iS Ca. VARIES AND CaGE-BiRDS. 



period of incubation. Recollect that each pair of birds is boxed up in a house of about eighteen 

 inches frontage and not a foot in depth, and that some cages are placed where the occupants 

 seldom get a gleam of sunshine, while others have no protection from the scorching rays of a 

 summer's sun. They have to make the best of their position, and have not the opportunities for 

 exercise which aviary tenants have — they cannot plume themselves in a warm corner nor retreat 

 into the shade, but are entirely dependent upon the care and forethought of others for their 

 comfort as well as for the necessaries of their mere existence. 



Attention to these things constitutes the difference between a well-ordered room and one which, 

 from floor to ceiling, shows at all points indications of a want of thought. This question of aspect 

 and general suitability is one on which we feel perfectly satisfied more depends than many imagine, 

 and is probably the key to the solution of the question of varying success. It takes so little to 

 throw the entire machinery out of gear, that he acts wisely who makes the most searching inquiry 

 into the simple business of why and because, for the because never exists without the why. The 

 most careful calculations are, however, frequently upset in a way that is most puzzling, and which 

 seems to set all rule and method at defiance, while the most complete success sometimes waits on 

 the most unlikely efforts. But exceptional cases of either kind afford no reason why any departure 

 should be made from the simple sanitary laws which rule equally in the bird-room as in any 

 other department of the homestead. 



All we have previously advanced on the subject of draughts and ventilation applies to the 

 breeding-room ; and we may here indicate some arrangements which will be found useful. Some- 

 thing will depend on the room itself If it be an attic with an ordinary lift-up skylight, bear in 

 mind that few of these windows shut close, even if well made ; they are constructed to exclude 

 rain, but are very draughty contrivances, and the ledge on which the frame rests ought to be 

 covered with thin felt, or some such yielding substance, to ensure a close fit ; and more especially 

 during the blustering winter months. The aperture should be covered with wirework, through 

 which the lever used to raise the window can act, and it can then be elevated or depressed at 

 pleasure, while the wired frame can present an effectual bar to the escape of any birds which may 

 find their way out of their cages through a door being left open (which will happen sometimes), and 

 also prove equally effective in preventing the ingress of any marauding cat that may be making a 

 voyage of discovery on the tiles. For a similar reason, if there be a fire-place in the room — one 

 of the best ventilators — it should also be wired over ; for where the chimney-pots are of primitive 

 construction, or where there are none at all, cats not unfrequently gain access by the chimney. It 

 is not to be supposed that birds make a practice of escaping from their cages, or that cats always 

 select the chimney as the most convenient entrance ; but either has only to happen once in the 

 face of an open window or an open fire-place to entail serious loss. 



In the case of an ordinary window a wire covering is still indispensable, and a perforated zinc 

 contrivance, six or eight inches deep, may be adapted to the top for use when the state of the 

 weather might render it unadvisable to allow it to be opened without some protection. A similar 

 contrivance in the door or in the wall above it, and as near the ceiling as possible, will assist 

 in keeping up a supply of fresh air, and any trouble or expense incurred in doing the work 

 thoroughly will repay itself in the health and comfort of the stock. 



Being so near the roof, it might be imagined that an attic would be either uncomfortably 

 warm or correspondingly cold ; but the best breeding-room we ever had was what Johnson defines 

 to be " the topmost room of the house," although he gives the meaning of cock-loft to be " the 

 room above \.\\-ii garret:" perhaps the current of air in the cock-loft acts as a gulf stream to the 

 attic — a sort of atmospheric fly-wheel. 



