ORIENTAL FRILL PIGEONS. 



Afterwards put the riddled ones on the top . You 

 then obtain a natural drainage . 



The lofts are built of inch boards. The back 

 portion, which faces North, is double boarded, 

 with a vacuum between which is packed with 

 sawdust. The roofs of the lofts are tiled. The 

 fronts of the aviaries face South, and are wired 

 with 16 gauge diamond-shaped wire. The whole 

 top of the aviaries is likewise wired, but the 

 lower part of the aviaries is boarded up to 

 about 18 inches. There is only one entrance, 

 which is at the East end, and opposite this door 

 are entrances to each of the other four aviaries. 

 The doors to each loft are divided in two parts, 

 the lower portion being wood and the upper half 

 being glazed like an ordinary dwelling-house 

 window. 



Inside the lofts there are strong wire shutters 

 attached to a string and pulley, which can be 

 lowered or pulled up at will. It is very rarely in- 

 deed that the upper glazed portion of the doors 

 is closed. Unless it be a very wild night I never 

 use them. Only the wire shutter is dropped so 

 that the birds get plenty of fresh air during the 

 night. This wire shutter is also very useful in 

 the day time when the weather is very wet and 

 you wish to keep the birds inside. 



I use coarse pine sawdust round the sides of 

 the loft floors, and a white sand, which I obtain 

 from Leighton Buzzard, for the middle of the 

 floors. The floors are cleaned once or twice a 



70 



