130 CANARIES 



When to remove from the Drying Cage. 



The birds should not be allowed to get too dry in 

 the drying cage. When about half dry they should be 

 taken out and placed in clean show-cages near the fire. 

 In half an hour they should be removed to the other side 

 of the room, and in about a couple of hours they might 

 be returned to the bird-room, but it is wiser to leave 

 them all night in the room in which they have been 

 washed. It takes five or six minutes to wash a bird, 

 and it should be in the drying cage not more than twenty 

 or twenty-five minutes. 



All cages in which newly washed birds are placed 

 should be scrupulously clean, or the washing will have 

 been labour in vain. Birds with soiled plumage stand very 

 httle chance on the show bench nowadays ; competition 

 is so very keen that the slightest difference in condition 

 oftentimes turns the scale. During the time intervening 

 between the birds being washed and their despatch for 

 the show they should be closely covered to exclude 

 all dirt. 



Show Birds need Generous Feeding. 



It must not be forgotten that exhibition stock require 

 a liberal and generous diet during the show season. The 

 travelling to and from shows, the washing, and the excite- 

 ment of the show rooms, must all tend to exhaust the 

 nervous energy of their little bodies. The best seed should 

 at all times be used. Cheap, badly cleansed seed is 

 dear at any price. Good Spanish canary seed should form 

 their staple food ; occasionally a little inga, hemp (very 

 little of this), maw and linseed should be given. A small 

 quantity of fresh egg-food should be given every morning, 

 or egg cake, or one of the prepared canary foods. 



Milk instead of Water to drink. 



Milk is much Uked by birds, and it is also good for 

 them occasionally in place of their ordinary drinking water. 

 Some fanciers give their birds a few drops of cod liver oil 

 on their soft food twice or thrice a week during the show 

 season, and I unhesitatingly add my testimony to its 

 great value for keeping birds in good health and the pink 

 of condition, 



