E.A. Maling gives useful information in relation to aviaries, but mostly adapted to English birds and English climate. "The most enjoyable arrangement that I ever knew for the cage bird building, was a plan adopted for my birds when I was a child. We had at that time a good many birds kept in different ways ; some loose in a room, some in single cages, and others in one large cage, standing about six feet high, which was divided into separate apartments, and provided with gratings to shut off young broods. The top had a sloping roof to shed rain, and a water-proof curtain was hung at night before the wire front.

"This cage used every spring to be carried out into the garden, when the greenhouse plants went, and there it stood under a beautiful scarlet Thorn, till the first cold days of autumn warned us to take it back to its winter quarters in the hall, near enough to the fire to be kept pretty warm."

In a cage of this size, if birds of only one or two kinds are kept, there may be as many as ten or a dozen pairs. We generally had a few linnets and goldfinches, and all the rest canaries ; and all these used to pair a good deal, canaries with goldfinches, and so on.

The two sides being separated by a wire grating, the young birds were often kept in one division, with, perhaps, a party of a different kind overhead, their own parents still being kind to them through the dividing bars.

In the winter, the partitions being opened, the whole number, sixteen or twenty, would live together happily.

One very good plan to adopt in having this kind of cage, is to have one half made permanently separated by a wire division from the other, while that other is so arranged, by means of brackets, serving for perches when not in use, as to support the floor of an upper story not more than a foot from the top, or at different heights going up.

The advantage of this plan is, that the two sides can contain couples which would be disposed to molest each other in their building, while the small division up-stairs, when the cage is in three compartments, forms a roomy nursery for any broods of young birds that may require a little feeding after they have left their mother. If a perch or branch is placed near the wires, the old bird will very often patronize his children, and example is of great service in teaching them to wash and make themselves look respectable.

This is of such consequence, that when my young birds (bought when just fledged) do not do well in this way, I put a very dandy bird, either Chaffie or Goldie, in the adjoining part, that by seeing him they may be fairly shamed by the elaborateness of his toilette.

Many people divide lengthways an aviary like this ; some, again, contrive a third story in winter, at least, by removing the front slope of the roof and substituting wire. The top should, however, have a ceiling when out of doors, for protection from heat and damp in the summer time, and from cold in winter.

I myself prefer very much the high divisions, as the birds seem fond of hopping up and down; they admit also a much nicer tree, and show the inmates off to greater advantage.

No paint, I need hardly say, should be used inside, and no brass whatever.

' If glass is adopted, the maker must be particularly warned to put the putty entirely outside.

I do not think any wood really answers better than well smoothed and polished deal; but many persons dislike it, and it is merely a fancy, perhaps, of my own, though having seen how well it has answered, I have now a preference for it. Mahogany is particularly unsuitable to display the birds' bright plumage.

I am much in favor of a double set of food-holders, changing them each day, so as to insure a good washing, drying, and airing. The boxes should be so arranged as to be easily got at by doors, as the water should be changed twice a day in summer, and the seed daily. A mixture of old lime, red sand, and chalk is useful in keeping birds in health.

I will give the exact working description of an aviary cage I have lately had made by the pattern, in great measure, of that before alluded to. Woodwork entirely, of well seasoned deal. Dimensions: height, from floor to top, four feet, i. e. from floor to spring of slope, three feet, and one foot allowed for the slope of the roof. Width, two feet; length, four feet. The top slopes down from a shelf six inches wide, which is at the back. The whole front, back, sides, and top, are of wire. The bottom has a drawer made in two parts to draw out, and a wire partition runs up the cage, and is unhooked at pleasure. A green baize curtain can be drawn round the cage, and a floor (a tray itself) can be put in to divide each side into two stories - ing four in all. The doors are all at the ends, which also open entirely. The peed vessels are all covered, and have drawers lined with glass for containing seed and water. They stand in the cage, and have small perches fastened to them, which look. very pretty when crowded with birds. The great charm of this cage is, that, standing in a window, the birds have full air and light, while perfectly visible within and without. When nicely arranged, fronted with a few plants and creepers, and with a bath, etc., it is extremely pretty, and the bird's bright plumage makes it look almost as gay as flowers, even in the gloomier time of year when only evergreens can make up "a wood."