Basket and Manilla Nests. 41 



it is, if clean perches be supplied and the dusty spots anointed with a drop of oil, the danger 

 is over at once. It will be seen now why we have been so very particular over cracks and 

 crannies. It is only because that the smaller the crevice, the greater the likelihood of its becoming 

 occupied. A loose flake of whitewash is a certain cover, while unused wire -holes and similar 

 minute recesses are preserves which should be regularly beaten. One thing is certain, the 

 insects must go somewhere, and it is as well to know where they do go ; hence some breeders prefer 

 to keep open one crack that they may know where to find them, when short work is made of 

 them by drawing the blade of a knife through it. In a sound cage, however, the places we have 

 indicated are about the only places accessible, and a daily examination will do the rest. Should 

 the floury appearance show itself on the outside of the cage, round bad joints, or in similar 

 places, there is nothing better than to pass the varnish-brush over it, on the " catch 'em alive " 

 principle. 



It will be seen that this nuisance is preventible by the exercise of reasonable care. It is 

 only by neglect of ordinary precautions that it attains formidable dimensions, but if a cage 

 should be found to be infested, it is best to remove it and give it a thorough drenching and 

 scalding. Then dress the joints and cracks with a solution of bichloride of mercury, which can 



FIG. 17. — BASKET NEST. - FIG. l8. — MANILLA CORD NEST. 



be obtained at any chemist's, and varnish afresh. One word of caution : old rickety cages 

 should not be allowed in the breeding-room, as it is almost next to impossible to keep them 

 cle'an : burn them. 



These remarks have followed on our referring to basket-work nests, and we think that the 

 reason of our objection to them is patent. And yet they are used, and very extensively 

 too. On the face of it, it would seem the very sort of building-place one would suggest for a 

 bird, enabling it to construct its nest under very favourable conditions.- And no doubt it is a 

 comfortable foundation on which to build ; we admit it all, but the basket can become infested 

 before it is possible to discover it, and therefore we reluctantly discard it, as offering facilities 

 we would rather not allow. A friend of ours uses them, but first soaks them in petroleum, and 

 with satisfactory results : if the reader means to use them, we advise him to do the same. 

 Another friend of ours has not a nest in his room of any other description than a simple 

 cup, formed by stitching stout Manilla cord into the necessary form, which is afterwards 

 lined with flannel. If insects appear, the nest is thrown into boiling water, and subsequently 

 dried in an oven. He is a most successful breeder, and naturally clings tenaciously to the 

 particular contrivance which has carried him through many seasons ; but it seems to us a very 

 ordinary sort of makeshift. In some of the pit districts in the North, nothing will go down but 

 a leathern box, circular and flat-bottomed ; and no arguments can shake a belief in a lining of 

 candle-ivicks. This kind of thing, however, is most prevalent in districts which once were remote 

 6 



