BIRD-CAGES. II9 



ing these improvements, style also has been consult- 

 ed. We have the beautiful moresque, the Chinese 

 pagoda, the Swiss cottage, the mansard, gothic, and 

 in fact styles after every order of architecture, and 

 many of them are very beautiful, and certainly 

 pleasing to the eye. A bird's comfort, however, 

 should be consulted a little, never forgetting that 

 he is your caged prisoner; and your first thought 

 always must be to make his prison life happy. 

 Very few who own a 



" Little dewdrop of celestial melody " 



give a moment's thought to the fact that many of the 

 song-birds require vastly different cages. A canary 

 will pour forth his chant in any cage in which 

 you place him. True, he loves a large cage, and 

 will fly from one end to the other for joy. He will 

 even take a bath several times a day if the oppor- 

 tunity is given him, and plume his feathers times 

 without number. All this he will do, as well as eat, 

 and sing occasionally. Should you keep such a 

 bird for a pet, such a cage would answer every pur- 

 pose : if you keep the bird for his song, then he 

 must be kept in a small cage. 



Owners of feathered songsters must have ob- 

 served that many of them constantly flutter their 

 wings, and look up as if about to fly upwards ; others 

 aga,in look up, and turn their heads backwards, until 

 you think they will fall backward, which they 

 sometimes do. Did it ever occur to the owner of 

 such a bird that he was not in a suitable cage ? for 



