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any kind of insects— such as flies, spiders, moths, moth- 

 wonns, smooth caterpillars (not the hairy ones), wasps, 

 wasp grubs, gentles (or maggots of the fly), mealworms, 

 etc, or a few auts' eggs. Some green-food should be 

 supplied in spring and summer, of the various kinds 

 lately so much written about by me and others, with 

 blight on when you can get it — for the blight insect is 

 quite a natural food for this semi-insectivorous bird. 



Your Chaffinch must have fresh water ever}- day. 

 Give him a cold bath as often as he cares to take it, but 

 remove the bath-tin the moment he has bathed. Strew 

 plenty of sand on the bottom of his cage, and give him 

 a little coarse grit to peck at. Accustom him to running 

 backwards and forwards from the " keeping" cage to the 

 Show cage, particularly during the Show-season — and 

 then, when he has moulted he will have learned all that 

 is required of him as a vShow bird. If you keep the cage 

 covered with fine musliu, or a piece of old lace curtain, 

 j'ou will save much trouble in washing your bird, and he 

 will be in better form for the Show bench all the season. 



Those of you who feel disposed to use artificial 

 colour-food when moulting the Chaffinch, may use the 

 following mixture :— Hard-boiled eggs, sweet tea biscuits, 

 a little raw sugar, tasteless pepper in the proportion of 

 one-third or one-half of the whole. All the ingredients 

 must be thoroughly mixed before use. Another colour- 

 food mixture is as follows : — A quantity of chicken meal, 

 some ants' eggs, dried currants, a small proportion of 

 Indian meal, a little raw sugar, a little of " Brand's 

 meat meal," tasteless pepper in the proportion of one 

 quarter of the whole bulk. Of the last-mentioned food 

 enough may be mixed at a time to last your bird right 

 through the moult. Give at a time only enough to last 

 for the day — it should be moistened with boiling water to 

 a crumbly consistency. Keep the mixture in a cool 

 dry place, ready for use. 



Anti-colour-food enthusiasts will, I dare say, not 

 thank me for the foregoing recipes, but if used as 

 directed, and the birds are regularly fed, I am certain 



