122 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AiND BRITISH BIRDS 



Other 

 Remedies 



anxious, crams herself with food, and not 

 •jetting rid of it to the young is herself 

 upset, and sits yet more closely on them, 

 and so is wrongly branded as a " sweater." 

 It is true that by taking the cock away 

 matters will improve at times, and this 

 naturally leads the uno!)servant fancier 

 again to the eonelusion that the hen" is 

 responsible ; but it is (juite possible that 

 the cock has fed the youngsters too 

 freely on one kind of food — ])ossibly seed — 

 and that this has set u\) this irritation in 

 the young birds" t)owcls. His removal 

 often remedies the evil, and the young 

 brood rapidly become their normal selves 

 again. 



A hen will also sometimes feed too much 

 on seed and give the young little or no 

 egg-food, with the same bad 

 results. Ill such a ease, we 

 advise changing the brood 

 over to a hen tiiat feeds her young on a 

 good portion of egg and green food, as 

 well as seed. This quickly ])iits matters 

 rigiit, j^rovided the brood is not too far 

 spent : they require taking in hand at once. 

 We have also foimd that a ^•ery little 

 raw arrowroot mixed with the egg-food 

 woi'ks wiiudci's in some cases in a very 

 short time. .An additional pinch of maw- 

 seed has also had benelicial effects ; and 

 in other eases the tem]Jorary withholding 

 of the green \'ih(\. \\'ithout exception, 

 whenever we lia\c succeeded in stopping 

 tiie di:irrii(c;i in tiic young, the supposed 

 " sweating " has qui(tkly disappcaicd. and 

 the hens feathers have become dry again. 

 There hkii/ be genuine cases of sweating, 

 but wc arc dul)ious as to tlicir existence, 

 and in every instance where su])])Osed 

 "■sweating"' is present, if the bottom ol 

 tlic nest inside be cxMUiincd, it will be 

 found III l)c co\ercd oNcr with watery 

 excreta, nc\(i- |)rcsent with young birds in 

 a healthy condition. 



A hen rtiii at any time bring up hei- brood 

 without assistance from the cock, and the 

 ])lan of se|)arating the ii.ircnl birds is 

 frequently resorted to in the ease of an 

 indifTcrcn'r feeder, with a \ icw to com- 

 pelling her to work harder. There is 



always a ho))cfid chance of saving a nest 

 if the fancier only has the time to de\'ote 

 to the room, because so long as the hen 

 will keep the young ones warm, the cock 

 will always feed them if the hen be driven 

 off the nest to give him the oj)})ortunity. 

 But should a hen forsake her nest alto- 

 gether, there is nothing left but to break 

 up the establishment, and distribute the 

 yomig ones among the charitably disposed 

 occupants of other cages, who will take 

 kindly to the foundlings. When two or 

 three nests, each containing three young- 

 sters about the same age, are possessed, 

 one of the foundlings should be added to 

 each ; by this arrangement no nest will 

 be o\crcr()wded. 



This general imeertainty as to feeding, 

 it will at once be inferred, is the great 

 drawliack to success, and in 

 the case of valuable biids 

 it is not advisable to make success entirely 

 dependent upon such a contingency. It 

 will be found most useful to ])nt up a few 

 ])airs of the commoner kinds of Canaries, 

 in the hope that among them may be found 

 a few' good feeder.s. whose services will 

 then prove in\aluable. The commoner 

 the l)irds for this pui'pose, the less reluct- 

 ance is felt in destroying their eggs, and 

 sometimes, unaxoidably, their offspring, to 

 make way lor those of greater value. Xo 

 breeding-room should be without a number 

 of these " feeders."" who certainly earn their 

 food in the im))ortant work they discharge. 

 \Vi' have, iiuk-cd. hc;ird many an old 

 breeiler say '" they are worth tlieii- weight 

 in gold in the rearing of high-class stock."' 

 .Surcl\' we art' oul^ of (kinger now, if by 

 one means or another wc haxe got our 

 young birds u|) to eight 

 or nine d:iys old '! The risk 

 certainly lessens every day, 

 but a str:ingc moi'tality sometimes attacks 

 birds at this age. just when they arc 

 going to begin to cut llieir teeth cu- 

 rat her, form llieir leathers. \\"e can do 

 nothing further lli:in mention wli.-it ///(/// 

 occur, and wlint li.is occurred under our 

 obsei'vat ion more than ouec. W'v will 

 suppose there has been posit ivt'ly no 



Feathering 

 Time. 



