24 THE CANARY. 



brood and give it the best attention and care. If 

 you wish to raise the brood by hand, cut a hard 

 boiled egg in halves, and after moistening the yolk 

 with saliva scrape up some of the egg, with a flat 

 quill or sliver of wood, making it very moist, and 

 feed each hungry bird. With young birds, if in 

 place of full crops, plump breasts, and heavy abdo- 

 men, you find every feature dwarfed, it is time to 

 commence artificial feeding as above; the egg 

 trough should be filled anew two or three times 

 a day, and apple, chick-weed, or lettuce given fresh 

 frequently. Fresh food often induces the mother 

 to feed the young when she might otherwise neglect 

 them. 



SWEATING FEMALES often mat the plumage of young 

 birds, four or five days old, by sitting too closely. Wash 

 the female lightly in salted warm water, and afterwards 

 in fresh warm water, drying her as rapidly as possible 

 and gently, with a hot, soft cloth. Then sprinkle a 

 slight spray of sherry wine on her plumage. If the 

 male can be put in an adjoining compartment where 

 he can feed the female through the wires he will in- 

 cessantly call her to come- and feed, and, accepting 

 these invitations, she will get right again. 



KEEP THE YOUNG birds confined to the nest until 

 they are three weeks old, if possible, by which time 

 they can use the perch. If, now, the female inclines 

 to pull the feathers, the young may be put in the cage 

 with the father bird, and he will feed them as long as 

 it is necessary. The young can crack and eat the 

 soaked rape seed when they are six weeks old. 



