30 



British Cage Birds. 



vessels should be placed in convenient positions, so that the 

 birds will have no difiSculty in making use of them. The 

 wiring ought to be firm and uniform, and the apertures 

 through which the birds feed should be carefully made, and 

 of sufficient dimensions to allow the birds to get to their 

 food and water quite easily, without damaging their plumage. 



Some cages are made so high, that newly caught or partly 

 domesticated birds placed in them frequently injure them- 

 selves by dashing violently against the tops. Others go to 

 the opposite extreme, and are made so low that a bird can 

 with difficulty stand erect, without bringing its head in contact 

 with the roof. It is only by experience and observation 

 that these irregularities can be discovered and remedied. The 



Fig. 5. Drawing-room Cage. 



illustrations given in this chapter, together with the ex- 

 planations which are subjoined, will enable anyone to avoid 

 the annoyances and difficulties so often met with by the 

 uninitiated. 



Fig. 5 represents a drawing-room cage, which should be 

 made of mahogany, walnut, satin wood, or maple, and French 

 polished. It should be wired with bright tinned iron wire. 

 At the right hand bottom corner is a seed drawer or feeding 

 trough ; this ought to be made of tin, with a wooden front, 

 matching the woodwork of the cage, or stained black and 

 afterwards polished, fixed to it by small screws. In the 

 centre of the drawer there should be a partition, so that seed 



