14 The Canary Book. 



season and again at the close. Show-cages, too, are none 

 the worse for being frequently re-painted, re-coloured, and 

 re-varnished ; they not only look better, but I always think 

 that they enhance the appearance of the birds. 



Some fanciers prefer to lime- wash their breeding-cages with 

 quicklime whiting, made by dissolving a piece of quicklime, 

 known as a "clot," and weighing from lib. to 21b., in a 

 gallon or two of boiling water, with the addition of a small 

 handful of salt, and applied whilst warm ; others enamel 

 their cages with AspinalTs Enamel, which looks well, and 

 assists materially in keeping down the little mischievous 

 parasites which are so detrimental to bird-breeding. Before 

 using enamel the crevices in the cages should be puttied up 

 or filled with a preparation made of two parts slacked lime 

 finely powdered and one part silver sand, with sufficient 

 linseed oil to make it of the consistency of putty; this if 

 properly prepared sets as hard as iron. When quite dry 

 enamel should be applied in accordance with the manu- 

 facturer's instructions. The cages are afterwards easily 

 cleaned, and the appearance is very good. 



STAINING, VARNISHING, AND POLISHING CAGES. The 

 tops, bottoms, and ends of breeding-cages look best when 

 stained and varnished, and are more easily kept clean. 

 Mahogany and oak are the prevailing woods imitated. You 

 can purchase a sixpenny bottle of mahogany stain from any 

 oil and colourman, and in country towns from most chemists; 

 this will suffice for a good number of cages, as it needs to be 

 well diluted with water before being used. There are several 

 different makers of this stain. I generally use Maclde's, 

 though Stevens's is very good. Mahogany stain can be made 

 by mixing Venetian red and a little brown umber together, 

 and then using it with thin glue-size ; when it is quite dry it 

 should be sand-papered down and varnished. Carriage varnish 

 is the best kind to use. To imitate oak, use a little sienna 

 or burnt umber, mixed with sour beer or thin gum and 

 water, with a little moist sugar added to it. To make it 

 light or dark depends entirely upon the quantity of pigment 



