Parasitic Insects. 39 



will not rub off. If used too thin, the marks of the brush are left behind, hut it is surprising- how 

 smoothly the stuff will work from the brush if concocted as we have directed. It is a usual 

 practice with some breeders, before coating a new cage, to thoroughly anoint every joint and crack 

 with a preparation of corrosive sublimate, with the view of making them untenantable for insects ; 

 but if the whitewash be well worked into every crevice, and any flaws or defects in the wood be 

 filled up with plaster of Paris, we do not well see how the insects can manage to get in. Such 

 precautionary measures, however, cost but little trouble, and if supplemented by a dressing of 

 varnish before whitewashing, the chances are still further diminished. Top, bottom, back, sides, 

 inside the front cross-pieces, everywhere must come under the brush ; and in repeating the 

 operation on old cages, be careful to knock off any loose flakes of whiting, and if there be 

 any dry sand in the corner of the cage, let the brush take it up, and work it well into the 

 corners like so much concrete. All this means nothing more than an injunction to do the work 

 thoroughly, and finish it off smoothly and neatly. We have said nothing about painting the outside, 

 but the front should have a coat of sizing, followed by one of black paint, and then finish off with 

 one or two coats of black varnish. 



Nest-boxes play an important part in the economy of the breeding-cage, and the con- 

 trivances and arrangements for the same vary much in actual practice. The perforated shelf 

 and basket-work nest, which is sometimes used instead of the nest-box, in the little closet of 

 what we call the " London " cage, and which is not confined to it alone, is so foreign 

 to everything we have been accustomed to that we can offer no practical opinion on its 

 merits. For our own part, we should hesitate before we used a nest of either wicker-work, 

 chip, or any similar material, simply on the ground that every crevice would appear to us to be 

 an advertisement of " Apartments to let," and an invitation to the first stray parasite to wander 

 no further, but to take up his abode in such a cleverly-contrived playground. 



We have several times referred to this possibility of " insects" becoming a nuisance, but would 

 like to have kept it out of sight as long as possible. It will have to be explained sooner or later, and 

 we may as well out with it at once and be done with it. Perhaps it will be policy also to represent 

 the case as being much worse than it really is, and then the beginner will be agreeably surprised if 

 he finds things not so bad as he expected. The Canary is liable, under certain circumstances, to 

 become infested with parasites much in the same way as other animals are similarly plagued, not 

 even excepting the genus homo. The preventive in each case is the same, viz., cleanliness and fresh 

 air, and that is the beginning and the end of the dreadful story. But lest any may find themselves 

 beset by an army of these pests, we give a little further account of them, and show how to deal 

 with them. Without entering into any philosophical disquisition as to what the little parasite 

 is, it will be sufficient to say that if a sharp look-out be kept on the ends of the perches next 

 the back of the cage, the places where these rest on the cross-bar, the tops of the doors where 

 they touch the bar, the inside of nest-boxes at the back, or any similar hiding-hole where the 

 insects may be expected to congregate, a white floury substance will sometimes be found there ; 

 and if it be examined closely, it will be found to be replete with life, and will, if disturbed, 

 move about in precisely the same way as the mites in cheese. It is, in fact, a colony of mites, 

 using the word to signify a very small insect, and not as a strictly correct scientific term. 



That this peculiar organism is born of the Canary there can be not the slightest doubt, since 

 the presence of the bird is a necessary condition of its existence, or at all events, of its pro- 

 duction ; but how generated it is not in our power to say. We only know that the fact stands 

 and that it is a very disagreeable fact. Now, if these small settlements be left undisturbed, the 

 inhabitants will increase and multiply at a rate which leaves black beetles and cockroaches far 



