AVIARIES. 



I feel some hesitation in writing on this subject, 

 because I have no personal experience of any of the 

 plans proposed for Aviaries ; and so many of the 

 ornamental buildings for which designs are given are 

 constructed after a fashion which is extremely pictu- 

 resque, but not in the least adapted to the wants and 

 comforts of the birds within them. Making the latter 

 the chief consideration, I should suggest that an out- 

 door aviary built of wood must necessarily be hot in 

 summer and cold in winter, and that it would be 

 preferable built of brick, stone, or rubble, and with an 

 open roof thatched ; in fact, a little thatched cottage, 

 whitewashed within and painted or plastered without. 

 This might be either circular, with the front wired and 

 glazed, about fourteen feet in diameter ; or a more 

 perfect one might be obtained by making the building 

 eighteen feet by twelve, and twelve feet high, with a 

 bay window occupying the front, looking south, the 

 panes of which should be made to open outwards, to 

 allow of the galvanized iron wire netting, with which 



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