34^ Cjxarif.s a.vd Cagf.-B/rds. 



food for foreign cage-birds, I would prefer to suggest to every amateur to think out the 

 food question for himself; to be guided by common sense, and to endeavour to give 

 to each bird a home and food corresponding as nearly as possible to his natural habits and 

 tastes. 



A cage-bird is, however we may gild his prison bars, more or less a prisoner. How long 

 would a human prisoner live in solitary confinement, with nothing to do, and nothing else 

 than beef-steaks and port wine continually placed before him in quantities which he could not 

 possibly eat? or a horse in a loose box, with a sack of oats perpetually in his manger.' 

 Analogous mistakes do we see committed every day by bird-keepers. If we bear this in mind 

 the value of cages sufficiently large for exercise, and of fittings, by way of branches or shrubs 

 in pots, to amuse and distract the birds, will be apparent, as well as the importance of some 

 variation and limitation of food. 



For seed-eating birds, canary and millet seed are the staple food. The best canary-seed 

 comes from Spain ; the grain should be large and heavy, and the seed free from admixture 

 of other seeds. Good canary-seed can be purchased from almost any corn-chandler. Millet- 

 seed varies much in quality, from a very small, hard, yellow, or brown seed, to the large grain 

 white French millet. The latter is the best, but sometimes difficult to procure. Really good 

 millet-seed is invaluable to the bird-keeper. By way of variety, a little maw-seed may be given 

 sometimes, if it be duly remembered that maw-seed, being very rich in oil, is fat-producing 

 The sweepings of a hayloft contain large quantities of grass and other seeds, and a handful 

 of such sweepings are picked over by small Finches with much delight. Most valuable of all 

 is, however, the so-called spray millet, or millet in the ear. Whether it be that the exertion 

 of pulling the grains from the ear gives birds an extra appetite, or that the husk of the 

 unthreshed seed contains some peculiar virtue, the fact is that nothing is more beneficial for 

 all seed-eating foreign cage-birds than a liberal supply of millet in the ear. 



But I know few foreign cage-birds, except Rice Birds, Australian Zebra Finches, and some 

 Parrots, which I would undertake to keep in perfect health all the year round on nothing 

 but seeds. All birds seem to like, at times, a little extra food ; and in their breeding and 

 moulting season this becomes indispensable. There are some beautiful Australian Finches, such 

 as the Australian Firetail and Crimson Finch, &c., which appear not to thrive altogether satis- 

 factorily on any known bird-seeds, and for whose natural food a better substitute has yet to 

 be found. I mean, thereby, something corresponding to the odd spider, or beetle, or butterfly 

 our sparrow or chaffinch picks up, besides his food at the barn door, or with the fowls, or in the 

 corn-field. Millet-seed soaked over-night in warm water, and then carefully strained, is very 

 good for young birds or for birds of weak digestion. 



I find, in the case of small foreign Finches, a morsel of common sponge-cake at breeding 

 or moulting time a very valuable additional dish. If it is just very slightly damped with water, 

 a trifle of maw-seed, a little hard-boiled egg, and a few ants' eggs (previously soaked and 

 strained) are added, the mixture becomes a very good food to rear broods of young Finches with. 

 A cold, wet, or foggy November day is more trying for small birds than any other time of year, 

 or than severe cold. Half a sponge-cake quickly dipped in water, then pressed, and mixed 

 with half a tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper, will at such times be very gladly eaten by most 

 of the small foreign Finches, and will prove very beneficial if given two or three times a week. 

 The same mixture at moulting-time will help little birds wonderfully over this trying period. 

 It may here be remarked that at moulting-time cage-birds eat, and require to eat, much 

 more food than at other times. 



