AVIARIES, BIRD-ROOMS AND CAGES. 59 



Tiles make another good bottom to a bird house. 

 They should be procured 6 in. square. In the trade they 

 are called quarries, and are made in red, blue, and buff, 

 and can be bought for about 6s. per 100. This quantity 

 would be sufficient to cover our floor. After ramming 

 the earth tightly and level, we may lay these at once, 

 using a little fine sand for levelling purposes. But if 

 laid permanently, they should be bedded in, in about 

 an inch of cement and fine sand. The joints can be 

 filled up with the latter, and the whole washed clean 

 before it is thoroughly dry. 



The simplest floor would be one made of wood. 

 The wood sold for this purpose is called flooring, and 

 can be purchased in twelve feet lengths, one of which, 

 when cut in half, makes two lengths of our building. 

 The flooring can, of course, be nailed on to the bottom 

 bar of the framework, but it will be as well to have an 

 extra length or two of quartering across, to strengthen 

 the whole and make it firmer to walk upon. When we 

 have done this, we can board up the inside, cutting the 

 wood carefully, so that it just fits where required. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF A CEILING. 



Although a ceiling is not an absolute necessity, it 

 has many advantages to recommend it. It looks clean 

 and tidy, lends a finish to the interior, and keeps the 

 building much cooler in the summer, and warmer in the 

 winter. A sliding ventilator can be fixed in it, an exit 

 for the foul air being placed above it, in the end of the 

 building. This ceiling may be made of matchboard, 

 and is as easily fixed as the other boarding. The value 

 of a ceiling in the hot summer months can hardly be 

 over estimated. The difference in the temperature in- 

 side the building and above the ceiling is considerably 

 more than one would imagine. I have known a bird- 

 house very much improved by having a ceiling fixed 

 in. It helps to prevent the great difference in tempera- 

 ture between night and day, keeping the same much 

 more even, and consequently less trying to the birds. 



Our door will be made of several lengths of match- 

 board, screwed to three cross-pieces, and instead of 



