70 Bird-keeping. 



can be gently removed with the point of a penknife ; 

 after which the feet and legs must be well dried and 

 anointed with fresh butter or cold cream. A foot-bath 

 of sherry wine for three or four minutes is recommended 

 for the cramp, should the Nightingale suffer from this 

 (trembling and grasping his perch spasmodically). 

 Warmth is very necessary, especially during moulting, 

 which is always a perilous time with the Nightingale ; 

 he must be kept from draughts, and fed with the most 

 nourishing diet. A spider or two, or a little green 

 caterpillar, should be given him occasionally, and a 

 blade of saffron put into the water. For the husk, a 

 kind of cough that sometimes attacks the Nightingale 

 in autumn, he should have a spider, ripe elderberries, 

 grated Swede turnip, etc. A bath should be given 

 daily ; but it must not be left in the cage, and plenty 

 of dry sand should be strewed on the floor. The food 

 should be kept in pans which may be easily cleansed, 

 and the beef paste must be made afresh once, or, in 

 the summer, twice in the day : if it becomes in the 

 least sour it will kill the bird. Bullock's heart boiled 

 or roasted, and sheep's heart, is sometimes given also. 

 No doubt an empty room in which the sunshine and 

 fresh air could be freely admitted, with pine-branches 

 or other evergreens for shade and shelter, would give 

 these birds most happiness ; but they are said to sing 

 better in cages than in an aviary with other birds. 

 They are very capricious about their song, however : 



