ather than with the past, because the profits from
pea-cocks are greater than those from hens, I will not dissemble that
I wish to hear first of _ornithones_ because the thrushes which are
kept in them make the very name sound like money: indeed, the 60,000
sesterces of Fircelina have consumed me with avarice."

"There are two kinds of _ornithones_," replied Merula; "one for
pleasure, like that so much admired which our friend Varro here has at
his villa near Casinum: the other for profit, such as are maintained
commercially, some even indoors in town, but chiefly in the Sabine
country which abounds in thrushes. There is a third kind, consisting
of a combination of the two I have mentioned, such as Lucullus
maintained at his Tusculan villa, where he contrived a dining room
under the same roof as his aviary to the end that he might feast
delicately, satisfying two senses, now by eating the birds cooked and
spread on a platter, now by seeing them flying about the windows: but
the truth is that he was disappointed, for the eyes did not take as
much pleasure from the sight of the flying birds as the nostrils were
offended by their odour."

_a. For profit_

V. "But, as I gather you would prefer, Axius, I will speak of that kind
of _ornithon_ which is established for profit, whence, but not where,
fat thrushes are served.

"For this purpose is built a dome, in the form of a peristyle, with
a roof over it and enclosed with netting, sufficiently large to
accommodate several thousand thrushes[168] and blackbirds; indeed, some
also include other kinds of birds, such as ortolans and quail, which
sell for a good price when fat. Into this enclosure water should be
conducted through a conduit and so disposed as to wind through the
aviary in channels narrow enough to be cleaned easily (for if the
water spreads out it is quickly polluted and rendered unfit to drink)
and draining like a running stream to find its vent through another
conduit, so that the birds may not be exposed to the risk of mud. The
door should be low and narrow and well balanced on its hinges like
the doors they have in the amphitheatres where bulls are fought: few
windows and so placed that the birds cannot see trees and wild birds
without, for that makes the prisoners pine and grow thin. The place
should have only so much light as may be necessary to enable the birds
to see where they are to perch and to eat and drink. The doors and the
windows should be li