V 16 INTRODUCTION. 



TIME **>R REMOVING- WILD BIRDS FROM THE 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 when 

 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 are removed earlier, their stomachs are too weak 

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

 usually extremely difficult to induce them to open their beaks 

 to receive food with which they are unacquainted. But there 

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

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

 tamed, 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 are frequently so closely confined in 

 cages that they have scarcely room to move. These maladies, 

 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 has been frequently asserted that birds in their natural state are never ill, but 

 this is unfounded. 



