120 Good and Bad Points in My At^iaries. 
nets, etc., the net result was one Budgerigar captured and an 
aviary of badly frightened birds. As this method of catching 
seemed hopeless we decided to n.iake our next effoi-t at night- 
time with the aid of a cycle -lamp. This succeeded better, at 
any rate as far as catching Budgerigars were concerned, and 
we soon had captured quite a lot, l)ut, to my sui'pi-jse their 
numlier did not seem much reduced, which was not to i>e 
wondered at, as we found the cage into which wo wore 
putting them had a wire out, thus we were netting the same 
bird.; over again and our actual catch for the night was four 
Budgerigars. It was again obvious some otliei" method must 
be adopted. I got the cai'penter to make a box with a falling 
front, into which iheir feeding lx)xes and seed hoppers could 
be put, and once the birds l>ecame accustomed to feeding here, 
their capture became fairly easy, as my man could stand out- 
side the aviary with the string attached to the door of the trap 
in his hand, and when he saw the wanted bird enter, allow 
it to fall. The trouble, however, was that nearly every bird 
but the right one would enter first, and many were trapped 
that w^ere not wanted, and got so badly frightened that some 
would rather starve than enter again, so I hatl a second built in 
another part of the aviary, so that when birds became shy of one, 
they coulci be fed in the other. 
After this things went smoothly for some time, when 
disaster, in the form of a rat, carried ofT about thirty of the 
small birds. To prevent any recurrence of such an experience 
I dug a trench all round the aviary about two feet deep, and 
let in galvanised iron sheets, afterwards filling up the trench 
with cinders and broken stone. This proved effective and rats 
have never since troubled me; but mice, both common and 
field, are still a nuisance. ' 
In the autumn as the ti'ees shed their leaves I began to 
lose a certain number of birds from pneumonia, etc. This was 
evidently due to the shelter giving insutlicient protection from 
the south-westerly wind, the prevailing wind at this time of 
yea) ; so I found it necessary to cover in the greater part of 
the front of shelter, after w'hich losses were decidedly fewei'. 
From this fii-st year's experience I learned: (.1) That 
tall aviaries are unsuitable where birds have to be frequently 
caught, as is the case where young are reared. (2) That it is 
