30 MAY 1874, Page 15

ILL-TREATMENT OF BIRDS IN CAGES. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE

"SPECTATOR:']

Sra,—With your kind permission, I beg to say a word in the Spectator on behalf of a class of creatures which cannot speak for themselves.

During the hot weather now approaching, in nearly every street will be seen, as usual, birds in cages, many of them scarcely large -enough for the bird to turn in ; the walls, too, upon which they are suspended, almost too hot to be touched, and the poor little creatures with open mouths panting in an atmosphere hot enough to bake them. The Commissioner of Police, to whom an appeal was recently made on the subject, has not the authority to order the cages to a shaded place during the heat of the day, or to inter- fere, and it rests, therefore, with the Press and individual effort to -correct this evil by persuasion with the owners. It is to be hoped .both will do what they can.—I am, Sir, &c., W. M.