aviary is that built as above described,
but with several compartments, and a passage at the back by which any
compartment may be visited without the necessity of passing through and
disturbing the birds in other compartments. Fig. 2 represents a ground plan
of an aviary of this type divided into four compartments, each with an
inner house 10 ft. square, and an outer flight of double that area. The
outer flights are intended to be turfed, and planted with shrubs, and the
gravel path has a glazed roof above it by which it is kept dry in wet
weather. Shallow water-basins are shown, which should be supplied by means
of an underground pipe and a cock which can be turned on from outside the
aviary; and they must be connected with a properly laid drain by means of a
waste plug and an overflow pipe.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Plan of 4-compartment Aviary for Foreign Birds.]

An aviary should always be built with a southern or southeastern aspect,
and, where possible, should be sheltered from the north, north-east and
north-west by a belt of fir-trees, high wall or bank, to protect the birds
from the biting winds from these quarters.

When parrots of any kind are to be kept it is useless to try [v.03 p.0061]
to grow any kind of vegetation except grass, and even this will be
demolished unless the aviary is of considerable size. The larger parrots
will, in fact, bite to pieces not only living trees but also the woodwork
of their abode, and the only really suitable materials for the construction
of an aviary for these birds are brick or stone and iron; and the
wire-netting used must be of the stoutest gauge or it will be torn to
pieces by their strong bills.

The feeding of birds in aviaries is, obviously, a matter of the utmost
importance, and, in order that they may have what is most suitable, the
aviculturist should find out as much as possible of the wild life of the
species he wishes to keep, or if little or nothing is known about their
mode of living, as is often the case with rare forms, of nearly related
species whose habits and food are probably much the same, and he should
endeavour to provide food as nearly as possible resembling that which would
be obtained by the birds when wild. It is often, however, impossible to
supply precisely the same food as would be obtained by the birds had they
their liberty, but a substitute which suits them well can generally be
obtained. The majority of the parrot tribe subsist principal