AVIARIES, BIRD-ROOMS AND CAGES. 43 



will live amicably for some time with the others, the 

 slightest sign of ill health will mean that the Tit consti- 

 tutes himself chief executioner and brains the poor 

 invalid on the spot. 



EXERCISE A TONIC. 



Xo tonic will be so good for a bird a wee bit out 

 of sorts as a week or two in the flights. The exercise, 

 freedom, fresh air, and different feeding will work 

 wonders. The latter is not so much actually different 

 seed, as it is seed given under different conditions. 

 There is always a certain amount of scattered food in 

 an aviary, and some of this gets damp and commences 

 to germinate; this the birds peck up and thus get food 

 as nearly natural as it is possible to give them in con- 

 finement. 



In using an outside aviary, the British Bird 

 exhibitor will, of course, vise a certain amount of dis- 

 cretion. It will, for instance, be unwise to turn in 

 steady birds with fresh-caught specimens, because in 

 such cases the steady ones soon get wild and intractable, 

 whereas the majority of birds, if once accustomed to 

 caged life, and "got to hand" properly, soon become 

 steady again after having had a few weeks in the flight, 

 especially so if the outcloor aviary is situated near the 

 house, where someone is constantly moving about. 

 \YiIdness is certainly catching with birds, and I always 

 think it unsafe to have a wild, fresh-caught specimen 

 near steady birds anyway not until he has somewhat 

 " come to hand." So, therefore, the aviary should be 

 used for those of the same degree of tameness when 

 possible. 



UTILITY DURING THE MOULTING SEASON. 



It will be during the moulting season when the 

 exhibitor will find the aviary of the greatest use to him. 

 Try how we may, it seems impossible to get quite the 

 same colour and fullness of feather upon our British 

 Birds as can be obtained by open-air treatment during 

 the moult. Most of the show Bullfinches are moulted 

 in this manner. Steadiness is a big factor in the 

 successful exhibiting of birds, so that those intended to 

 be moulted outside must first be got perfectly steady. 

 Shy specimens had better be cage moulted. 



