SIZE AND FORM, ETC. 273 



min, as deal and other soft woods do ; and these, too, require 

 painting to make them look well, which is always objec- 

 tionable. If a cage must be painted, however, great care 

 should be taken that it is perfectly dry, and the scent gone 

 off, before it is inhabited, as nothing would be more likely 

 to act as a poison upon the delicate organisation of a bird 

 than the effluvia from fresh paint. A mahogany frame, then, 

 of a square or oblong form, made in some tasteful pattern, 

 with wirework front and sides, is the best ; not brass wire 

 nor copper, as with these metals any corrosion from mois- 

 ture will form verdigris, a deadly poison. It should not 

 be less than a foot in length, depth, and height ; if eighteen 

 inches or two feet so much the better, even for the smallest 

 bird : the back should be solid to hang or stand against 

 the wall, and in this should be a door sufficiently large 

 for the hand to pass for the performance of cleansing and 

 other necessary operations. There should be a false bot- 

 tom, which can be drawn out and washed occasionally, 

 care being taken that it is thoroughly dry before it is put 

 in again ; over this should be sprinkled fine dry sand, such 

 as may be bought at any shop where bird seed and articles 

 of the kind are sold. It is not well to have too many 

 perches in a cage; two are generally sufficient, one about 

 two inches from the floor, and the other about eight ; they 

 may run either from side to side, or from front to back, 

 but in either case let them be so placed that the bird would 

 not have to hop straight up or down from one to the other. 

 For water, the glass fountains to hang outside, with a hole 

 in the side large enough for the admission of the bird's 

 head, are best. For the seed, nothing is better than a 

 little box fitted into one corner, with an aperture in the 

 top for the insertion of the bill. With an open box or 

 trough a great deal is scattered and wasted. If the cage 

 is meant to hang out of doors, the front only should be 

 open wirework, as in this climate, in most states of the 

 atmosphere, the bird requires shelter. Our heart has 

 often ached to see some sweet songster, in an open cage, 

 hung on a nail in the front of a house, with a keen east 

 wind blowing through its ruffled plumes, and chilling its 

 tender frame, or a drizzling rain wetting it to the bone, or 



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