CANARY-BIRD. 49 



left, it may be given to the old birds dry, 

 as it is then equally nutritious, or more so 

 than the unshelled seed, and cannot in any 

 wise do them injury. I myself prefer 

 making a small quantity of this paste, 

 every day, since I find the young grow 

 more rapidly under such treatment. During 

 the first three or four days after they are 

 taken from the care of the parent birds, 

 they should be fed on stale sponge-cake, 

 rubbed to powder, with the addition of the 

 hard-boiled white of an egg. The yolk 

 should not now be given to them, as it is 

 too heating, and can only do injury. Add 

 a little water, which will make this up into 

 a thick paste; not too much, for the com- 

 position will then be too liquid and digest 

 so rapidly as to be of very little use to the 

 bird. 



When your young birds get to be three 



or four days old, and are acquiring strength 



and vigour, a small quantity of rape-seed, 



over which boiling water has been poured, 



5 



