HINTS ON CAGE-BIRDS. 
CHAPTER I. 
ON CAGES AND AVIARIES. 
When a man first makes up his mind to become a keeper of birds 
ho frequently falls into the serious error of supposing that no pre- 
vious preparation is necessary to fit him for the work in which he 
proposes to engage. In some cases he takes the trouble to ask the 
dealer from whom he purchases his birds now they ought to be fed ; 
and, as the dealer often knows no more about the matter than he 
does himself, it is not surprising that only a week or so suffices to 
decimate the newly-purchased stock. 
I do not for a moment suggest that there are not practical dealers 
who are able and willing to give excellent advice to beginners; I 
owe much of the knowledge of cage-birds which 1 have acquired to 
t he kindness of a really scientific dealer ; but many men who keep 
bird shops know next to nothing about birds, they lose quite half 
the birds which they buy, and make their living out of the remainder. 
1 have seen one of these men opening his shop window in the morn- 
ing and goiug from cage to cage, throwing the dead Linnets, 
Goldfinches, and other things into a pail without the least concern, 
it being evidently an everyday matter with him to find from eight 
to a dozen corpses among his stock. In the present day, when 
plenty of good books on bird-keeping can be obtained at small 
expense, there is no excuse for a man beginning the study of cage- 
birds without preparation. Undoubtedly guide-books are not 
infallible, but they place the budding aviculturist in a far safer 
position than the man who knows nothing. 
Before you begin to keep birds you should decide in what way 
you wish to keep them, whether in cage or aviary ; and you should 
settle in your own mind what kind of cage or aviary would be most 
suitable to the health and comfort of your birds. You may take it 
as a general rule that an ornamental cage or aviary is a most 
unsuitable one ; t hus nothing could well be more abominable than 
the glittering brass- wired cages which one frequently sees exposed 
for sale in the windows of ironmongers’ shops ; they are not only too 
