THE ROLLER CANARY 51 
passage of air and light. With this and the apertures at 
the back the bird is never in total darkness. 
Another design of cage is the shutter cage, combining 
cage and box in one, being a box cage with two wooden 
doors to close in front after the pattern of the official 
show-cage. 
ARRANGING THE SONG BOXES 
The birds should be arranged in rows as close 
together as possible, and if there are many it is better 
that the tutor should face them, also in his song-box. 
As I do not use song boxes except for special pur- 
poses, as for a bird in a sitting room when he is generally 
open, or for a sick one, I describe what I consider to be 
a simpler system. The birds in their small wire cages 
are ranged in racks, bookshelf fashion, with two curtains 
of green casement material suspended in front, one about 
three inches in front of the other to regulate the depth of 
shade. If the room has venetian blinds one curtain is 
sufficient as a rule. 
The partition between the cages should be of stout 
cardboard, thin planed wood, or metal ; wood possibly 
is the best, as the metal is rather cold. These partitions 
should come well to the tops and the backs of the cages, 
and in front they should come out flush with the outside 
level of the feeding glasses, so that the birds cannot get 
a view of one another. If the cages rest on rods instead 
of shelves it may be well to lay sheets of brown paper 
thereon, to overhang an inch or so in front, and hang 
down the full depth at back. Have the upper and lower 
ranges as close as possible, say, half an inch to an inch. 
In this way you have no boxes to clean out, the birds are 
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