UlAON 
ORDINARY LIFE. 21 
and 3 are covered over with creepers, chiefly roses 
and different kinds of ivies, adding much to the 
improvement of the look of the wooden buildings, 
which, left bare, would appear rather unsightly. 
And now, having described all my _ birds’ 
dwellings—save some little runs at present occu- 
pied by a pair of Algerian Partridges and a 
Tasmanian Squirrel—l will just add one or two 
more détails. I have told you that the fronts of 
No. 1 and No. 3 aviaries are open wire netting 
(No. > has glass shutters in front). To prevent 
the birds being frightened by cats at night, and 
also to keep out the cold in winter, I have arranged 
curtains to stretch across the fronts of both these 
aviaries. The curtains are made of a wide, strong 
material, such as Bolton sheeting; this is of a 
sufficient width not to require more than one 
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breadth (and so avoid any join). Rings are stitched 
along the top, and run on a tight wire securely 
fastened at each end of the aviary, while one end 
of the curtain is nailed to the end post of the 
aviary, and the other end is ringed to fasten on to 
small hooks placed to keep the curtain stretched 
tight. 
In the day-time the curtain is just drawn back 
to the secured end, and tied back by a piece of stout 
twine, nailed there for the purpose. On misty 
days, or if it is very cold, the curtain is kept 
drawn. ‘There are, however, two things you must 
remember : first, do not tie your curtain back after 
it is soaked with rain; draw it, but just leave it to 
hang loose and dry. If you tie it in it will rot and 
soon wear out. The other point is that if your 
aviary is a long one, as in mine, 32 ft., you will 
find the weight of the curtain when stretched out 
will bend your wire in the middle, and cause it to 
drop a little. To avoid this, put L-shaped screw 
hooks along your aviary top beam, and just lift the 
wire over this when you have drawn the curtain, 
of course unhooking the curtain before you draw it 
back in the morning. 
In No. 1 aviary the curtain is run on an iron 
rod, not wire, and is divided into two halves (being 
strapped back in the middle and hooked at each 
outer end), but where you have a length so long as 
32 ft., and desire your curtain in one piece, it is 
obvious you must have wire, for an iron bar could 
not very well be got long enough. 
I have now told you about my aviaries, so 
shall pass on to the care of their inmates, their 
ordinary life, and how to treat them when nesting, 
in sickness, and when packing them to send away 
to new homes. There are many little details which 
only can be learnt gradually if you have no one to 
help you, and I hope you may find the reading of 
them useful, both to you and to your birds. 
First as to your doves’ 
ORDINARY LIFE, 
I feed my doves on a mixture of wheat, dari, 
and a lesser proportion of hemp, white millet, and 
a little rice. This is their diet year in and year 
out. I have fed my doves on this mixture for 
years, and find they thrive very well on it, for I 
very seldom lose an adult bird, and some I have 
had for very many years. This ‘‘Dove Mixture”’ 
I get ready mixed by the bushel from our corn 
merchant, having told him the proportions; he 
charges sometimes more, sometimes less, accord- 
ing to the prices of the seeds. I get two bushels at 
a time, and the price for this quantity may be 
to/g9 up to 12/-. It is kept in the centre division 
of the corn bin in the little seed room. I should 
mention that I add the white millet to the ‘mix- 
ture’? myself; it is a seed I do not find the doves 
much care for, and in the nesting season, when 
young ones are being fed, I give rather more 
hemp. On one of the shelves in the seed room 
stand three large-size biscuit tins to hold the supply 
of mixed seed for the different kinds of birds, 
namely, parrots, doves, and tiny waxbills and 
finches, and these tins I fill up from the bin, 
mixing the seeds myself as they are emptied. I do 
