CANARY BIRDS. 37 



less of it the better ; they enjoy water-cracker 

 or pilot bread suspended in their cage, or 

 stale bread grated may be given to them. 

 The English books do not mention a com- 

 mon appendage to an American cage ; a cut- 

 tle-fish bone is hung in the cage or placed 

 between the wires, and the bird often resorts 

 to it for the lime it contains, and apparently 

 to sharpen its beak. Birds waste their 

 seed terribly, and if they can get into the 

 seed cups they scatter it about and spoil it ; 

 some people have a cover to the cup with 

 small round holes in it, or a coarse wire 

 gauze over it. It is less trouble to feed birds 

 on seeds as a general rule, and one author 

 says : "It seems to me the most plain course 

 to take and my own birds have, generally, 

 never tasted anything but seeds and vegeta- 

 bles, with a little egg, or a few stale bread 

 crumbs, for weeks and months together." In 

 the case of both hemp and rape-seed, it 

 must be remembered that they are heating 



food, and contain a large amount of oil. In 

 4 



