THE EQUIPMENT OF THE AVIARY 



porch at the Arlington, in Santa Barbara, I have sometimes 

 counted fifteen or twenty rubythroats darting here and there, 

 or out into the pretty garden where scarlet salvias and red 

 and yellow cannas and other brilliant-hued flowers pre- 

 dominate. 



Then water. One man told me who had been for years 

 coaxing the wild birds to take up their abode in his garden, 

 that the water was the best inducement he could offer, and so 

 here and there, on the lawn, under a low, drooping palm, 

 over on the stone wall, and down at the foot of the walk to 

 the summer-house, he has rough basins hewn out of the stone 

 in which a small amount of water may be thrown with the 

 hose daily, and how the tiny creatures do revel in it ! 



A little extra building material in the way of straw and 

 thread, and mayhap a few soft feathers, or bright-colored 

 yarn, if left about the garden, will induce the small archi- 

 tects to consider your building sites. Every bird has its own 

 well-defined plans for building, however, and one of the 

 most interesting facts about them is that for generations they 

 build as have their fathers before them. Some birds fancy 

 color, and wiH eagerly seize upon the bright-colored bits of 

 yam you give them, while others will reject them with scorn. 



Here is as good a story as I have ever heard of bird 

 humor. 



The story in question was told me by a New York busi- 

 ness man whose word is "as good as gold." This gentle- 

 man had strolled out in Central Park, and came to one of 

 the small aviaries where the birds and small animals spend 



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