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scares from them. I will presently relate some precautions

adopted against these catastrophies.


Roughly speaking, my abodes of birds are of three kinds :

i.—Rooms in which they live in cages. 2.—Isolated aviaries in

which they live about the grounds. 3.—A large wired enclosure

intended, as the trees and hedges in it mature, to be a natural

“ paradise.”


1. Many Parrots and Parralceets, and a few small birds,

oscillate (of course, weather permitting) in their cages between

garden terraces and a glazed verandah by day, and rooms by

night. Some of these are ordinary dwelling rooms, others a

comfortable suite of abodes over the stable—though cold in

winter. There is nothing worth relating of them. A little

account, however, of my birds’ cottage may possibly be of

interest. In a lofty part of the grounds, which, to say the least,

are not on a level, stands a little stone ivy-clad building with

sham battlements. It was probably built late in the last century

as “a folly”; then it descended to be an indifferent dwelling-

house, and then was approaching the stage of ruin, when I

restored it, opened out a blocked-up window or two, and turned

it to its present use. Why such a building should ever have been

termed “ a folly ” I can’t comprehend. I look upon the indi¬

vidual who built it as a very wise man ; for, firstly, he chose a

position with exceptionally beautiful views of six counties—four

English and two Welsh—and a fine panorama of a district

of the winding W}^e ; and secondly, he designed an upper room

singularly well suited for my birds’ comfort.


There are two rooms, both of which have chimneys and

had fire-places. As the building is on the liill-side, the lower

room is partially underground on the North side, and on the

South is approached by a flight of steps. The upper room is

reached by a few stone steps from the outside on the North. It has

two good South windows, and one West one. It is the winter

quarters of many foreign Doves, a few Parrakeets, and a tribe of

smaller birds. Some of their cages are ranged on a long table, the

length of the room ; others are on stands and tables which run on

castors, and enable the birds to be moved into the fullest sunshine.

A coppice-clad hill rises still farther to the North and East, and

gives protection to the building from cold winds. In lieu of the fire¬

place there is now a stove, which burns coke. On all evenings,

from mid-October to April, which promise to be at all cold, a fire

is lit about 5 p.m., and, if properly managed, keeps the room

comfortable until 8 a.m. When there is severe frost, it is again

made up at 10 p.m. In almost all weathers one window is thrown



