108 Song Birds. 



painful. The cause was supposed to have been the 

 cold zinc floor they had been standing on. The 

 remedy strewing the floor of another (a wooden) 

 cage, with oatmeal soon restored their comfort. 



It was the only time I knew them so troubled, and 

 the only time that they lived at all in a metal cage 

 during the winter months. When they are kept in 

 one, a thick, warm covering at night is absolutely 

 essential at all times, except, perhaps, in the very heat 

 of summer. 



These cages are in some ways tempting ; they look 

 pretty, are quickly cleaned, and afford the birds a 

 great amount of light, which they think so much of. 

 At the same time a cage made of wood may be quite 

 as open, and does not add to the only fault of open- 

 ness the further chill of an extended surface of metal r 

 which is said to withdraw heat from an animal. 



5. The square or oblong wooden cages, of which 

 I am so fond, are simple enough, not to say common 

 in their design and shape. The lowest usual form 

 is that of the regular market cages, made in stained 

 or painted deal, at about six shillings a dozen. That 

 size is six inches square, and is useful for a large 

 assemblage of scholars taking a music lesson. 



Those cages, however, made of polished wood are 

 very cheap and useful, or it answers very well to 

 have them stained and varnished. Where use is the 

 thing needed, as in cages to hang up in an aviary, 



