300 CLASS AVES. 



Although moulting is one of the most dangerous maladies 

 for the canaries, yet some males support it very well, and 

 even sing a little every day ; but the majority lose their 

 voice, and some perish. The moulting proves mortal to 

 most females that have attained the age of six or seven years. 

 Males of the same age resist it better, and live three or 

 four years longer. It is less dangerous to those birds that 

 are kept in large aviaries with plenty of verdure, and thus 

 approximate to a state of nature. But to those cooped up 

 in a narrow prison, and fed with no variety of aliments, and 

 rendered delicate by too much care, it becomes a most serious 

 and often fatal disorder. Such are the consequences of all 

 aberrations from nature. In the wild bird, the moulting is 

 only a less perfect state of health ; in the tame, a grievous 

 malady, which can only be treated by palliatives, for no 

 remedy has been found completely to remove it. It is, 

 however, less to be feared in Avarm weather. The young 

 moult six weeks after birth, generally speaking, but the 

 weakest undergo this change first ; the strongest sometimes 

 do not moult for a month after them. These birds then 

 grow heavy and melancholy, sleep during the day, often put 

 their head under their wings, lose their down, but do not 

 cast the quills of the wings and tail until the following year. 

 They appear quite disgusted, eat but little, and do not even 

 touch what they like best when in good health. The young 

 of the latest brood suffer most, because they moult when 

 the weather commences to be cold in September and October. 

 They should be kept very warm, for a breath of air is suffi- 

 cient to destroy those delicate birds which are born in our 

 apartments. It is otherwise with those brought up in 

 aviaries. They are more accustomed to changes of tempera^ 

 ture, and fewer of them perish. Their temperament indeed 

 is so robust, that they are scarcely sensible to cold, and may 

 be seen in tlie depth of winter wallowing and bathing in the 



