INDOOR AND OUTDOOR AVIARIES.
Those who keep birds for pleasure, and who do not care to breed them for exhibition or to maintain any particular standard, may receive much enjoyment from aviaries in which numbers of canaries are kept in one inclosure. The size of the aviary or bird room will be governed wholly by circumstances, as it may range from an entire room to a small screened inclosure or part of a conservatory. A room large enough for the owner to enter without unduly frightening the occupants makes an ideal indoor aviary, and where space permits it may be fitted up without great expense. The floor should be covered to the depth of half an inch to an inch with clean sand or sawdust. Small evergreen trees planted in large pots furnish suitable decorations, and may be replaced from time to time as they are destroyed by the inmates of the aviary. A branching dead tree and one or two limbs nailed across corners at suitable heights furnish more artistic perches than straight rods. In addition, pegs 4 or 5 inches long may be driven or nailed to the walls to furnish resting places.
Seed should be supplied in self-regulating hoppers, preferably attached to the wall, and water given in self-feeding fountain containers. These become less dirty than open dishes placed on the floor. Sand must be furnished in a box or dish where it is not used on the floor. Soft foods and green foods may be supplied on little shelves or a small table. At the proper season nesting boxes may be hung on the walls, and nesting material supplied in racks or in open-mesh bags hung to some support. A shallow pan of water may be kept constantly on the floor or, better, may be inserted for an hour each day for bathing. A screened flying cage may be built on the outside of a window and the birds admitted to it in pleasant weather. Perches, if of natural wood, should have smooth bark or should be peeled, as crevices often harbor mites. Plants and other decorations should not be placed so near the wall that birds may be trapped behind them.
Aviaries constructed out of doors, like bird rooms, may be made simple or elaborate, large or small, according to circumstances. Where there is sufficient ground available a small frame structure may be built and covered with strong galvanized wire screen of small-sized mesh. Part, at least, of the roof should be covered as a protection against stormy weather, and two sides should be boarded up to afford protection from cold winds. Where the winter climate is severe it is necessary to build a closed addition with board or cement floor and a connecting door, in which the birds may be protected during the cold season. Canaries when acclimatized, however, can withstand moderately cold weather as well as native birds.
The open portion of the aviary should have a board or cement base sunk to a depth of 8 to 10 inches around the bottom to prevent entrance of rats, mice, or larger animals. If a fence with an overhang at the top is not constructed to keep out animals, it is best to make the screen walls double by nailing screen wire to both sides of the wooden frame, so that birds clinging to the wire may not be injured by cats or dogs. Where space does not permit an elaborate structure a lean-to may be built against another wall to make an inclosure large enough for a number of birds. Where needed, thesides of the aviary may be fitted with windows that can be put in place in winter. The entrance to the outdoor aviary should be through a small porch or anteroom that need be merely large enough to permit entrance through an outside door, with a second door leading into the aviary itself. The outside door should be closed before the inner one is opened, so that none of the birds can escape.
The fittings of the outdoor aviary may be adapted from those described for the indoor bird room. With an earth floor it is possible to grow evergreen and deciduous shrubs for shelter and ornament. Where space permits a hedge of privet along the open side of the aviary furnishes a shelter in which birds delight to nest. To avoid overheating in hot weather shade should be provided for part of the structure.
In aviaries birds pair more or less at random. To avoid constant bickering or even serious fighting in the breeding season it is usual to regulate the number of males so that the females outnumber them two to one.