124



Dr. L. Lovell-Keays



the birds room to fly over one’s head and so ease panic, and one

can drive the birds towards a given point at this height. Nests are

easy to get at and the cost is not too great. The moment you get

over 8 feet you will find the cost increases almost “ in proportion

to the square of the height ” as the mathematicians say. The

supports of my aviaries are all chestnut poles, and the builder, a

sound practical man, assures me that chestnut will last 15 or 16

years in the ground and far out-live oak or any of the fir tribe.

Iron is of course much more durable but much more expensive.

Creepers (such as Honeysuckle, Clematis, etc.), do not like metal to

climb up. Metal is such a good conductor of heat that the plants

experience and suffer from great variations of temperature, much to

their detriment. Wood has this advantage too, and that is it is

more picturesque. Moreover you can drive nails into it. Another

point is that wood harbours insects,—an advantage it is impossible

to over-rate. I have been asked what kind of evergreens birds

prefer. I have tried most kinds and I find the most favourite

kinds are the Retinosporas and the Kryptomerias amongst the

conifers. Laurels, Privets, are useful too, but in every aviary I

would see planted an Elder. They are full growing, afford good

shelter and are quite impossible to kill. Apart from the insects the

flowers attract, the tree itself generally teems with insect life, and

the berries too are greedily eaten by numbers of birds. Then

Wichuriana Roses such as Dorothy Perkins, Hiawatha, and the

most vigorous of all, Evangeline, may be planted, besides Honey¬

suckles, Clematis, and so on to the fancy of the aviculturist.

Certain plants I shall touch on when dealing with pods, but

mention must be made of Docks Plantains, Milk or Sow Thistles,

one or two of the Umbelliferae such as Cow Parsley, of the Com-

positae as Michaelmas Daisy, and lastly of the Trumpet Honey¬

suckle (j Eccremocarpus Scccber). The dwarf perennial grasses or the

so-called “ flowering grasses ” must certainly have a place, and the

usual garden weeds such as Shepherd’s Purse, Groundsel, Chick-

weed, and so forth. Lastly, in our flight we should all have a bird

bath as designed and described by Mr. W. T. Page. Nothing adds

such joy to the aviary or fascination for the aviarist as a properly

constructed bird bath. They are simple shallow depressions in the



