192 The Canary Book. 



AGE OF BIRDS. " How can you tell an old bird from a young 

 one ?" Well, easily enough in an ordinary way, that is to say, 

 provided the bird has not been tampered with. All young 

 birds are free from scales upon their legs or shanks ; whilst the 

 legs of old birds are more or less scaled. The legs of some 

 birds, however, scale much more rapidly than others, and 

 hence it is not possible always to fix a bird's age by this 

 criterion alone. I have seen some very old birds with scales 

 upon their legs nearly as thick as their legs were, but some 

 unprincipled people do not scruple to " scale them," i.e., scrape 

 the scales off to make them look young. The marks, or inden- 

 tations, or rings upon the shanks of old birds are more palpable 

 and more readily seen than those upon the legs of young birds. 

 Their beaks, too, are both longer and stronger, and so are their 

 claws, and the feathers which compose the wings and tails are 

 never so tightly braced together in a bird that has moulted 

 three or four times as they appear in a bird of one or two 

 summers only. Another sign is that old birds very often have 

 dirty feet, and are never so lively and full of " go" as a young 

 bird; these are signs which to a keen observer are unmis- 

 takable. 



CRIPPLES, OR MUTILATED BIRDS. Some birds are maimed 

 in the nest by one or other of their parent birds, and others are 

 naturally deformed in their feet, wings, or beaks. These mis- 

 fortunes or malformations do not always prevent their being 

 reared, but whenever you find a bird with part of its upper or 

 lower mandible eaten off, or one or both of its feet maimed, or 

 the majority of its claws, or part of a wing, it will be found 

 most advisable to terminate its existence at once, for it would be 

 a burden to itself and a source of annoyance to you were you to 

 permit it to be reared. 



TAMING BIRDS. I know some people take a great interest in 

 taming birds, more especially canaries. They accustom them 

 to go about the house from room to room, to alight upon their 

 shoulders or fingers when called by name, to eat out of their 

 mouths, and sundry other amusing little tricks. I have seen 

 a canary that could be sent out of the house into the open 



