THE BIRD-ROOM I2Q 



row of small nails, and each line (looped at the 

 end) was just long enough, when the door it 

 held was wide open, to let its loop slip over 

 its own particular nail. 



When I opened the doors in the morning, 

 every string was drawn taut, and each loop 

 over its nail. As closing-up time drew near, I 

 sat at my desk with an eye to the birds, and 

 when one went home I slipped his loop off 

 the nail, let the door gently close, and then 

 dropped the string. So I went on till all were 

 shut up. 



To shut the door quickly and quietly I had 

 several devices doors that moved with a 

 spring were simply held straight back, and it 

 needed only to slacken the string to close 

 them ; doors that slid up, and were not heavy 

 enough to fall of their own weight, were 

 weighted with strips of lead fastened across 

 the bottom ; then, on loosening the string that 

 held it up, the weight drew it to place. For a 

 door that closed from the side with a spring, 

 I passed the string from the upper corner of 

 the door forward through the wires at the 

 place where that corner would be when shut, 

 and then I had to draw tight in order to shut. 



9 



