48 



Calvaries and Cage-Birds. 



the reception of single birds, spare cocks, invalids, S:c., which speedily grow in a large breeding- 

 room. A few single cages more or less are never in the way, and cannot well be dispensed with. 



Canisters for different kinds of seed, and a fine sieve for cleaning it, will also find a place in a 

 well-ordered room ; but where the requirements of a large establishment demand that seed should 

 be bought by the bushel, or even by the sack, such things as canisters are, of course, out of the 

 question. Seed should always be sifted before being supplied to the birds, and the contents of the 

 hoppers should also be sifted at intervals, as a quantity of dirt finds its way into them. 



A judicious manager will gradually confiscate such articles as a water-can, a galvanised pail, a 

 brush and dust-pan, a scuttle, and other useful articles which he may find about the house, and 

 carefully lock them up in his bird-room to prevent their being again "lost" or mislaid. He will find 

 a use for all of them. If he be wise he will also have a small lock-up store-chest, in which he will 

 from time to time stow away such small gallipots as he may find in his predatory inroads on the 

 housekeeping department ; they will be required to hold small bunches of green food, and will 

 never be missed till preserving-time comes round, when he will, under any circumstances, have a 

 small rate levied on him for replenishing the domestic store-closet. If a stout little table, with 

 a nest of drawers, and a comfortable chair have been quietly carried up-stairs, there remains 

 nothing for the fancier to do but to lock his bird-room door and put the key in his pocket, and, 

 calling his household together, proceed to the enactment of the most stringent laws with regard to 

 the pains and penalties which will follow any attempt to pry into the secrets of his sanctum 

 sanctorum. It will be well for him to remember that he will have to be his own servant and 

 charwoman, and will have to practise carrying his scuttle down-stairs in a way calculated not to 

 disturb the amicable relations existing between himself and the guardians of the neutral territory 

 through which he has to travel. There is an art in filling a scuttle and an art in carrying it, and 

 our practical experience leads us to suggest, in the interests of domestic peace, the wisdom of 

 studying both. Bird-seed and chaff have a natural affinity for stair-carpets, and have a way of 

 their own of working into them in defiance of any combination of bristles with which we are 

 acquainted ; and Paterfamilias will soon see the value of our hints and the desirability of carefully 

 effacing all signs of his trail. 



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