60 BIRD-KEEPER'S MANUAL. 



be so, it cannot be a disease that birds are very 

 liable to, for I kept birds when I was eleven years 

 of age, and I have always given my Canaries a 

 portion of hemp seed. I do not believe I ever had 

 more than half a dozen of asthmatical birds in 

 my life ; and when I had one, I always found it 

 to be a pretty old bird. 



I feed my Canary Birds on a mixture of two 

 thirds Canary and one third hemp seed, with 

 occasionally a little rape seed in it. In moult- 

 ing time I give them freely of rape seed, with 

 occasionally a bit of baker's bread dipt in sweet 

 milk. I give them freely of lettuce, in sum- 

 mer, and cabbage or Savoy blades in autumn 

 and winter. I believe that these are the best 

 vegetables that can be given to Canary Birds, 

 and superior to chickweed, plantain, or any of 

 those weeds which grow (as vegetation is so rapid 

 with us) very rank and strong, especially such 

 as grow in the shade, and do not have the vivi- 

 fying heat of the sun to ripen them, and which, 

 instead of being beneficial are very pernicious. 

 A bit of apple is not hurtful, but sugar, figs, sweet 

 cake, pound cake, and such things, only tend to 

 hurt the stomach of the bird, and give it a dis- 

 taste for its natural food. The fact is, that Ca- 

 nary Birds are like children, the simpler and 



