42 



Caa^ar/es axd Cage-Birds. 



from any town, and in which very primitive arrangements have held their ground in spite of 

 modern improvements. Strange it is how long people will adhere to early teachings in the face 

 of a better creed. The use of candle-wicks is almost universal in the pit villages, and doubtless 

 arose from the facility with which the material is obtained, and the difficulty of getting anything 

 more suitable. The material referred to is nothing more than the accumulated savings of the 

 spare piece of wick which is left when a common tallow candle is cut from its place in a 

 bunch ; and many a ^lule that has "caught the judge's eye" at the Crystal Palace was nursed 

 in a pitman's cottage on a bed of candle-wicks. 



In Norwich, the city of canary-breeders, a wooden box, shaped something like a kitchen 

 soap-box, is considered the correct thing, and scarcely anything but dried moss is supplied 

 for nesting material ; yet who shall say that the Norwich men are not successful breeders .' We 

 believe the same fashion obtains throughout the midland districts. The fact is, it is only 

 necessary to furnish the hen with some niche, and she will soon occupy it, failing which she 



FIG ig. — NORWICH NEST-BOX. 



will take possession of the egg-drawer, or even deposit nesting-stuff in the seed-hopper, or in 

 the corner of the cage-bottom. She must build. 



We have briefly specified our objections to the nest-boxes we have described. Possibly 

 none of them are very serious. We do not wish to take a one-sided view of any question, but 

 desire to put it as fairly as possible ; and it may be that our views are just as much biassed as 

 those of our neighbours, for it is not easy to divest the mind of the influences of early associa- 

 tions. Our own earliest recollections of breeding are connected with a nest-box (by which we 

 mean any receptacle supplied to the hen for the purpose of building in), which divides its 

 allegiance with the Norwich nest. It is after all only a question of suitability of material, 

 though the one we are about to describe has advantages not shared by any other. It is made 

 either of tin or earthenware — we give illustrations, however, of all. The tin nest to which we 

 have been accustomed consists of a cup with perforated zinc bottom, for purposes of ventilation, 

 attached to an upright back, precisely similar in construction to the old-fashioned sconces in vogue 

 before the days of gas, which, containing a spluttering candle, were hung against the wall to 

 render the darkness visible. It is suspended against the back of the cage, on a strong flat-headed 

 tack or nail, driven in at a very acute angle, the hole in the tin being shaped like an inverted key- 



