lo Canaries and Cage- Birds. 



when we say out-door we mean out-door — an exposed structure, with no covering but a roof 

 sufficient to keep out the rain, and with any sort of contrivance to fasten up on the weather 

 side during the storms of winter, when birds at hberty would betake themselves to some such 

 shelter. 



An aviary of this kind may be seen in the grounds of Mr. John George Stephenson, 

 at Bishop's Cleeve, near Cheltenham, of which we give an illustration, kindly furnished 

 by his own pencil. It is simply a large cage, with the ordinary perch arrangements, and 

 nothing more, in the interior. One of the sides, if we remember rightly, is boarded, inasmuch 

 as it includes the door, but the rest are wired. It has a thatched roof, and, being intended 

 to be ornamental as well as useful, has a little rustic finish about it which, bear in mind, in 

 no way affects the principle involved in its construction. The only natural shelter it has is a 

 high hedge of box, but on the side from which the severest storms in winter may be expected, 

 it is protected with matting or some similar covering, more for the purpose of preventing 

 the snow drifting in and covering the food on the ground than for any other reason ; for, the 

 roof being conical and furnished with perches, the Canaries naturally retreat to its shelter in 

 stormy weather. During severe frosts the ice in the drinking vessels has to be broken repeatedly. 

 Here live some score or two of Canaries in the most robust health, setting at defiance the heats 

 of summer and the snows of winter, innocent of asthma and pulmonary phthisis, and other 

 complaints to which the Canary is heir. We have seen them in this home in the height of the 

 breeding season busily engaged in domestic duties ; not omitting, among other peculiarities, to 

 sit three-deep on a nest ; and we have seen them on a frosty December morning, when we left 

 our footprints in the rime on the lawn as we made our way towards them attracted by their song. 

 Never did they at any time appear to suffer more inconvenience from the cold than their friends at 

 liberty outside ; indeed, we question much if they were not better off". Wild birds do frequently 

 suffer greatly, both from cold and deprivation, during a severe winter, and present a huddled-up 

 appearance with their feathers all the wrong way. They sit about in a listless, apathetic sort 

 of way, and early in the afternoon betake themselves to the shelter of thick hedges or the lee 

 side of stacks, and many situations in which, under other circumstances, they would not be found. 

 Occasionally they die from cold and hunger combined ; but the Canary in his shelter, well 

 provisioned, rides out the gale, welcoming every gleam of sunshine with a burst of song, and 

 chanting Christmas carols while our native songsters, half frozen, are engaged in begging crumbs 

 at our windows, and the cage-birds in-doors, unused to extremes, are silent and moping. To 

 all who desire an all-the-year-round pleasure, and have the facility of carrying it out, we say, 

 set up an out-door aviary, and stock it mainly with Canaries, whatever other suitable tenants 

 you may choose to add. 



