CHAPTER XI. 



THE OUTDOOR BIRD HOUSE. 



IN the preceding chapters we have simply dealt with 

 the bird-room in the house. But for various reasons 

 one is not always able to give up a separate room en- 

 tirely to one's hobby. To begin with, all of them may 

 be occupied, or, if not, the "good lady" may object 

 to the litter and dirt arising from the keeping cf a 

 number of birds about the place. The seed husks blow 

 about, the sand clings to one's boots, or we make a 

 certain amount of dirt when cleaning out and carrying 

 the rubbish through the house. 



Under these conditions,* if a fancier is determined 

 to continue his hobby, there is no alternative but to 

 build an outside bird-house, and many prefer such a 

 building to a room inside. It has many advantages: 

 we can make it as large as our pocket, or time, will 

 allow ; we can walk i-n and out at any odd times without 

 troubling about our dirty boots; we can ventilate freely' w 

 and the birds will be all the stronger for it. The only 

 thing we lose is the heat from the house; but if an out- 

 door bird-room is properly constructed, it should, with- 

 out this, be sufficiently w 7 arm and cosy. 



CONVENIENCE OF THE " LEAN-TO." 



We have already discussed the situations of 

 aviaries and bird-rooms in previous chapters, so that we 

 shall now r be able to decide the aspect for ourselves. 

 Our bird-house, as in the case of the aviary we have 

 built, will be a lean-to, because we shall not only find 

 it warmer but considerably cheaper to erect. Unless 

 we are building against a wall, we shall require to make 

 the whole of the building ourselves. It is very seldom 

 we find an ordinary garden fence fit to form one or 



