352 Caxak/es and Cage-Birds. 



The floor of cages should always be thickly covered with di-_\', gritty sand,* renewed as 

 frequently as possible, kept scrupulously clean, and no accumulation of excrement, waste seed, 

 husks, stale green-meat, &c., should be allowed to remain in any cage or aviary. Soft-food 

 birds digest their food very rapidly, and evacuate large quantities of excrement, and in their 

 case especially small cages should be cleaned once a day, and aviaries twice a week. Cages 

 should be simple, devoid of superfluous ornaments which may harbour insects, and should be 

 easily cleaned. We cannot expect a bird to feel happy or comfortable if surrounded on all 

 sides by open wirework, if continually observed, and deprived of a quiet nook into which he 

 may withdraw when seeking rest or shelter from observation. But only when birds feel 

 perfectly happy and at home in their cages can \\'e expect them to prosper or to breed in 

 captivity. For this reason cages with solid sides as well as solid backs are preferable to all 

 others, and the common London canary breeding-cage is about the best model, though for 

 many foreign birds it is better if the solid board forming the roof is replaced by wire, which 

 arrangement admits more light and air. 



Great enemies of bird-keepers are cats, ratSj and mice. I have myself seen feats by cats 

 which I would have considered incredible if told me. I used to breed Canaries in a garden aviary 

 made of straight wire five-eighths of an inch apart. One morning, looking out of my dressing- 

 room window, a cat sat before the aviary, and seemed innocently to watch the gambols of the 

 Canaries, whom I thought quite safe, as, eighteen or twenty inches from the ground, the lower 

 part of the aviary was protected by zinc plates. I saw a fine cock Canary clinging to the 

 wires some four feet or more from the ground, and singing merrily, when, quick as lightning, 

 puss made one huge bound, fastened her claws in the Canary and pulled his body through 

 the wires. In this manner birds disappear unaccountably from garden aviaries. 



To keep rats out of the aviary, a Portland cement floor is better than any other, and 

 the cheapest in the long-run. Rats will undermine brick floors and gnaw through lead pipes, 

 but iron wire and Portland cement are proof against even their teeth. Mice are the greatest 

 difficulty, for canary-seed seems to attract them more than any other food, and at some time 

 or other mice will get almost anywhere. The quantity of canary-seed a pair of mice will 

 devour in one night is surprising, and what they leave is sure to be spoilt by their urine, 

 which, by the way, rots wirework very quickly and very completely. \Vhen mice have once 

 made their way into an aviary, many poor birds wake up in the morning to find their seed- 

 boxes or glasses emptied over-night, and if such an occurrence be not observed at once, sad 

 losses by starvation result. The only way to battle with this vermin is to construct the aviaries 

 so that every part can be readily examined when necessary, and to avoid hiding-places, such 

 as artificial rock-work or similar ornaments. If mice have access to canary-seed, you may 

 bait your traps how you will, no mouse will go into them. Mice will climb up perpendicular 

 wires, or jump a height not far from two feet to reach canary-seed ; I have seen them running 

 along perches, and dropping into food-dishes suspended three and four feet below the perches. 

 When the presence of mice is suspected in an aviary, the best way to feed the birds is to place the 

 seed in a dish on the top of two inverted flower-pots, placed one on the top of the other. Possibly 

 you may then catch the mice in a wire trap placed on the floor and baited with canary-seed ; 

 but a better way is to carefully stop up all holes by which mice may possibly gain ingress, 

 and to arrange a comfortable retreat for the mice in the aviary by filling a small packing-case, 

 or such-like, with loose hay, straw, woollen rags, mixed with a few handfuls of canary-seed ; 



• Sea-sand containing fragments of sliells is preferable to any other sand, and of very great use. I have cured many sick 

 birds and brcnight damaged si)ecimens hito beauliful condition, simply by a handful of sea-sand. 



