HINTS ON CAGE MAKING. g T 



small stock are not quickly exhausted. First and fore- 

 most comes the bench, which must be of a firm and sub- 

 stantial character. Failing space and ability to erect 

 a proper bench, a very passable substitute can be found 

 in the kitchen table; a tenon saw, a jack-plane for shoot- 

 ing edges, a smoothing-plane for dressing the wood, a 

 square, bradawls, and hammer, also a soldering-iron, 

 wire-cutter, and a pair each of flat and round-nosed 

 pliers for making the fronts of the cages. In addition 

 to these, and the most useful of all, will be found the 

 shooting-board, and cutting gauge, which no fancier 

 should be without for cutting perches; and for the 

 hundred and one other little matters that are continually 

 being wanted in the bird-room they will be found 

 invaluable. 



THE INDISPENSABLE " SHOOTING" BOARD. 



The construction 

 of the shooting 

 board is very sim- 

 ple, which will be 

 seen by the illus- 

 tration. Two pieces 

 form the bottom, 



I in. thick by 9 

 The -Shooting" Board. w j de> ^ in> long ^ 



and the piece to be 



laid upon the first two is identical in length and thick- 

 ness, but ii in. wide. These pieces should be screwed 

 together with edges flush: this will leave about 6 in. 

 of the lower board uncovered. The narrower upper 

 board thus forms a bed upon which to place the work, 

 and the uncovered 6 in. of the lower board is .the path- 

 way upon which the plane travels to and fro. A wood 

 stop is fixed upon the upper board 3 in. from the back 

 end, and care must be taken that the stop is perfectly 

 at right angles with the inner edge which will be at the 

 right hand when the shooting-board is in use. To render 

 this appliance thoroughly efficient we must fix upon the 

 underside two fillets across the lower board, and flush 

 with each end, attaching them with screws of the re- 

 quired length ; when in use the bottom fillet rests against 

 the edge of the bench. 



