52 Song Birds. 



object to get real good seed. Canary should be hard 

 and bright, of a brownish yellow colour, and look 

 white and floury when broken through ; it is also very 

 essential, indeed, that it should have been stored where 

 mice cannot get at it. Birds have a horror of seed 

 that mice have been amongst, in fact, they will not 

 eat it unless they are very hungry. Hemp-seed is 

 white inside, and tastes like a nut ; rape-seed, which 

 is best, and tolerably new (we used always to have 

 ours sent in from the barn when the wheat was 

 threshed), is round and blackish brown, with a bright 

 yellow kernel looking like yolk of egg. The linseed, 

 or flax, should always be well examined, and that 

 which has a dull and dirty appearance should be 

 avoided, as well as that which, as is often the case, 

 seems stuck together. 



Oats are seed for some birds, and groats for 

 some millet also is a constant food of almost all 

 the little foreigners ; but it is not necessary to speak 

 of these things further than saying, that they must 

 be thoroughly good. I know nothing more injured by 

 inferior or adulterated food than birds ; and it is, more- 

 over, extravagant, as they waste more than they eat. 



The rape-seed is often recommended to be soaked. 

 In this case, it should be placed in an earthen jar, 

 with about twice its own quantity of water, covered up 

 near the fire, for about twelve hours. The water 

 should be then poured off, and the seed dried on a 



