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THEIR TREATMENT. 



Although the canary, as a domesticated bird, is the 

 easiest of all others to take care of, his treatment the 

 most simple, and certainly the best known, notwith- 

 standing this, there are many persons whose idea on 

 this subject is but very limited, and what is worse, very 

 erroneous. As to their food, the more simple and nat- 

 ural I have always found to be the most productive of 

 good health and cheerfulness : while, on the other 

 hand, I have invariably found that mixtures, introduced 

 by many, such as rape, millet, hemp, canary, poppy, 

 lettuce, oatmeal, oats, sugar, sweet-cake, biscuit, and 

 such like, so far from being wholesome, is very inju- 

 rious : it spoils their taste for their natural food, weak- 

 ens the stomach, renders them feeble, sickly, and inca- 

 pable of bearing moulting, under which they frequently 

 die. I have kwown in Germany many persons who 

 breed birds for sale, who are poor, and cannot afford to 

 procure these delicacies, and therefore obliged to feed 

 their birds on the most simple food, which is rape-seed 

 alone, raise great numbers of the most healthy and 

 strong birds. I have found the best food to be a mix- 

 ture of rape and canary seed. A little fresh green food, 

 such as chick-weed, lettuce, or cabbage, in season, or 

 sweet apple in winter, will be found very healthy. 



The MAIN POINT is to obtain pure and fresh seed 

 for them. Rape seed, when old, or kept too long in a 

 damp place, becomes musty, gets a bitter taste, and 

 won't agree at all with birds. The canary seed must be 



