22 
Our  Canaries 
place  of  the  wire  one,  so  that  the  hen  is  able  to  hatch  out  her  eggs  in  peace,  and 
rear  the  young  until  she  is  ready  to  commence  nesting  again,  when  the  cock  may 
be  allowed  to  return  to  her  society. 
THE  VALUE  OF  THE  WOODEN  SLIDE. 
On  the  other  hand  if  the  cock  behaves  with  that  sense  of  decorum  becoming 
a  good  husband  and  a  fond  father,  and  the  hen  so  far  forgets  her  maternal  duties 
as  to  exhibit  a  desire  to  purloin  the  plumage  of  her  offspring  as  a  lining  for  her 
future  nest,  the  young  ones,  assuming  they  have  left  the  nest,  may  be  confined  in 
the  one  compartment  behind  the  wire  slide,  when  the  parents  will  continue  to  feed 
them  through  the  wires  until  they  are  able  to  get  along  without  their  further 
attentions,  whilst  the  hen  will  find  her  opportunities  for  plucking  the  young  very 
considerably  curtailed. 
It  may  thus  be  seen  that  this  cage,  when  devoted  to  a  single  pair  of  birds, 
does  away  with  the  necessity  of  small  cages  being  hung  on  the  front  of  the  breeder 
for  any  purpose.  And  when  the  breeding  season  is  at  an  end,  as  already  pointed 
out,  the  slides  may  be  laid  aside  for  the  winter  and  the  two  compartments  made 
into  one,  which  affords. more  exercise  for  the  birds,  and  serves  the  same  purpose 
as  a  small  flight  or  store  cage. 
THE  TREBLE  BREEDER  CONSIDERED. 
The  three-compartment  cage  is  a  still  further  elongated  edition  of  the  single 
breeding  cage  and  contains  two  partitions  instead  of  one,  dividing  the  space  into 
three  equal  compartments.  In  these  multiple  compartment  cages,  one  thing  is 
apt  to  occur  which  should  always  be  guarded  against  by  the  purchaser,  which  is  : 
to  more  or  less  curtail  the  length  of  each  individual  compartment,  to  keep  the  whole 
more  proportionate  in  appearance,  and  of  a  more  wieldy  size.  Thus,  whilst  a 
single  breeder  will  generally  measure  20  ins.  in  length  (and  this  space  is  certainly 
quite  small  enough  for  a  pair  of  birds  to  be  confined  in),  the  double-breeder  will 
more  often  be  found  to  measure  not  more  than  38  ins.,  and  sometimes  36  ins.,  and 
the  three-compartment  cage  will  usually  measure  four  feet  in  length,  thereby 
reducing  the  inner  length  of  each  space  to  less  than  16  ins.,  which  should  be 
regarded  as  wholly  inadequate  for  a  breeding  cage,  and  the  full  gross  length  of  five 
feet  for  such  a  cage  should  be  insisted  upon. 
ITS  CHIEF  ADVANTAGE. 
The  chief  characteristics  of  this  cage  are  almost  identical  with  a  two-compart- 
ment cage,  and  what  has  been  written  of  the  one  will  apply  to  both,  with  the 
exception  that  this  type  is  naturally  still  more  unwieldy,  and  that  when  the  slides 
are  withdrawn  it  affords  a  larger  space  for  vigorous  exercise  as  a  stock  or  flight 
cage. 
The  three-compartment  cage  is  often  most  useful  to  the  breeder  who  is 
running  one  cock  with  two  hens  alternately,  in  which  case  the  central  space  is 
