1G 



top and two and a half inches deep. A circular hole in the bottom 

 of the five inches square box holds this basket firmly, and light is 

 admitted by a few half inch holes drilled into the top. A couple of 

 judiciously bent wire hooks easily fix the box and nest over the 

 opening, which must be only about six inches from the floor of the 

 cage. This height is desirable for the following reasons : — The cock 

 bird prefers the topmost perch in his house to roost on, rather than 

 the side of the nest, which he would choose instead if it were not so 

 much lower down ; fledged nestlings act in the same way, instead of 

 creeping under their mother and interfering with her second clutch 

 of eggs ; a hen, weak through laying labours, can reach a nest only 

 some six inches up, while a greater distance might be beyond her 

 powers ; the breeder can drive her more easily off the nest, and can 

 peep into it through the air holes ; finally, nothing whatever is to be 

 gained by having the nest so high as is usual in this country ; 

 neither seclusion nor freedom from molestation. 



The outside position has the advantage of giving the attendant 

 great command over the box and nest, and, as these have to be lifted 

 off many times, and the nesting material entirely replaced by clean 

 at least once for each brood, the old birds are much less alarmed when 

 the nest is so placed, than if it has to be taken from the inside. 



The sand drawer covers the whole of the floor, but its front edge 

 does not form, as with us, part of the front of the cage. The drawer 

 from front to back is slightly less than the cage, and is kept in 

 position by a slice of the cage front, which, hanging by two or three 

 hinges, falls over the sand drawer when in position, and when this 

 is out for cleaning, closes the aperture, and precludes the possibility 

 of a bird popping through. 



The utensils for seed, soft food, water, etc., are always hung inside, 

 to obviate the necessity of the very objectionable " pot holes." This 

 is so universally the practice in Germany, that the following wrinkle 

 may be, perhaps, the means of saving the life of - some newly 

 acquired specimen who might otherwise have been left to perish of 

 hunger or thirst. Eemember, when you bring to your home a bird 

 in one of the well-known German wicker travelling cages, that your 

 new acquisition has never learned to put its head through a hole, and, 

 when he is treated to the unwonted liberty of the new and spacious 

 xibode to which you will have at the first opportunity humanely 



