so FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



any kind except hairy ones can be added, so much the 

 better, but they are not indispensable. 



Birds obtained in this manner are much more familiar 

 than such as have been taken when full-grown even 

 in the autumn; while spring-captured Nightingales, of 

 which about nineteen out of every twenty die within a 

 day or two, and sometimes in a few hours, are always 

 more or less wild, and have a distressing knack of 

 banging themselves about in a mad fashion at the 

 approach even of the person who feeds them, and the 

 sight of a stranger will often cause the more timid to 

 fall from the perch in a fit. 



The cage in which a tame Nightingale is kept should 

 be scrupulously clean, the perches requiring to be scraped 

 or washed at least every other day, and the floor must be 

 covered with dry garden mould, or better still with cocoanut 

 refuse as used by gardeners for strewing over flower-beds. 



Some fanciers recommend a cage wired only in front, 

 and advise its being constructed so much of wood that 

 the interior shall be always in a state of semi-darkness ; 

 but a good deal must depend upon the temper and 

 tameness of each individual bird, for some are naturally 

 bolder than others, and take little or no notice of 

 strangers, while others again are constitutionally timid 

 and should always have at their disposal a dark corner 

 to which they can retire when alarmed, otherwise they 

 are apt to injure their delicate plumage by dashing 

 wildly about the cage. 



