292 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1 913 



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An octagonal cage with domed roof 



cathedral, where often a lofty circu- 

 lar "lantern" crowns the crossing of 

 nave and transepts. 



America's chief gift to this cage 

 collection consists of a wooden cage 

 patterned after an old church in 

 Astoria, Long Island. It is typical 

 of a certain form of ecclesiastical 

 architecture popular during the last 

 century which is sometimes known as 

 the old "wooden gothic" style. One may 

 regret to see American architecture rep- 

 resented by a type which is at best some- 

 what melancholy, but it must be admitted 

 that the example is true to the period, 

 even to the dials of the clock in the 

 wooden belfry. The old German cage 

 upon page 292, immediately suggests the 

 domestic architecture of Germany of to- 

 day. The entire absence of ornament 

 and the turning to account in a decorative 

 way of the necessary openings on the 

 cage, is here characteristically German. 



One is apt to think of cages as 

 used chiefly for birds. So they 



r 



Storied cage for several families of birds 



English Skylark cage 



A German bird cage 



are in America, but in many oriental 

 countries as well as in certain parts of 

 Europe they are made for certain in- 

 sects, the singing of which is regarded 

 as musical. The people of the Dragon- 

 fly Islands value the music of many in- 

 sects, particularly the Kirigirisu, which 

 has been the theme of many poems and 

 which is considered the prophet of frost 

 as well as of separation. Many of the 

 insect cages from Japan and China, and 

 sometimes those from India are set or 

 mounted upon tiny wooden stands which 

 somewhat resemble those often used as 

 pedestals for vases or jars of oriental 

 porcelain. Where insect cages are of a 

 tall and slender shape, they have been 

 designed for high-leaping insects — "high 

 vaulters in the sunny grass" when out of 

 doors. 



If a collection represents the fruit of 

 much journeying and travels into strange 

 places, such is particularly true of an 

 assortment of such household ob- 

 jects as these cages of birds. 



American "Wooden Gothic" bird cage 



A "Spanish Cathedral" bird cage 



A Russian bird cage 



