THE BIRD-ROOM 121 



fresh. As they became soiled, perhaps after 

 a month, I replaced them with new ones. 



Each cage had, in addition to its full com- 

 plement of perches, one piece of dowelling, 

 at least two feet long, which I called a door 

 perch. When I opened a cage door to let 

 out its occupant, I thrust this perch through 

 the door, and wedged it tightly between the 

 wires at the back. Thus it ran completely 

 across the cage, and projected a foot or more 

 into the room. The bird ran out on it, and 

 alighted on it in coming back. It is hard for 

 a bird to learn to fly directly into his door, 

 and the process of getting home is greatly 

 simplified if he can fly to a perch and run in. 



In the room I put up numerous perching- 

 places, so that birds need not alight on chairs 

 and other furniture. They will rarely do this 

 if provided with convenient places in the light- 

 est part of the room. 



For my little family I arranged them thus: 

 Across, in front of each window, reaching 

 from the cage on one side to that on the 

 other, I fastened a long perch, thrusting it 

 firmly in between the wires ; sometimes I had 

 one run from a cage to the top of a lower 



