Hints on the Rearing and Keeping of Birds 
Frequent baths will do much toward keeping birds clean and 
healthy ; every day or two they should be given, but it will be 
noticed that during the period of moulting the bath will be but 
little used. 
Never put young birds, no matter how young they may be, in 
any artificial nest that differs essentially in texture from their own ; 
for example, a young crow or catbird should have sticks and not 
soft rags or cotton, but a young phcebe may get along very well 
in a cotton nest. The reason for this is that some birds require 
greater development of the leg muscles than others, and when 
quite young they keep their feet in constant motion, grasping the 
small twigs that form the inside of the nest ; in this way they 
develop and strengthen the necessary muscles of the leg. When 
unnatural conditions have prevented this exercise, | have known 
the birds to become partly paralysed and die, and I have no doubt 
that the absence of suitable rough material was the direct cause. 
Nature is very wise in regard to her children, and you will do 
well to follow her example whenever you are at a loss. 
Should young birds become droopy, a little diluted whiskey 
or paregoric put in their mouths with a medicine-dropper will 
generally restore them to normal condition. 
Cage-fighting invariably takes place sooner or later ; as a rule 
it only lasts a day or so, but if persisted in cover the cage with 
fine wire mosquito netting, so that the bird may not be able to 
get his beak through. 
At night the cage should always be covered, otherwise the 
birds wake at amazingly early hours ; this applies more particu- 
larly to fledglings, as their waking means they must be fed, and it 
is not always pleasant to have to get up at daylight to minister to 
their wants. 
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