MOULTING AND COLOUR FEEDING 87 



pendulum swung the other wa}^ and the great majority 

 of fanciers adopted the more moderate Une, and from 

 then till now our birds have been no richer in colour 

 than were the so-called non-K.N.-fed. 



Things of Importance. 



During the moult the birds must never be moved from 

 a hot room to a cold one, or from a cold to a hot one. 

 They should have plenty of fresh air. The cages must 

 be kept scrupulously clean, and liberally supplied with 

 clean, gritty sand. Baths should be given regularly 

 every morning, except when birds are moulting in the late 

 autumn, and then they should only be given when the 

 weather is fine and bright. Never give baths on cold, 

 dull days. Twice or thrice a week a few grains of citrate 

 of iron and quinine may be placed in the drinking water, 

 or a piece of sulphate of iron about as large as a pea to 

 each wine-glassful of water. A piece of beef suet will 

 be relished by the birds if fixed in the wires of the cage 

 once or twice a week, and it will help to keep them healthy ; 

 the same may be said of a piece of raw fat bacon. Boiled 

 carrot is also good for them, and a little may be mixed 

 with the soft food, or a piece may be placed in the wires 

 of the cage occasionally. It will be found that the birds 

 will eat it greedily, and it will help in keeping their blood 

 cool, and make the feathers lie close and tight. 



Colour Feeds of To-day. 

 It is just over fifty years ago that canary breeders 

 discovered the wonderful colouring properties of cayenne 

 pepper, and the first birds so coloured came from the 

 hot-bed of the fancy, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts, but it 

 was not till the closing month of 1873 that the late 

 Edward Bemrose, of Derby, gave the secret to the fancy. 

 To-day the article known as tasteless sweet pepper, and 

 which is the basis of all colour feeds, is the fruit of a well 

 known salad plant. Capsicum annuum possum, which is 

 largely cultivated in Spain. The pods of this plant are 

 dried and pounded. This is the pure thing itself. Some 

 vendors sell it pure, others adulterate it with flour, sugar, 

 oil and other things, and thereby made a greater profit 

 than those who sell the pure article. Many fanciers 



