122 OUR HOME PETS 



of the window, resting against the cas- 

 ing. I was careful to make it firm always, 

 for birds do not like a shaky perch, though 

 they enjoy a swinging one. From a cage on 

 the side of the room to another which was 

 between the windows or across the corner, 

 I fixed perches perhaps six feet long. For 

 these I used strips of lancewood that comes 

 for fishing-rods (having a fisherman in the 

 family). Slender bamboo poles would do as 

 well, or better, but dowelling does not come 

 long enough. 



Between a gas-fixture and a cage I fastened 

 another, lashing it with twine to the fixture, 

 to have it steady. In one bird-room, where 

 an alcove was defined by an arch, I had 

 stretched across from the tops of an orna- 

 mental projection on the arch a perch six feet 

 long, made of " printer's furniture." These 

 were inch -square strips of pine about three 

 feet in length, which were spliced together. 

 Under this perch I hung by wire loops a piece 

 of dowelling for a swing, which pleased the 

 birds greatly. 



As part of my furnishings all of which, 

 by -the -way, were evolved one by one as the 



