d
stooping down to the floor, every time we put in the saucers of food,
besides running the risk of allowing some of the birds to fly out during
the operation; so we construct another one, much smaller, at the side
(Fig. 7), at about the height of one's elbow when standing by it. Two
brackets fixed to the door serve to keep it in a horizontal position
when open, thus forming a table on which to place and fill the saucers
with seed and bread and milk, before transferring them to the wooden
tray at the same level inside. Another little door, fourteen inches by
four inches, with the bottom of it flush with the brick floor, A (Fig.
8), and a spring like that of a mouse-trap attached to the hinges to
make it shut, will be large enough to admit a zinc trough one foot
square, two inches deep, which will contain abundance of water to give
all the birds a good bath daily.

[Illustration: Fig. 8.]

Two coats of lead-color painted over the whole outside wood-work, two
coats of dark green over that and over the wire netting, three coats of
light lead-color over the outside of the roof, with three coats of white
paint over the walls and roof inside, will complete the work of the
house itself.

[Illustration: Fig. 9.]

[Illustration: Fig. 10.]

The arrangement of perches and nesting-places may be left to the
reader's judgment. The goldfinches will want some slender twigs close to
the roof, and a swinging perch, such as in Fig. 9, as they love to get
up as high as possible, and look down contemptuously on everybody else.
The canaries will like another swing (Fig. 10) suspended from a stout
perch above by a small swivel and chain, and placed in the front near
the wires, where they can be swung to and fro by the breeze. It is
pretty to watch the canaries singing as they swing.

The site should be as sunny and sheltered as possible. If the front of
the house can face south, and there be a hedge or spreading shrub on the
eastern side, the birds will have nothing to complain of from spring to
autumn. By the first of November place a covering of thick warm felt
over the whole roof, tacking it to the narrow slips above the canvas, so
that a space is left between the boards and the felt, the warmth of a
_double_ roof is imparted to the interior, and the birds are made all
snug and comfortable. This covering, together with a wooden shutter
fitting closely over the top half of the netting on the weather side,
may be removed again in Mar