BIRD NEWS 



hand to tease me for sunflower seed 

 which they are unable to crack. I 

 am glad they can not open them for 

 they are little gluttons as it is. 



Now that the parakeets are out of 

 the way, the birds may be able to 

 lay their eggs and rear their famil- 

 iies. Should the foreign birds raise 

 any young I will write another arti- 

 cle for BIRD NEWS. 



Since writing the above, the black- 

 throats have made another nest and 

 it contains two small white eggs. 

 They did not take material from the 

 old nest this time. Perhaps those 

 others were only experimental nests. 



In tearing out some old nests I 

 found one that had contained eggs 

 for so long I thought it must have 

 been abandoned. I took it down 

 carefully for I wanted to save the 

 tiny eggs (but little larger than those 

 of a humming bird), and in picking 

 one out I disturbed a wee bit of ani- 

 mated fuzz that opened the small- 

 est mouth I have ever seen. I im- 

 mediately replaced the nest on the 

 ledge over the door for I was afraid 

 a whiff of wind might blow that 

 speck of down over the trees and 

 far away. 



THE MOTOR PARROT. 



The latest fad among New York 

 motorists is a live parrot perched on 

 top of the tonneau door. The fol- 

 lowers of this fad have stationary 

 cages aflixed to the machine, and in 

 these cages are carried along at a 

 rapid rate parrots which utter all 

 sorts of curious comments upon 

 those who get in the way of the 

 speeding machines. Some of these 

 parrots are taught to warn pedes- 

 trians with such remarks as "Clear 

 the road" and "Get out of the way." 

 These trained parrots are very 

 watchful, and in some instances re- 

 lieve the chauffeurs of the necessity 

 of ringing a bell or tooting a horn 

 when crossing the streets. 



COLOR FEEDING 



We have recently had a number 

 of queries concerning color feeding. 

 We anticipate taking that subject up 

 in detail later on; in the meantime 

 the following will be useful: Red 

 feed is the best for color feeding 

 your birds, as it produces that rich 

 orange shade so much desired. To 

 each pound of red tasteless pepper 

 add two ounces of hot Natal pepper, 

 four ounces of moist sugar (tnat 

 known by the grocers as "pieces"), 

 and two ounces of best olive oil. 

 Well blend the whole together, and 

 keep in an earthenware jar covered 

 from the light in a cool, dry place. 

 Of course, you can mix up a suffi- 

 cient quantity to moult your birds 

 on at the one time. Commence by 

 adding a teaspoonful of the color 

 food as prepared to one hard-boiled 

 egg and its equal amount of pow- 

 dered biscuit or home-made bread 

 crumb, gradually increasing the 

 quantity of color up to two heaped 

 teaspoonfuls to the egg and biscuit, 

 well blending the whole together un- 

 til the color is well incorporated 

 with the egg food. Allow each 

 bird a small teaspoonful of the egg 

 food so prepared fresh daily, right 

 through the moult. Add a little lin- 

 seed to the canary and a little Ger- 

 man rape as well, and twice a week 

 add to each ordinary drinker of 

 water a piece of suplhate of iron 

 the size of a split pea, giving clear 

 water the remaining days. You 

 must, of course, put the birds on 

 to the color feed just before com- 

 mencing to moult, and continue un- 

 til completed. 



THE RIGHT SORT. 



A. W^ Bessey of Snunyvale, writes 

 us: "I am importing Scotch Fancy 

 and Yorkshires; the best that money 

 can buy." Mr. Bessey has been a 

 fancier for many years. 



