84 Canaries and Cage-Birds. 



into each. The work can be done as efficiently by utilising them as by using a set of small 

 moulting-cages : a cage is but a cage after all. Specially-contrived cages for certain kinds of birds 

 will be described in their proper place. Some breeders, however, like to have a stack of small 

 moulting-boxes about eight inches square, which can be built in sections to suit the size of the 

 room and the space on the walls they are required to cover, and we must say'they have a very 

 business-like look, and occupy comparatively small space, considering the number of birds they will 

 accommodate. Such a stack, for instance, about six feet square, and built in three sections, would 

 afford cage-room for no less than ninety. Previous instructions will suggest the way in which it 

 should be built. Supposing it to be ten compartments wide, each cage will have its own turn-rail, 

 and one bottom cross-piece will run across the entire width ; no top cross-piece is required, as the 

 bottom of one cage forms the top of another, and the wires can be inserted in it. A T -framed 

 door, which is easily made, is all that is required, with one wire-hole on each side. One perch, for 

 there will not be room for two, must be put in the middle from side to side (not from back to front), 

 and one in front to enable the bird to get at its food without standing on the bottom of the cage, 

 for the turn-rail and cross-piece should be made not less than one and two inches high respectively. 

 During the moult the bird prefers quiet, and is happy enough on its perch ; and we don't want to 

 throw more light into the bottom of the cage than there is any occasion for, as we wish the bird to 

 remain up aloft, and not to grub about and get dirty. The number of little hoppers required for 

 such a cage is the most tiresome part of the work to the amateur builder, but by cutting them out 

 all at the same time the work is much less tedious than might be imagined. The only extra fitting 

 required is an egg-tin, to hook on to the bottom of the door on the inside; a wire woven transversely 

 will be required to hang the tin on, so as to allow it to work clear of everything in opening and 

 shutting the door, and if the T-framed door be used, remember to prick a hole through the T to 

 receive the wire. We said, in giving our dimensions, alioict eight inches square. This will give a 

 five-inch door; for it must be remembered a door is required for other purposes than to get the bird 

 in and out : it has to admit a hand and a little whitewash brush. If required, the cage can be 

 made to consist of a nest of " pigeon-holes," with a framed front to take off and on for the purpose 

 of cleaning; but all these arrangements depend on the amount of trouble or expense the fancier is 

 willing to incur. We can only add that such a cage, neatly made and carefully wired, fitted up 

 uniformly with little hoppers and water-tins, painted black and well varnished, with each box 

 containing a bird undergoing the process of transmutation (for it is little else), is a sight a breeder 

 may be proud of when he lifts up the clean sheet (with which it ought to be covered while the birds 

 are moulting) for some brother fancier to gauge his prospects for the incoming season. 



Before finally putting the birds into their moulting quarters, whether into a clean flight to moult 

 a number together, or into smaller cages in smaller numbers, or into single boxes, we must say that 

 at the head of the Colour section stands the Norwich Canary; and we take that bird to illustrate 

 our mode of going to work. It is, in fact, the colour bird. Two others of the family have also 

 the power to develop colour in a remarkable degree — viz., the Lizard and London Fancy. The 

 Lizard is, probably, at least its equal in this respect, while the London Fancy is, by its admirers, 

 considered its superior. But each of these has other properties which rule above colour in them, 

 and which are their strong points, while in the Norwich Canary colour is all in all, the bird being 

 literally all colour. The remaining members of the family, Cinnamons excepted, although they 

 have colour, yet have so little of it that other properties altogether rule in their case, and it is usual 

 to give them nothing beyond a general moult. Experiments tried on them have shown that they 

 have not the power of depositing colouring matter to any extent; and such being the case, some 

 other strongly marked peculiarity has been seized hold of and cultivated, end colour has been left 



