22 THE CANARY. 



Give more fresh egg in the early afternoon, for 

 where there are no quarrels there will in almost every 

 case be a perfect mating and, later, eggs. 



THE FIRST EGG is laid on the eighth day after 

 mating, and one egg is laid each day until the laying 

 of from four to seven eggs is complete. 



EGG-BOUND. Females fed with apple and the 

 maw seed are seldom egg-bound. Sometimes when 

 the female is expected to lay she will seek a corner 

 of the cage, panting, and squat on the floor with wings 

 outstretched, feathers ruffled, head thrown back, eyes 

 closed, and apparently prostrated. Put some hot 

 wa'er in a bottle and expose her vent to the rising 

 steam, and afterward put two or three drops of sweet 

 oil on the vent. Gently replace her in the nest and 

 the egg will soon be laid, if it be not dropped when 

 the oil is applied. If an egg is broken inside of a 

 bird, it kills the bird. 



EATING THE EGGS as soon as laid is usually done 

 because the pair has not been fed richly enough. 

 Mated birds require rich food, egg paste, and Song 

 Restorer, and these should be given daily for a week 

 or two weeks before the pair is put together; and 

 continued until you are through breeding and the 

 youngest birds eat the seeds. 



EGGS MAY BE REMOVED with a spoon each day 

 when laid, or left in the nest. They should be re- 

 moved when either bird inclines to throw them out 

 or destroy them. If removed they should be re- 

 turned to the nest on the afternoon of the day the 

 third one is laid ; the female then goes to the nest at 



