48 CANARY BIRDS. 



hole. Make the bags yourself; do not buy 

 them ready prepared, as much of the com- 

 fort of the brood depends on perfect cleanli- 

 ness. It is absolutely essential that all 

 bought materials should be thoroughly 

 baked or scalded before they are used, to 

 destroy vermin concealed in them. 



One cannot well see the shape of these 

 insects with the naked eye ; but, with a 

 magnifying glass, they resemble somewhat 

 the bug species. If you kill them on white 

 paper, it is stained with blood ; in fact, it is 

 evident that they wholly subsist on the 

 blood, which they extract by slow degrees 

 from the vitals of those little songsters. 

 Hence arises much disappointment as well 

 as vexation during the breeding season. 

 The poor hens often get blamed for neglect ; 

 but are not such continuous torments enough 

 to make the birds quit their nests even when 

 the young ones have been formed in their 

 shells ? These little vermin, which you can 

 scarcely see with the naked eye, so com- 



