MANAGEMENT OF PENS. 91 



portions liave now strained over them stout l^in. mesh 

 galvanised wire netting, the top only carefully left free, for 

 ingress and egress of wild birds. Inside each compartment, 

 and parallel with the divisions, is now placed a row of bush 

 bavins, one against the other, tightly pressed together, 

 forming an inverted letter V. On the apex of these faggots 

 the birds love to perch, preen, and doze, while a secure 

 retreat in case of sudden fright is offered by the little tunnel 

 left at the base. A few faggots may also for a similar 

 purpose be placed leaning against the sides and corners of 

 the inclosure, those angles where the doors are hung excepted. 



" We have also two smaller pens, alike in all respects, and 

 attached to those already described, but in measurement only 

 10ft. by 7ft. These are used for the temporary confinement 

 of any quarrelsome egg-destroying or otherwise refractory 

 bird, who can thus, until its wing is sufficiently strong for 

 flight, remain. One of the hurdles dividing these small'pens 

 from their neighbours — as, indeed, in each of the interior 

 divisions — should be easily removable to the end, that the 

 birds can at pleasure be driven right through into the smaller 

 pens for the purpose of capture, wing-clipping, &c. 



" The introduction and placing about occasionally of 

 freshly-cut fir tree branches is judicious. With reference to 

 aliment, the greater the variety ofi'ered the better ; and for a 

 thoroughly trustworthy detail upon this vital point, again I 

 gratefully add, vide ' Tegetmeier.' Regularity in the hours of 

 feeding, however, is as essential as is the quality of food 

 administered — three times diurnally, any unfinished debris of 

 the previous meal having first been carefully removed, should 

 the repasts be neatly and delicately served, not forgetting 

 that, while all required is offered with no niggard hand, over- 

 lavish generosity, only too often the mere promptings of 

 laziness, ought most carefully to be avoided. 



" Powerless are the prisoners to escape those fatal mias- 

 matic vapours speedily generated by decaying vegetable and 

 animal matter, which, when permitted to daily be trampled 



