5^  Our  Canaries 
water  vessels  should  for  preference  be  kept  under  the  semi-open  portion,  but 
the  baths  may  with  advantage  be  placed  in  the  open-air  section. 
THE  QUESTION  OF  TEMPERATURE. 
At  this  point  we  may  refer  to  the  question  of  heating  the  place  by  artificial 
means.  The  question  so  frequently  crops  up  from  the  new  beginner,  and  almost 
invariably  takes  the  form  of  a  request  as  to  what  particular  method  of  heating  is 
best,  that  it  would  really  appear  as  if  every  beginner  commenced  with  a  foregone 
conclusion  that  heat  is  essential,  and  he  only  wishes  to  know  how  he  can  best 
utilise  it. 
As  things  are  now,  when  one  breeder  partly  rears,  moults,  and  keeps  for 
the  greater  part  of  the  year  his  stock  in  an  abnormally  heated  room,  and  others 
carry  on  similar  operations  without  any  artificial  help  in  that  direction,  it  is 
practically  impossible  to  say  whether  heat  should  be  used  in  any  given  case. 
Thus  it  would  be  folly  for  one  living  in  a  bleak,  cold  position  to  set  up  an 
outdoor  aviary,  obtain  stock  from  a  room  in  a  more  mild  and  sheltered  part  of 
the  country,  and  which  has  also  been  reared  with  the  aid  of  artificial  heat,  and 
try  to  breed  with  such  birds  in  a  normal  temperature.  Such  an  attempt  must 
assuredly  end  in  failure,  and  the  end  of  the  first  breeding  season  will  invariably 
mark  the  commencement  of  a  run  of  trouble  and  adversities,  which,  as 
Shakespeare  says,  "come  not  as  single  spies,  but  in  battalions,"  and  one's  star 
of  good  fortune  must  be  in  the  ascendant  if  he  gets  any  more  good  results 
out  of  those  birds. 
THE   CASE   FOR   BOTH  SIDES. 
To  succeed  with  birds  bred  under  these  wholly  artificial  conditions  one 
is  practically  compelled  to  keep  up  such  conditions  at  the  commencement,  though 
it  will  be  quite  possible  to  gradually  modify  them  so  that  in  the  course  of  a 
few  seasons  a  hardier  and  acclimatised  type  of  bird  is  produced,  which  will 
thrive  quite  well  under  more  natural  conditions. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  one  wishes  to  start  without  heat,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  make  oneself  sure  that  the  birds  obtained  in  the  first  instance 
have  been  reared  and  moulted  under  quite  normal  conditions  of  temperature.  If 
they  are  also  the  produce  of  birds  bred  under  similar  conditions,  then  one  has  a 
good  chance  of  success  with  them,  and  it  would  be  a  bad  policy  to  introduce 
heat  among  such  stock.  Cold,  of  itself,  will  very  rarely  cause  the  least  inconveni- 
ence to  a  healthy  bird  not  hitherto  accustomed  to  artificial  heat;  but  damp 
and  draughts  are  the  bane  of  the  caged  bird's  life.  Eradicate  the  two  latter,  and 
the  former  may  be  very  largely  disregarded. 
VARIOUS   FORMS   OF  HEAT. 
In  cases  where  heat  is  used,  or  where  it  is  necessary  for  acclimatisation,  there 
is  nothing  better  than  a  hot  water  pipe  installation,  with  the  source  of  heat  either 
