the spray was forced directly down- 

 ward. 



Another hole was made through the floor, 

 close to the inlet, and a one-inch coupling set 

 flush with the bottom of the basin. In this 

 a short piece of jjipe about two and a half inches 

 long is screwed loosely. If it is removed, all 

 the water washes away and if left in, it will not 

 rise above its level. 



My basins are made of concrete. I had a 

 plumber make two galvanized iron hoops for a 

 mould — the larger about l' 8" in diameter by 

 5 inches high, and the smaller 1' 6" in diameter 

 by 4 inches wide. By setting the smaller in- 

 side the larger, and raising the inside one, one 

 inch from the floor, it is easy to see how each 

 basin was made. 



The cost of the twenty basins — for there are 

 ten in the outside flights besides the ten inside — 

 was about twenty dollars. 



On the outside I used brass pipe and a brass 

 cap for the short connection, and there is no 

 waste, the water overflowing on the sand. 



One 10 X 10 ))ane in the lower sash, which 

 raises outward and hooks back, is used as a door. 



This gives access to the outdoor flights which are 

 in dimensions .5x8 ft. by the height of the 

 roof, which is hipped with about 2 ft. overhang, 

 giving a little shelter up close to the house. 

 The rest outside is a wooden frame covered with 

 the ij wire. The house is ceiled inside and 

 painted white with cold water paint. The 

 basins are enameled white. The outside wire is 

 painted black and the frame black. The roof 

 is shingled and stained black. From the eaves 

 downward white boards are placed upright with 

 round moulding over the seams for a distance 

 of about ;") ft. from the ground, where a white 

 round moulding runs around three sides of the 

 house, and below this are old-fashioned long 

 split shingles. 



The house is heated by four 3-inch water 

 pipes running low against the north wall and 

 so arranged that they can be used in pairs or 

 not. as necessary. 



I planned the interior and let the Architect, 

 Mr. Oscar Blumner, frame around it as artistic- 

 ally as he could. The cost of the house was 

 about nine hundred dollars. If I had it to re- 

 build, the only improvements I would make 

 would be to ceil it inside with hardwood and use 

 wire glass and metal sash on the windows, as the 

 destructive bills of some of the cockatoos keep 

 me busy patching it up. 



I do not like a concrete house for birds. It 

 might do in some places but it is too damp 

 with us close to the water. It would be all 

 right in the winter, when the heat is on, but in 

 the spring and fall the birds would suffer. We 

 keep the jilace comparatively cool. In the 

 winter the temperature ranges from 50 to 60, 

 and even if it gets below that it never seems to 

 inconvenience the birds. 



In winter I could not take a newly purchased 

 bird which had probably been kept in a much 

 warmer temperature, and turn him out suddenly 

 in so cool a place, but birds that have been ac- 

 climated are all the better for the low tempera- 

 ture. 



The most essential thing for the birds is fresh 

 air, and I allow them the outdoor flights from 

 about the 10th of May to the last of October. 



I feed the seed-eating birds on canary seed, 

 hemp and sunflower and more or less dried 

 wheaten bread, which I purchase by the quan- 

 tity for chickens at $1.73 per 100 lbs. They 

 also have green food from the garden. The 

 insect eaters are fed on ordinary mockingbird 

 food, Abraham's preserved yolk of egg which I 

 am obliged to import, and minced raw meat. I 

 presume the total feed bill would average close 

 to $10 per month. 



