83 

 CHAPTER IX. 



EEAKING YOUNG BIRDS. 



1. IN bringing ^i nests of young birds to rear with the' 

 parents' help, I think it is always best to choose such 

 families as are already tolerably tame ; when, for 

 instance, any one has been in the habit of feeding a 

 certain brood, or of conversing much with the old 

 birds as they hop on the window-ledge, or upon the 

 turf, before one. The great thing is in this to avoid 

 anything that is of a scaring nature. Birds have 

 frequently been known to build in the hats of scare- 

 crows ; so it is not that exactly, which I mean here : 

 but the glittering cages, and those that shut with a 

 jar, or which have a door which slams to when 

 touched ; noisy cages, again, with a ringing wire ; all 

 these things are often much more alarming than 

 any dressed-up figures. 



2. The younger the birds are when removed, the 

 better, after they have once got over the three or four 

 first days. The proper way, then, of proceeding, is to 

 procure a cage with no glitter whatever about it, a 

 mere wicker one if fine enough, or a dark green fine- 

 wired one. The door should be large, and made to 

 open in the front ; it is all the better if it hooks on 

 and off. Having decided on the nest which we mean : 

 to have, it is a good j)lan to nearly fill the cage with 



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