August, 1 9 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



291 



of the roof, while 

 just below the gable 

 there looks out an 

 an tiered head cut 

 from the wood in 

 high relief. Switzer- 

 land is represented 

 by a cage of wood 

 which is a chalet in 

 miniature. The 

 broad overhang of 

 the eaves shelters 

 several tiny balconies 

 placed upon different 

 levels such as one ex- 

 pects and generally 

 finds upon real cha- 

 lets. The Swiss are 

 famous wood carvers 

 and toymakers, and 

 the clever artisans of 

 the tiny mountain re- 

 public excel in all the 

 arts of simulation 

 and clever make-be- 

 lieve. To make the 

 cage resemble as closely as possible 

 a chalet such as may be found in 

 any village in Switzerland, the out- 

 side of the cage is decorated in red 

 upon a background of a kind of 

 clay-white. From China and Japan, 

 and from some of the islands of 

 the Philippine group have come 

 cages of bamboo or reed which has 

 been reduced to a state of sufficient 

 pliability and then woven into imita- 

 tions of the airy and fantastic towers 

 and pagodas with roofs piled one 

 above another according to the cus- 

 tom of the countries. Several of 

 the Chinese cages are possessed of 

 feet of teakwood carved in a pattern 

 which shows much openwork; the 

 feet are obviously decorative and 

 are doubtless intended mainly as 

 ornaments to relieve the otherwise 



where it figures also 

 as a decorative ad- 

 junct, but here in the 

 form of doors and 

 balusters across the 

 facade and as tiny 

 brackets or corbels 

 placed in the angles 

 of openings. One of 

 the chief charms of 

 primitive Chinese or 

 Japanese architecture 

 lies in the rare taste 

 and discrimination 

 with which ornament 

 is used — they have a 

 wonderful knack of 

 using only the merest 

 suggestion of adorn- 

 ment and yet attain 

 an effect of finish and 

 symmet r y — it is 

 never over-done. 



Upon page 292 is 

 shown a little Eng- 

 lish skylark cage 

 which with its "bow window" sug- 

 gests the house fronts of such quaint 

 old cities as Chester or Bath. la 

 this instance the receptacles for 

 food are of glass and are not very 

 different from those used with cages 

 being made to-day. A Mexican 

 cage of reed which is the work of 

 an old peasant man, suggests the 

 broad, horizontal lines of the Span- 

 ish architecture which prevails in 

 Mexico. As compared with some 

 of the cages in Mr. Drake's col- 

 lection it is somewhat clumsy and 

 crude, and to some of us it might 

 seem to be lacking in that grace 

 which we like to associate with 

 things Spanish. Another cage which 

 suggests the arts of Spain or of 

 "Norman Castle" bird cage Portugal is that from the Azores 



extreme simplicity of which appears upon page 292. This cage is modeled, ap- 

 the cage. Carved parently, after a 

 teak appears in Spanish or Portu- 

 another cage guese church or 



This cage from Switzerland is patterned after a chalet 



A Philippine bird cage 



A Mexican bird cage. Drake collection 



Azores Island bird cage 



