THE CANARY BOOK. 



CHAPTEK I. 



CAGES AND CAGE-MAKING, 



THE ingenuity and skill of man are so vast and varied, and 

 the success which has been attained in the art of cage- 

 making is so prodigious and wonderful, that it would be a 

 task of no inconsiderable difficulty to any person to attempt 

 to give anything approximating to a full and lucid description 

 of all the different patterns of cages that are to be met with 

 in this country ; nor do I propose to do so, but simply to give 

 a description of those which I consider best adapted to the 

 wants and requirements of the times; for cages can be met 

 with of every conceivable form and size, from an overgrown 

 mouse-trap to a moderately comfortable apartment that is, 

 so far as length and height are to be considered and in 

 form they may be procured from that of a common fig-box 

 to a miniature representation of the Crystal Palace at Syden- 

 ham. I have seen cages of almost every imaginable pattern, 

 representing cottages, abbeys, castles, cathedrals, and palaces, 

 with fine fluted columns, porticoes with pediments, stained 

 glass windows, &c., rich and varied in design, and in every 

 known style of architecture, including Gothic, Doric, - and 

 Ionic, and displaying great taste and marvellous mechanical 

 skill. Cages of this description are generally the production 



