The Room Aviary. 125 



to consider human beings as made entirely for their 

 own special use and comfort. While I write these 

 words one creature in yellow is pecking seeds from 

 off my very paper ! 



4. For the floor of the room it is very advisable 

 to have oil-cloth, which can now and then be taken 

 up to be cleaned, and which can also be frequently 

 washed. I do not know that this is indispensable, 

 but it certainly prevents any accumulation of sand 

 in the joints of a boarded floor. 



5. There should be here again some grove con- 

 trivance, and a row of trees in large flower-pots round 

 the room is far the best and prettiest. I recommend 

 spruce firs, one on each side the window, and one 

 or two more in each corner. The privet and box 

 are also good shrubs for the purpose, as the birds 

 do not eat their leaves, which is more than one can 

 say of most plants. And the outside of the window 

 is the place of all others for a hanging garden. 



For any one living in the country, perhaps large 

 branches of fir and gorse are best, and most con- 

 venient, as they can be got so easily in spring, the 

 fir being cut in March, before the sap begins to 

 flow ; this preserves its leaves and looks anything 

 but ill. 



These should be fastened up, by means of two or 

 three little blocks of wood nailed, to the wall, or 

 rising from the skirting-board, and a long horizontal 



