AGE OF TAME BIRDS. 23 



GIDDINESS. 



This, without being properly a disease, is rather common, 

 and is occasioned by the trick which the birds of the first 

 class have, of turning their head and neck so far round that 

 they fall head over heels. They may be easily cured of this 

 trick by throwing a covering over the top of the cage, which 

 prevents their seeing anything above them, for it is with 

 looking up that this giddiness comes on. 



PAIRING FEVER. 



A disease which may be called the pairing fever must not 

 be forgotten here. House birds are usually attacked with it 

 in May, a time when the inclination to pair is greatest. They 

 cease to sing, become sorrowful and thin, ruffle their feathers, 

 and die. This fever generally first seizes those which are 

 confined in cages : it appears to arise from their way of life, 

 which is too uniform and wearying, I cured several by merely 

 placing them in the window, where they are soon so much 

 refreshed that they forget their grief, their desire for liberty or 

 for pairing, and resume their liveliness and song. 



I have observed that a single female in the room is sufficient 

 to cause this disease to all the males of the same family, 

 though of different species. Removing the female will cure 

 them directly. The males and females at this season must be 

 separated, so that they cannot see or hear one another. This 

 perhaps is the reason that a male, when put in the window, is 

 soon cured. 



AGE OF TAME BIRDS. 



The length of a bird's life very much depends on the care 

 which is taken of it. There are some parrots which have 

 lived more than a century ; and nightingales, chaffinches, and 

 goldfinches have been known to live more than twenty-four 

 years in a cage. The age of house birds is so much the more 

 interesting, as it is only by observing it that we can know 

 with any degree of certainty the length of birds' lives in 

 general. Thus house birds are of importance to the naturalist, 

 as giving him information which he could not otherwise 

 acquire. It is worthy of remark, that the quick growth of 



