A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

 DBVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Oroan of the Audubon SocicTicm 



Vol. IX July — August, 1907 No. 4 



A Southern California Aviary 



By H. L. SEFTON 



FOR over ten years the aviary which is the subject of this sketch has 

 stood amidst the semi-tropical verdure, in the private grounds of the 

 J. W. Sefton residence, in San Diego, CaHfornia, where hundreds 

 — yes, I think I may say thousands — of people from different parts of the 

 world, have visited it. For years it was alone in its unique beauty, but now 

 one sees others; for many have followed our hobby and taken up the study 

 of birds, the climate of California being particularly adapted to the out- 

 door rearing of them. 



The building is entirely open, save for the west and north end, and a 

 strip of roofing, about twelve feet wide, that runs the full length of the 

 building, over the nesting part. It covers an area of 20x40 feet, is built of 

 one-fourth inch square -mesh wire, and has a wire partition through the 

 center, so as to separate the tiny birds from their larger kin. Everything 

 that love and thought can do for the comfort of the birds is done: there 

 are pools of running water, low-growing shrubs, stumps of trees, swings 

 and perches of all kinds; in fact, it is a home for the feathered people, which 

 show their appreciation of it in song from the dawn of early morning 

 until night wraps the world in sleep. 



How did we begin ? I will tell you: Many years ago — I think as many 

 as twenty — a German Canary was given to a member of our family ; he 

 was a magnificent singer, a great pet and very tame. We always had a 

 horror of small cages, so got him in a good-sized one, but left the door 

 open in order that he could go in and out at his pleasure, until finally he 

 went in only at meal time. The cage hung in the sun-room, and he flew 

 about among the growing plants and vines perfectly happy. His favorite 

 perch was on a clock that sat on the mantle in front of a large mirror in the 

 living-room; here he would fly and sing to "the other bird," in the glass. 

 He was a born flirt, and really behaved shamefully, sometimes getting 

 so angry at the seeming impertinence of the fellow in the glass that he 

 would f^.y right at him with mouth wide open. It was while watching these 



