CANARY-BIRD. 9 



ease. It is a more fearful scourge to 

 them than the plague or Asiatic cholera 

 has ever been to mortals; and if they are 

 the subjects of careless treatment, or pos- 

 sess injudicious tenders as their owners, 

 may justly be accounted the bane of their 

 tribe. Even when under the best of care, 

 many of them die from the effects, who 

 seem perfectly able, from strength of con- 

 stitution, to resist its violence. This dis- 

 ease is more or less fatal according to the 

 season. If the weather be damp and cold 

 during and at the coming of autumn, your 

 birds will die off rapidly; but if the weather 

 be warm and mild you will lose but few. 

 The time at which young birds, to whom 

 it is most dangerous, moult, commences 

 when they arrive at the age of six weeks, 

 and continues for a couple of months. 

 The symptoms of its approach may 

 readily be seen. The young birds become 

 sad and sleepy in appearance, and set 

 upon their perches, or the bottoms of their 

 cages, with their heads under their wings, 



