44 



Ca.vahies and Cage-Birds. 



the less chance for insects finding their way into the stuff. Having cut a lot of these felts, 

 thread them on fine strings, according to the size, and hang them up for use. They will all be 

 wanted before the season is over. Clean nests mean healthy birds, while dirt and filth engender 

 discomfort and disease. 



The earthenware nest-box to which we referred is, we think, comparatively local in its 

 habitat. We do not remember to have seen them elsewhere tlian in our own town, Sunderland, 



FIG. 22. — FELT LINING. 



where they are made in considerable numbers in the potteries on the Wear. They are much used 

 by the breeders of the district, and have in many rooms entirely displaced the tin arrangement, 

 which is also indigenous to the North. They are made of glazed or unglazed earthenware, but the 

 latter is the most commonly used. Lined with white felt, which is easily attached with some thin 

 plaster of Paris, nothing can look cleaner, and no insects can get underneath the lining, which is a 

 point of consequence ; for if these creatures be only half as tormenting as a common flea, it is 



-I w I HI Nw \i 1 Nf ;t. 



not a very pleasant reflection to know that there are a thousand only waiting for the candle to 

 be put out. 



The wooden box requires no lining at the hands of the fancier. A more skilful architect 

 than he will weave her own felt, and furnish it in a way compared with which all other attempts 

 are but the most clumsy bungling. We are quite prepared for the statement that years of 

 domestication have done their work in imipairing the architectural skill of the Canary, and that 



