98 BIRD-KEEPER'S MANUAL. 



FOOD. They are clean birds, and easily kept 

 in a cage ; but the cage, to keep the bird well, 

 should be at least eighteen inches long, and the 

 roosts, or perches, placed as far apart as pos- 

 sible, to enable the bird to exercise its wings in 

 leaping from one roost to the other. I have found 

 this beneficial to them, and it induces them to take 

 more exercise in the cage. Feed them with 

 Canary seed alone, as they are much inclined to 

 obesity, and often die of something like apo- 

 plexy. I never could get them to eat of vegeta- 

 bles ; sometimes they will eat a bit of apple, but 

 in general they eat nothing but their seed. A 

 bird that is kept for some time in a cage might 

 be induced to eat of green stuffs ; if it did, it would 

 be highly beneficial to it in a domestic state. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEXES. The male of 

 the second season is easily distinguished from 

 the female ; in the spring it is black, with a broad 

 band of dark yellow across the hind neck, the 

 feathers on the back tipped with gray, brighten- 

 ing into white at the wing. The female has the 

 upper parts light yellowish brown, streaked with 

 blackish brown; lower parts, a light grayish 

 yellow. 



