and Aviaries 189 



To inhale one's own exhalations all the night long 

 can be neither good for man, beast, or bird. 



Besides which, the birds are often left with their 

 cages covered until perhaps nine o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, so that in the artificial gloom they have been 

 unable to break their fast. 



During the long mid-winter nights I often place 

 a candle near my birds up to ten o'clock, in order that 

 they may, by feeding, strengthen themselves to better 

 endure the long hours of darkness ; for in the first 

 place it grows darker within the house sooner than 

 outside, and secondly, the birds that in hard weather 

 perish in a wild state, do so far more from lack of 

 food and water than on account of the intense cold, 

 as is proved by the fact that well-fed aviary birds will 

 be warbling merrily in the snow, when the wild 

 ones the other side of the wire are humped and 

 miserable. 



It is food that warms the body ; and birds, with 

 their quickness of digestion, need a constant supply, 

 especially the smaller kinds. Therefore the custom 

 of covering over the cages with tightly-fitting green 

 baize is exactly the opposite one to that which I have 

 adopted for many years. 



But common sense must be used. 



Let me give an example. 



A nightingale of mine — the one from whom my 

 sketch was taken — developed a cold in January ; ceased 

 to sing, sneezed and gasped for breath. The influenza 

 was rampant in the house at the time, and our doctor 

 did not jeer when I suggested that the nightingale may 



