REARING OF YOUNG BIRDS. 285 



three, or even four distinct strains. Bechstein enumerates 

 no less than twelve varieties of song, which the Shilfa, as 

 we sometimes call this Finch, is known to utter. The people 

 of Ehul, a manufacturing village in Thuringia, are pas- 

 sionately fond of this bird, and bestow immense care on its 

 education. One of these hard-working cutlers has given a 

 cow for a celebrated singer. 



REARING OF YOUNG BIRDS. 



If young birds are not bred in confinement, in which case 

 they will generally be reared by their parents, they should 

 be taken before their tail feathers have begun to grow, as if 

 suffered to remain until fully fledged, there is danger of losing 

 them ; besides which they will have begun to imitate the 

 notes of the old birds, and others about them, and will be 

 likely to mingle them with any strain they may afterwards 

 be taught. It is best to take nest and all, and place it in a 

 small cage, in a warm room out of the reach of cats, and 

 yet sufficiently in the way to keep them in mind, and to 

 get at them without difficulty or inconvenience, for they 

 will often want attention. During the day they will want 

 feeding every two hours or so, the small and delicate 

 kinds every hour, while they are quite young ; but they 

 should not be fed unless they exhibit signs of hunger, by 

 springing up eagerly with gaping bills on the approach of 

 anyone. 



Finches, Larks, and all the smaller birds, should be fed 

 by means of a quill cut into a spoonlike shape at the end ; 

 the Thrushes and other larger birds may be fed with a piece 

 of flattened stick. Great care must be taken that the quill 

 or stick does not hurt their mouths, or they will refuse to 

 eat, and die of starvation ; also, that they are not overfed. 

 Little and often is the rule ; directly they cease to receive 

 it eagerly, the food should be withdrawn. They seem to 

 require food less in the middle of the day than in the 

 morning and afternoon ; but in the former especially must 

 they be attended to, and very early, or they will not thrive. 

 Until they can have food it is best to keep the cage darkened, 



