FOOD AND CAKE. 



one bird. The price per can is one dollar, or, if sent by mail, one dollar and ten 

 cents. Full directions accompany each package. When using the coloring- food, 

 very little seed should be fed : otherwise the food will not act. 



Birds well fed become a deep salmon color, very showy ; and this lasts for a 

 year, until the next moultiug-season, when the bird may again be fed in the same 

 manner. 



The food has less effect on green plumage, so only those having clear yellow or 

 slightly mottled colors should be selected for feeding. 



Insects breed rapidly on birds at this season, and a superabundance of them 

 should be guarded against by thorough use of the German insect-powder. A white 

 cloth thrown over the cage at dusk, and examined early in the morning, will reveal 

 the true state of affairs in respect to such pests. 



Parrots crave soft food now in addition to the regular feed of hemp-seed, rough 

 rice, and cracked corn. Pilot-bread, soaked either in water or coffee, whichever 

 the bird prefers, should be given in whatever quantity will be consumed. Young 

 birds in particular require the soaked bread. 



Bobolinks, Linnets, and other wild native birds, are generally overfed when kept 

 caged. In a wild state, where the birds fly long distances, large quantities of food 

 are eaten without harm resulting ; but the same quantity eaten when a bird is caged, 

 and has little exercise, usually results in an attack of epilepsy. All these birds, 

 require is the same amount of seed as is given a Canary, and in addition gravel, 

 and green stuff daily, either lettuce, chickweed, or apple. 



At the seashore birds should not hang out after four o'clock in the afternoon. 

 If allowed to hang out later, or if hung where there are strong draughts of air, 

 colds and bowel complaints ensue. 



AUGUST SEPTEMBER. 



Canaries should have hard-boiled egg, and cracker, daily, now until the moult- 

 ing-period is well passed. Many careful breeders continue such food for two weeks, 

 at least, after the bird casts any feathers. 



Bathing too frequently will cause birds to have cramps, and a third attack is 

 sure to prove fatal. One bath a day, or a bath on alternate days, is frequently 

 enough. 



For cramps give a dose of sherry wine and water, five drops of each mixed. 



When spiders are abundant, a crop should be gathered for a soft-bill bird : if the 

 experiment has not been tried, one will be surprised at the increased amount of song 

 each spider fed will impel your bird to utter. Three to five spiders a day are as 

 many as one bird should eat. 



Young Mocking-birds sometimes eat too heartily, and dangerous cases of surfeit 

 and indigestion follow. In such cases five drops of oil carefully given will usually 

 effect a cure. Then feed more sparingly ; and the bird will grow faster, and make 

 greater improvement in song, than when overfed. 



Young Mocking-birds now commence to note some ; and judicious feeding will 

 cause almost a perceptible daily improvement in voice, plumage, and shape. If it 

 is too much work to feed the dry prepared food mixed with boiled potato or raw 



