46 CANAEIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. 



song he sings is, "Oh! name the day, the happy day," she will thrash him, or try 

 to do so. But it is the same old, old story over again ; and we all know how it ends. 

 In a few days they will have settled matters to their mutual satisfaction, and then 

 begins the serious business of life. It is not, however, always so. .Some females 

 take a settled aversion to a particular male, and will never pair with him. In such 

 a case change the female. 



The first indication of the birds having come to an understanding is the male 

 feeding his. mate. As stated above, give the pair daily, in addition to the rape, 

 canary, and millet seeds, mixed in equal parts, one-third of both parts of a hard- 

 boiled egg, grated on a coarse grater, and mix with it a thimbleful of pulverized 

 cracker, and half a thimbleful of maw or poppy seeds ; furnish them with small 

 quantities of old plastering crushed, or crushed oyster-shell, to prevent laying soft- 

 shell eggs. 



It will sometimes happen, that, the day before a female lays, she will be seen in 

 the morning in the most complete health, her feathers close and compact, wings 

 tucked up, and nothing to indicate the presence of any disarrangement ; but in the 

 afternoon she will be found apparently about ready to go home. She seeks a corner 

 of the cage, panting violently, and squats on the ground with wings outstretched, 

 feathers all ruffled, head thrown back, eyes closed, in a state of entire prostration, 

 the picture of complete misery. On the following morning, if she should not have 

 laid her egg, something must be done. Take her gently in the left hand, with her 

 head towards the little finger, and the tail projecting between the thumb and first 

 finger, and holding her in this position over the steam of boiling water, in a narrow- 

 necked jug, expose the vent freely to the action of the steam. Let her have a good 

 vapor-bath, and then, with a bluntly pointed little stick, drop one or two drops of 

 sweet oil on the vent. Gently replace her in the nest, and the egg will soon be 

 laid, even if it be not dropped in the jug. Early attention to a case when the bird 

 is egg-bound is of utmost importance. On no account must the egg be broken, or 

 the consequences will be immediately fatal. The removal of eggs as laid may be 

 made or not. If removed, they should be returned to the nest on the afternoon of 

 the day the third egg is laid. The female then goes to the nest at night, lays her 

 fourth egg in the morning, and generally commences to sit so closely that the date 

 of hatching may be reckoned from the fourth morning. She will sit thirteen days, 

 and hatch punctually to an hour. But, if the eggs should not break at the time 

 expected, let the bird remain undisturbed three or four days. 



The egg-and-cracker paste is continued, of course, during the setting, for the old 

 birds to feed the nestlings with. In a case where the young are deserted by the 

 old birds, or are not fed enough, cut a hard-boiled egg in halves, and, after moisten- 

 ing the yolk with saliva, scrape up some egg with a little flat stick, making it very 

 moist, about the consistency of cream, and, wherever there is a suspicion of an 

 empty crop, give the young bird a good feed. With young birds, if in place of 

 full crops, plump breasts, and heavy abdomen, you find every feature dwarfed, it is 

 time to commence artificial feeding, as above. The egg-trough should be filled two 

 or three times every day with fresh egg and green food, lettuce, chickweed, and 

 water-cress also given fresh frequently. Fresh food will often induce the mother 

 to feed the young when nothing else will. 



