50 CANARIES 



results from egg food it should be fresh made at each 

 time of feeding. 



Now-a-days many birds know not the taste of egg 

 food, as many breeders use one or other of the prepared 

 foods that are on the market. The best of them are very 

 good, and nothing else in the way of soft food is required. 

 There are some, however, that are of little worth. There- 

 fore, in buying such always buy those manufactured 

 by firms which have a sound reputation. 



Then some fanciers prefer to make up a compound 

 food of their own. The following is a good recipe for 

 such : — Baked bread crusts, 1 lb ; finest oatmeal, 

 I lb. ; maw seed, j lb. ; finely ground linseed (not linseed 

 meal) J lb. ; fine white sugar, ^ lb. ; salt, 1 oz. The 

 baked bread crusts should be broken up fine with a 

 pestle and mortar, then the other ingredients added one 

 by one until the whole are thoroughly blended the one 

 with the other. The maw seed may be added last. This 

 food should be kept in a tin canister in a dry cool place. 

 When being fed to the birds it should be damped with 

 water into a crumbly state. Do not make it into a paste, 

 the birds do not relish it so well. This food will serve as a 

 substitute for egg food, or for any of the proprietary foods 

 that are advertised, and old and young birds alike will 

 thrive upon it. I have used many pounds of it, and have 

 found it answer the purpose well. It is nourishing 

 without being rich and forcing. 



Egg Cake. 



In the North, some of the old-time fanciers, who did 

 not like hard-boiled egg and biscuit, used to make what 

 they called egg cake. I have myself used egg cake, and 

 can speak well of it. The formula given to me by the late 

 H. Trevlyn, a noted breeder of Belgian Canaries, was 

 as follows : — 



1 lb. of finest biscuit flour. 



^-Ib. of soft sugar. 



|-lb pure home-rendered lard. 



Id. packet of baking powder. 



The yolks (no whites) of eight eggs. 

 " Mix the sugar, lard, baking powder and flour fell to- 

 gether, then add the eggs, which should be beaten to a 



