204 Management of Cages 



Have nesting-boxes to suit all shapes and sizes, and 

 scour them thoroughly out after any families have 

 vacated them. For the larger and smaller parakeets 

 logs can be hollowed out by a carpenter, and the open 

 end fastened up with a flat piece of wood about half an 

 inch or more in thickness, cut from the same piece 

 that forms the hollow. 



I say the open end, because only one will be so ; 

 for the log will be scooped out to a depth of a foot in 

 a piece of wood fourteen inches long, leaving the 

 bottom bowl-shaped, so that when it is placed upright 

 there will be a natural receptacle for the eggs, which 

 will not be able to roll to any edge. 



The bowl must be fairly shallow, always sloping 

 gradually from the wooden sides to the centre. 



The piece of wood that covers the top (the roof) 

 will be all the better if it projects a little, forming 

 slight eaves, so that, if it be placed in the open, 

 the rain has less chance of penetrating ; and if 

 it is painted, there is still more security in this 

 respect. 



It can be fastened with a nail to the log, so that it 

 will turn, as on a pivot, for the purpose of examining 

 the nest when necessary, and for cleansing. 



Then a circular hole is cut in the side of the 

 nesting-box, according to the proportions of the birds 

 for which it is intended, and a perch can be fixed by 

 it to afford easier entrance. At the back a smaller 

 hole can be drilled, through which the head of the 

 nail on which the log hangs can intrude. 



Parrots and parakeets naturally make no nest, but 



