/O 



THE PARROT. 



proper care of a bird, cleanliness first always, 

 then place plenty of gravel in the cage, feed at a 

 regular and stated time, always feeding the most 

 simple and plain or coarse food. In its native 

 country it feeds upon the seeds of the sunflower and 

 the various grains, and with its exercise in its wild 

 state does not grow too fleshy. Caged, it must be 

 fed vastly different. A good food for parrots is 

 cold boiled potatoes, stale bread or crackers soaked 

 sometimes in water, sometimes in milk, and some- 

 times in coffee, using the coffee just as it is leached 

 or boiled, without the addition of milk or sugar. 

 Bread soaked in coffee is a delicate morsel, and one 

 of which a parrot is very fond. They also like 

 canary-seed, unhulled rice, cracked corn, and hemp- 

 seed. Of the two latter, very little should be given 

 them ; and they should never have fed to them greasy 

 food from the table, — sugar, cake, candy, or any 

 such trash. A piece of apple or a little green stuff 

 occasiotially does no harm. Peanuts, forming a part 

 of their native food, can always be given them. 

 These rules followed, your parrot should be healthy. 

 There are but two diseases that alike annoy the 

 parrot and its owner; and a constant inquiry at 

 bird-stores is, "What makes my parrot pull his 

 feathers out ? " The reply invariably is, " You feed 

 your bird too highly." And we will here remark 

 that the parrot, like almost the majority of the 

 human family, is afliicted with some kind of a skin 

 disease, and the feeding of rich food drives this 

 disease to the surface, causing an eruption, and a 

 5* 



