16 INTRODUCTION*. 



TIME FOR REMOVING WILD BIRDS FROM 1HE NEST. 



IT may be necessary that I should give some general direc- 

 tions about the time at which it is desirable to remove young 

 wild birds, intended to be reared, from the nest. This is whi-n 

 the tail quills shoot forth, and when all the feathers begin to 

 expand, and before the birds can yet completely open their 

 eyes. If they arc removed earlier, their stomachs are too 

 to endure the food of the aviary, and if it take place later, it is 

 usually extremely difficult to induce them to open their b<-uk< 

 to receive food with which they are unacquainted. Bui then' 

 are species of birds which can at all times be easily fed and 

 tamed. As a general rule, all seed-eating birds may be 

 tami-d, both adult and young. 



DISEASES OF TAME BIRDS. 







LIKE all tame animals, birds that are kept in confinement, 

 are exposed to more maladies than those which live at large;* 

 and especially as they arc frequently so closely confined in 

 cages that they have scarcely room to move. These malad i> . 

 however, are considerably increased by their having all kinds 

 of delicacies, as pastry, sugar, &c., given them, which spoil 

 their stomachs and usually produce a slow consumption. 



The following are the chief maladies which affect birds, and 

 their remedies, as laid down by Dr. Bechstein, the efficiency 

 of which he proved upon his own. Indeed, the variety of birds, 

 as well as the variety of their food, requires also a difference 

 of treatment in their maladies ; and in speaking of each species, 

 I shall have occasion to notice how their peculiar diseases may 

 be treated, when the general remedies are not suitable to their 

 nature. 



It liift been frequently asserted that birds in their natural state ore never ill, but 

 this is unfounded. 



