Aviaries and Cages. 



17 



ceiling ; the inner walls need only be lime-washed. An 

 ornamental window should be placed in the centre of each 

 of the aviaries — perhaps French windows would be best — to 

 open and close on hinges. There should likewise be a small 

 aperture in a convenient part of each room, say, of 9in. by Gin. 

 or lOin. by Tin., with an arched top and a frame fitted into 

 it, with a framed slide covered with perforated zinc to act as 

 a ventilator. This aperture will also be required to be used 

 as a means of egress and ingress for the birds. It will be 

 necessary to erect outside stout wire enclosures, equal to the 

 entire length of each compartment, which should be about 

 6ft. or 7ft. wide, to form an exercise ground. Some perches 

 should be kept as high as the tops of the windows outside, 

 for the birds to take exercise upon, and to bask in the rays 

 of the sun. 



The slides over the ventilators should be constructed to 

 work with pulleys and cords, so that they can be opened 

 and closed from the passage. In each door communicating 

 between the aviaries and passage should be fixed one or two 

 glass panels, so that the movements of the birds can be 

 observed without going inside. In some convenient place a 

 small boiler, such as is used for heating a greenhouse, should 

 be erected, with 4in. or Gin. hot-water pipes, which must be 

 so arranged as to give heat to all parts of the building, in 

 order that an equable temperature, say, of GOdeg., be kept up 

 during the most inclement seasons of the year ; the birds 

 would then thrive and continue in a healthy condition, if the 

 apparatus were properly and carefully managed. 



In smaller aviaries a combustion stove might be used in 

 place of a boiler. The better plan would be to erect an ante- 

 room at the end of the passage, to form a wing at the back of 

 the building, and to place the boiler in this room. Here might 

 also be fixed a few shelves and a cupboard, for the purpose of 

 holding and keeping all the paraphernalia requisite for an esta- 

 blishment of this description, such as a bread-crumbing machine, 

 a coffee mill for the purpose of bruising hemp seed, one or 

 two sieves, a pestle and mortar, a water filter, a kettle, two 

 or three saucepans, mugs, jars, and basins, and a few joiner's 

 tools, a saw or two, hammers, planes, pincers, pliers, brad- 

 awls, nails, screws, wood and wire, a small bench, and a vice, 

 &c. The rooms, or aviaries, intended to be used for breeding 



c 



