Finches. 135 



while she is sitting on the nest ; but sometimes a cross- 

 grained bird will be annoyed at her attention to them, 

 and will not only neglect, but injure them. If he does 

 this once, he must not be trusted again, but removed, 

 as soon as the young are hatched, to the next com- 

 partment, and the mother bird will bring up her brood 

 by herself. If, however, the cock begins to feed the 

 young birds, they may be left to themselves, but con- 

 stantly supplied with food, till the hen begins to pick 

 up materials for another nest ; then another box or 

 basket must be given to her at once, or she may, 

 perhaps, drag the nestlings out of their nest in her 

 efforts to make a fresh one. Sometimes she will lay 

 her next set of eggs in the old nest among the young 

 birds, and will even sit upon them with the first brood 

 all around her ; but this should not be permitted, and, 

 as soon as these are fledged and able to leave the nest, 

 they must be put into the nursery compartment, in 

 which a nest can be placed for them to roost in at 

 night. The father will feed them through the wires 

 . of the division for some time, but they must soon have 

 some egg food placed within their reach, and, in due 

 time, crushed hemp and canary-seed, and water must 

 be given to them, and they will gradually learn to 

 feed themselves, though not without clamouring for 

 food from the old bird whenever he comes near them. 

 They begin to see when they are nine days old, and 

 generally leave the nest at the end of a fortnight ; 



