CHAPTER VI 



SEEDS AND THEIR USES 



Although canary breeders use egg food and prepared 

 foods as substitutes for egg food, and green food, seed 

 remains the great stand-by of the canary's menu, and 

 seed to-day plays, as it ever did, the most important part 

 in the dietary of the canary. The success or otherwise of 

 an aviary depends in great measure upon the care and 

 judgment exercised in the selection of seed. Without good 

 sound seed it is impossible to keep birds in good health. 

 At all times avoid kiln-dried, sour, or fusty seed. Let your 

 seed be sweet to the smell, bright to the eye, and slippery 

 to the touch. Don't buy shrivelled-up seed, but have 

 it plump and full of substance. Have the best that money 

 can buy. 



Canary Seed. 



This seed comes first on the list of all seeds used by the 

 canary breeder, it being impossible for him to do without 

 it. It is to the canary what bread is to ourselves — the 

 staff of hfe. I advise that the seed hopper be at all times 

 full of the best Spanish canary seed. Let it be the staple 

 food of yonr pets. It is from canary seed that your birds 

 will get both music and heat, it being a medium of nitro- 

 gen and carbon, and consequently it is well fitted to be 

 the prime factor in the dietary of our little pets. The 

 best is without doubt the Spanish, as, being thoroughly 

 ripened in a sunny climate, it never wants kiln-drying, in 

 which process much sulphur is used. This destroys some 

 of the nutritious parts of the seed and makes it difficult of 

 digestion. . Young birds cannot digest highly kiln-dried 

 seed even after it has been moistened in the crops of the 



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