AVIARIES, CAGES, AND FITTINGS 19 



window and door may both be open as well as ventilators. 

 Canaries are hardy birds, and they do not require coddhng. 

 Give them plenty of good food, abundance of fresh air, 

 and plenty of flying space and they will come to no harm, 

 not in the coldest winter. But if you shut them up 

 closely at night in the impure air of the aviary, you 

 weaken their constitutions and they are not able to 

 withstand the cold. 



A Ventilation Test. 



If when you enter the aviary the first thing in the 

 morning it smells stuffy and close, you will know at once 

 that you have not enough ventilation. If it does not 

 smell " birdy " as I have heard it expressed, then you 

 know things are all right, and you need not bother to 

 give further ventilation. 



An out-door aviary of the character here described 

 should be built on brick or stone piers, and be about 

 twelve or eighteen inches off the ground. The 

 reason for this is to keep it dry, and also free from 

 vermin. If the floor is near the ground, rats or mice, 

 sometimes both, find. their way into the interior, fouling 

 the food, destroying it, and also interfering with the birds. 

 The space underneath the aviary should be kept open, 

 so that the family dog and cat may roam there and assist 

 in keeping vermin at bay. The end entering into the 

 flight may be built up with brick, concrete, old railway 

 sleepers, or heavy timber. 



In-door Aviaries. 



River sand is the best covering for the floor of the 

 aviary. If this cannot be obtained the next best thing 

 is pit sand. The bottom of the outside flight should be 

 dug out for about two feet, and then filled up to within 

 three inches with engine clinker, the top three inches 

 being fine river or pit sand. This covering like that of the 

 aviary should be renewed at intervals. That on the floor 

 of the aviary, which need not be more than sufficient to 

 cover the boards and prevent the excreta from soiling 

 them, should be renewed every week or fortnight. 



All that I have written on the general arrangement, 

 apart from the construction, of out-door aviaries applies 



