. Bird notes . onstructed a reason-ably good aviary out of what seemed ahopeless proposition. But I cannot and donot commend it for anything but a summeraviary. I had a bird bath there, but foundthe birds preferred to drink the dew off thegrass, and, in fact, to bathe in the wet grass. Parrakeets arenot great drinkers at the best of times. But this aviary withall its faults bred two medal-winning nests, viz. All Green andCactus Conures, a fact I attribute to its size, its system of eaves,and hidden nest barrels, and to the fact that the whole of thenorth end of the aviary was boarded up. the b
. Bird notes . onstructed a reason-ably good aviary out of what seemed ahopeless proposition. But I cannot and donot commend it for anything but a summeraviary. I had a bird bath there, but foundthe birds preferred to drink the dew off thegrass, and, in fact, to bathe in the wet grass. Parrakeets arenot great drinkers at the best of times. But this aviary withall its faults bred two medal-winning nests, viz. All Green andCactus Conures, a fact I attribute to its size, its system of eaves,and hidden nest barrels, and to the fact that the whole of thenorth end of the aviary was boarded up. the boarding beingextended laterally on either side for 10 or 12 feet. Thisensured shelter from the North winds and comparative privacy,in fact a virtual shelter with an open roof; and last but not leastto the food provided. Parrakeets require a varied diet as wellas other birds, but mine never got ripe fruit or any other fancydiet—just the ordinary parrot mixture, as well as an abundanceof millet and canary One more word before 1 close. The aviary was 8ft. I got the manufacturers to weave me 8ft. netting. Theidea was that it would, as it were, wrap round the poles Reminiscences. i8i (uprights) and save lacing. But the idea, although good, didnot prove altogether a success. It was unwieldy, and sagged verybadly. Moreover, one had to sink wire netting into the groundto make it rat-proof, and then lace that to the netting any rate I came to the conclusion that it is far better to have6ft. net<^inp; and carry it from side to side sinking the ends i8in. deep and a foot out, thus : — which I Ground reminds me that in one aviary I be- » level., came possessed of there was a brook l8-inches. that ran through it, led in and out by drain pipes. Over the mouth12 irTheT °^ ^^^^ drain pipes was ^in. netting, which collected the leaves and deb-ris, aiiu so cuiiseJ a partial block, with the result that the watertunnelled its way to the side, first of all, of the
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Keywords: ., bookauthorforeignb, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1902
