Il8 OUR HOME PETS 



must be free to the birds, or they will not feel 

 at home and act naturally. 



If the bird-room is also the study, folded 

 newspapers may be laid over the tops of stand- 

 ing rows of books, none of which should be 

 left out of place. Boxes and drawers must be 

 at hand to hold everything one wishes to pre- 

 serve. Table-tops should be left bare, so that 

 they may be wiped off ; straw matting, which 

 can be scrubbed (if needed), must cover the 

 floor. Then, with no danger of their hurting 

 anything, birds are free to do whatever they 

 like, the only conditions under which they will 

 be natural and interesting. 



The window's of the bird-room should be 

 .protected by screens or inside blinds, so that 

 in mild weather the lower half may be open 

 for air, while the upper half lets in sun and 

 light. There are only two birds that I know, 

 the size of a canary or larger, who will pass 

 between the slats of a blind ; birds rarely go 

 where they cannot fly through. But the two 

 orioles the Baltimore and the orchard will 

 creep through any opening, so that nothing 

 less than screens are safe for them. 



By inside blinds I do not mean the use- 



