ORDINARY LIFE. 



23 



and my Black-bearded doves, especially the hen, 

 delights in red currants, plucked off the stem. I 

 have noticed that when she picked one up she did 

 not swallow it at once, but jerked it with her beak 

 against the ground first, like a thrush with a 

 worm. 



It is rather a disputed question where the seed 

 pots should be put in an aviary. If on the floor 

 there is a fear of mice, or, worse still, rats. I 

 remember, years ago, when as children we kept 

 four Nun pigeons, how a rat got into the aviary, 

 and gnawed the poor birds' toe nails off, but, 

 strangely enough, did not kill them. Finally this 

 rat came to a curious end. We found it fast in 

 the wire netting (which was larger than J inch 

 mesh). By some means it had got its head 

 through and so entangled itself it could not get 



Crested Senegal and White-winged Doves. 



free again. Rats can even get through a tiled 

 floor, burrowing under a tile and causing it to 

 sink. Once I heard of a rat doing this in a 

 dwelling-house, and making a sort of nest in the 

 cavity, lining it comfortably with some small 

 children's socks it had stolen. Rats are said to 

 always come where there is grain, but so far we 

 have not suffered from them, though one or two 

 mice have been caught, chiefly in the passage and 

 seed-room. In the solitary instance when the rat 

 came after the pigeons, I think it was partially 

 due to the pulling down of some verj' old buildings 

 close by, and so the rats got disturbed and were 

 obliged to seek new quarters. 



If you have a suspicion that mice are about, I 

 know of no better plan than to get a small wooden 

 box, and inside it place an "Out o' Sight" spring 

 mouse-trap, costing 2d. This 3'ou should nail 

 down to the bottom of the box to prevent it shift- 



ing, then cut a small hole large enough for a 

 mouse to enter at one end of the box, and set your 

 trap, baiting it with strong cheese. In this way 

 there is no fear in setting the trap that the doves 

 will get caught in it, for if it were set with no 

 protection the doves would be certain to peck the 

 cheese, and would as certainly get caught by the 

 beak, and either break it or die from shock and 

 suffocation. I once had a favourite little wild 

 robin that we had tamed who got killed in this 

 way. He was only in the trap about a minute, 

 but he was caught by the beak and quite dead 

 when I found him. Of course, this plan of putting 

 the trap in a box would not be safe to try where 

 there were any birds small enough to go through 

 the entrance hole. 



Every year, and sometimes twice a year, I get a 

 good load of Scotch Fir branches to fasten up in 

 the aviaries for cover. I have tried other firs, but 

 none keep the "needles" on save the Scotch. I 

 pay JOS. a load for them, carting and delivery free. 

 I ain fortunate in living in a very wooded country, 

 but if you are not I would advise the use of pea 

 rods stretched flat across the corners of the shelter. 

 Gorse I do not care for, the spines are dangerous. 

 Bracken may be used, and the undergrowth when 

 a wood is cleared out. As cleanliness is most im- 

 portant in an aviary, I prefer to renew the cover 

 every year. 



In some aviaries bushes are planted in the flights 

 or grown in pots, and if this is done in an open 

 part of the aviary where there is rain to wash the 

 cover and keep it clean it may be satisfactory, but 

 our English summers are too uncertain to rear 

 young birds out in the open. I never fasten up 

 any branches or nest pans save where the nesting' 

 birds would have a roof over their heads, for I 

 am sure the young birds should be kept dry if 

 they are to be kept healthy. 



The fir branches generally want a little trimming 

 with a cutter before they are fastened up with nails 

 and wire to the aviary walls, for a long length of 

 bare branch is of no use to you, and only makes a 

 greater weight for the nails to carry. The nails 

 should be strong and large-headed, so that the 

 wire does not slip over the head. Quite short 

 lengths of pliable wire will do, just long enough 

 to go once or twice round the branch and round 

 the nail ; then twist the ends of the wire together 

 and nip them off close and hammer them flat 

 against the branch, so that the birds do not catch 

 on them. The branches are fastened some feet 

 from the ground, so as to give more floor room, 

 and also to prevent mice running up them, and 

 are placed in an upright position as if they were 

 growing. If a branch is very heavy it should be 

 wired in several places. It is really better to have 



