24 



bird and put another in its place. Good birds, when 

 put together, will generally mate within a week, which 

 is easily known by their attention to each other. After 

 mating, they commence building the nest, and in 

 about a week the hen begins to lay, from 2 to 6 eggs, 

 one each day in succession, on which she will sit 13 

 days, when the young ones will come out, one after 

 the other. It is wrong to take the eggs from under her 

 while she is laying, as many ignorantly do, for the pur- 

 pose of hatching them at one time ; it is best to let 

 nature have its way in this case. 



As soon as the little ones are hatched they may be 

 fed, besides their general seed, with the following food : 

 egg, boiled hard, chopped up fine, and an equal quantity 

 of grated cracker, mixed together with the egg into a 

 paste. This food must be given to them fresh three or 

 four times a day; for the old birds will be more inclined 

 to feed the young when fresh food is handed them. An 

 extra cup should be handed them containing soaked 

 rape-seed. They also require fresh green food daily. If 

 the old ones will not feed the young, they may be brought 

 up by hand.* When the young birds feed themselves, 



* The nest to be taken out of the cage, or room, kept 

 in a warm place, and fed about every hour with a quill 

 spoonful of the above mentioned paste ; to which should be 

 added some rape-seed, soaket in warm water for at least an 

 hour ; than the water drained off and the seed well bruised 

 on a board, so as to separate the hulls from the kernels ; 

 then the kernels mixed together with the paste. Two or 

 three quill-spoonfulls is sufficient at a time. 



