32 CANARIES 



Cage Fittings and Appliances. 



Seed boxes are made of metal, wood, wood and glass, 

 and glass. Myself, I prefer the wooden seed-box or 

 hopper with the sloping glass top. When these are used 

 the owner can easily see how the seed supply stands in 

 the box. They are also easily removed to be re-filled, or 

 for the husks to be blown off the top. 



Water glasses for breeding cages are of various shapes 

 and sizes. The best are the open rimmed glasses, which 

 can be affixed to the cage by a wire attachment. These 

 are also generally used on Scots and Border Fancy show 

 cages. They are easily removed for cleansing, are 

 equally easy to clean, and can be refilled quickly. Hang-on 

 metal tins are generally used with box show cages. 



Egg food is served in glass, earthenware, and tin 

 drawers. Some are long and narrow and are usually fixed 

 between a couple of wires ; these are known as finger 

 drawers, others of larger size are fixed in the front of the 

 wooden mainstay of the front of the cage, and are fastened 

 with a wire clip. 



Nest Boxes and Pans. 



Nest boxes are made in a number of forms. In the 

 olden days we had nothing but wooden boxes or rush 

 baskets, these were followed by the terra-cotta ware pans, 

 pressed leather nests carried in a wire frame, white ware 

 pans, some lined and some unlined, some with pan and 

 back complete for hanging in the cage, others with the 

 bowl or pan so made as to be dropped into a wire frame 

 suspended from the back of the cage. To-day the white 

 ware pans are the most generally used. My personal 

 choice is for the unhned ones. My objection to the lining 

 is that it affords harbour and breeding ground for red 

 mite. A plain pan induces the hens to become house 

 builders when the medicated nesting material is given 

 to them, and there is nothing about them to induce in- 

 quisitive interfering cock birds to pull the nest about. I 

 have frequently noticed that when a lined nest pan was 

 put in a breeding cage the cock bird has immediately 

 inspected it, and started tugging at the lining. 



