20 BIRDS BATHING. 



birds, if kept from draughts of air, and no trash, 

 such as sugar, candy, figs, raisins, cake, &c., fed 

 them, will sing from ten to eleven months out of the 

 year; which they always do with the poor families in 

 Germany, who find it impossible to get such luxu- 

 ries. It is only the wealthy and better classes that 

 have so-called "poor luck with birds." And why? 

 Because they kill them with kindness, — though it is 

 very unkind to the bird. 



I have often been told that a 



Bird will not bathe, and asked how we can 

 make it. In reply, I can only say that I have never 

 yet, in an experience of nearly twenty-five years, 

 seen a bird that will not bathe. True, some will 

 not enter a bath-dish, as we would wish them to, and 

 will persist in putting their heads into their drink- 

 ing-cups or fountains instead, and, after wetting 

 their head, push it through their feathers, and then, 

 with their bill, thoroughly clean themselves ; which 

 is very like the person who uses the "wet end 

 of a towel," instead of taking a proper ablution. 

 For this there is no help ; and we can only hope, 

 that, with age, they will discover the beauties of a 

 toilet which can only be arranged after a first-class 

 bath. 



"Do Birds bathe whilst mated?" I can 

 only say, that some do, and some do not. It is al- 

 ways well to give a bird its bath, and leave it to the 

 bird's judgment whether to bathe or not. 



Saffron as a Medicine for birds seems to be 

 almost in universal use, though why it is used is 



