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warmer. The greatest point in favour of brick is that you are better able

to keep the mice out, by laying a cement floor, and cementing the walls

round the floor to the height of six inches. If a wooden house be chosen it

should be covered with two thicknesses of felt, which should be tarred in

September every year, and the floor should be laid closely with tiles. Of

whatever material the house be constructed, it must be wellliglited. and the

windows and skylights (covered inside with wire netting), must be in a

position to catch as much sun as possible. There should be two large

folding or sliding windows looking into the outer aviary, which should be

always open in summer, but kept closed in winter and on cold spring days ;

and on the floor, also communicating with the pen, an opening, a foot square,

should be made, through which the birds can fly or walk when the windows

are closed. Thus, in severe weather, the birds can have access to the food,

and still the inner aviary can be kept fairly warm and free from draughts,

which would be impossible if the windows were the only means of ingress or

egress and had to remain open continually.


The outeraviary should be constructed of light standards, and lengths

of 3J inch wood, painted with three coats of paint before being placed in

position ; upon which must be stretched | inch mesh wire netting, and if

an estimate be obtained from a local joiner, the price to include the nailing

on of the wire, and the wire netting obtained from one of the large

manufacturers, this part of the work can be done very cheaply.


A separate door should be made for the owner or attendant to go into

the outer aviary, in addition to the one for the same purpose into the

inner aviary. The latter must be covered by a double door, constructed of

light wood and wire netting, to prevent the escape of frightened birds.


I have not found a double door at all necessary in the outer aviary,

unless it be very small. If it be not intended to keepParrakeets in the aviary,

established roots of ivy should be planted and trained up the walls, also box

trees, Japan cypress (Retinospora Plumosaj , hollies, &c., which should be

planted closely together round the sides and end of the outer aviary to form

a dense cover. But if the Aviarist be ambitious to keep the lovely, but

destructive, members of the Parrot family, he must be content with grass

alone, because Parrakeets (except the weak-billed Turquoisines and

Elegants) would destroy the shrubs and trees in a day.


In the centre of the outer aviary grass should be sown, and if kept

regularly cut it will grow very thick and close, and so defy the efforts of the

birds to eat it off.


If there be no brook available, or water cannot be laid on from a water

main to form a continually running fountain, a drinking fountain of some

kind, to be replenished every da} 7 , will have to be constructed. The best

thing is a zinc dish, about j 8 inches square and three inches deep, which

should be let into the ground, level with the grass, but surrounded by one

row of tiles laid flat, to prevent the soil getting into the water. The bottom

of the dish should be covered with small pebbles, to prevent the bird’s feet

from sliding about when they are washing, as they are apt to do when the

zinc is bare, but the pebbles must be taken out regularly and scalded. There

should be a plug in the dish, and a large flower pot placed underneath in a

hole in the ground, for the waste water to drain into, when the dish is

replenished, as, not being tainted, it forms no nuisance when it sinks into

the ground ; but, of course, if a drain be conveniently near, it will be much

better to have a pipe to conduct the waste water into it.


In the outer aviary a wire basket should be hung, containing a dish,

in which to place the soft food for the insectivorous birds; this should be

covered over in some manner to protect it from rain and sun. In winter it

should be hung in the inner aviary, or the soft food would become frozen

hard, and therefore useless.


The inner aviary should contain all the seed hoppers. It is much

better to have each different kind of seed placed in a separate self-supplying

hopper, as it saves waste, and the hoppers should be hung on the walls in



