206 The Canary Book. 



YOUNG CANARIES FEEDING OTHER YOUNG BIRDS. Well- 

 attested cases are on record of young birds, six weeks old 

 and upwards, having provided birds of three weeks or a 

 month old with food, when they have been forsaken or 

 neglected by their parents, or where a male bird having 

 sole charge of them has been suddenly taken ill or died. 

 Such cases, however, are rare, although several instances 

 have come under my own personal knowledge. A friend of 

 mine had a young Belgian cock that had never been mated 

 with a hen, who would, if placed in a cage with young 

 birds two or three weeks old, commence to feed them as 

 soon as they pleaded for food, and he was the means of 

 saving my friend several young and valuable birds. I once 

 possessed a cinnamon hen that would do the same thing, 

 and I have known of more than one instance where female 

 mules, and barren hen canaries also, have acted as nurses 

 and reared young birds. I mention these facts so that any 

 fancier in a dilemma of this sort may try experiments, and 

 thereby have a chance of saving young birds which other- 

 wise might perish. 



YOUNG CANARIES DEAD IN SHELL. In the early months 

 of the year (March and April) we usually experience a long 

 continuation of easterly and north-easterly winds. These are 

 prejudicial to sitting-hens, and the severe cold often weakens 

 the young birds until they have not strength to free them- 

 selves from the membraneous tissue that lines the shells. If 

 a hen does not hatch at the natural period of incubation, 

 fourteen days, the eggs should be taken out and examined, 

 and if found to be fertile, and there is no appearance of 

 hatching visible, they should be immersed in a saucer of 

 warm water for the space of a minute, then dried and 

 returned to the nest. In most cases this will cause the eggs 

 to hatch. If the shell is discovered to be partly broken, 

 then assistance is required to free the captive from the bonds 

 of nature, but it must be done with care and gentleness, or 

 the young bird may be injured. 



