New Aviary in the Dublin Zoological Gardens. 163


longevity of my caged insectivorous birds which have kept me

a constant prisoner for about twenty years. I dare not trust the

feeding of soft-food eaters to servants, therefore can never leave

them for more than a few hours ; a serious drawback to the

satisfaction of owning these otherwise most charming of our

feathered friends.



NEW AVIARY IN THE DUBLIN ZOOLOGICAL

GARDENS.


Mr. R. M. Barrington has most kindly sent the three

photographs, here produced, of the fine new aviary which has

just been erected in the Dublin Zoo. As will readily be seen

from these, it is built on sloping ground, on the side of a lake,

and part of the lake itself is taken in.


The aviary is about 90 feet long by 48 feet wide, enclosing

a laud area of some 370 square yards, and a water area of over

100 square yards. The framework consists of gun-barrel tubing,

the principal uprights being 2J inches in diameter, bedded in

concrete to a depth of three feet. The connections are made of

solid malleable iron of special pattern. The wire netting is of

the special interlinked type which is now generally employed at

the London Zoological Gardens, and the mesh is of f-inch

throughout. The employment of this small mesh wire netting is

for the purpose of preventing the ingress of Sparrows and rats,

and it renders the aviary suitable for either large or small birds.

At the London Zoo. very large mesh has been used for some of

the aviaries with the result that probably 50 per cent of the food

supplied is taken by Sparrows. O11 the other hand, it is easier

to see the birds if the mesh is large.


A passage has been formed right through the aviary, so

that visitors can go as it were into the middle of the aviary, and

be right amongst the birds. A foot-bridge of ten feet span, is

formed in the passage, under which the birds can go down to the

lake, and they can also fly to this, over the passage.


There are several trees and bushes in the aviary, but at

present these form the only shelter for the birds. The writer of



