76 THE MOCKING BIRD. 



the spreading of the disease. Oil apphed to 

 the afflicted parts will make bad worse. 



If your bird is taken with purging, let 

 him have plenty of cedar berries, imported 

 currants, without which he ought never to 

 be, and grasshoppers ; also spiders, and meal- 

 worms. Minced beef ought not to be given 

 until the bird gets well, or any thing else 

 that may have a tendency to purge him. 

 Sick birds seem most fond of such food as 

 agrees least well with them. 



The mocking bird is subject to one disease 

 which is incurable — it is blindness, which 

 generally afflicts him after he has spent six 

 or seven years in confinement. Thus shut 

 out from light, he gradually pines away and 

 dies. 



Berries of all khids may be fed in season, 

 but not too many pokeberries ; a few of the 

 latter may be dried for winter use, when 

 they are soaked in water and given to the 

 bird. 



We have found it best to scald the beef 

 and press out the blood with the hand before 

 chopping it, although some persons give it 

 as it comes from the market. The mocking 

 bird is very fond of the eye of an oyster, 

 and especially of the crabs found in them. 

 Grasshoppers ought to be given them daily, 

 when in season, and provision ought to be 

 dried for the winter. 



To dry Grasshoppers. — String them with 

 a needle, and hang them in the sun against 

 a wall, out of the reach of cats, which are 



