BRITISH SONG-BIRDS. 169 



salt, and, once in two or tliree days, a few poppy- 



When tlie eggs are laid, some bird-fanciers give 

 the breeding birds plantain and lettuce-seed; but 

 this must be done sparingly, and only for two 

 days, lest this food should weaken them. 



About the fourteenth or fifteenth day of April, 

 they ought to be furnished with flax, soft hay, 

 wool, hair, moss, and other dry materials, for mak- 

 ing their nest, which usually occupies three days. 

 The time of incubation is thirteen days; but, when 

 the hen has sat eight or nine days, examine the 

 eggs to see which are addle; hold them carefully, 

 by the ends, against the sun or a lighted candle, 

 and throw away the clear ones. Bird-fanciers, 

 who wish the eggs to come out all on the same 

 day, substitute an ivory egg, taking away the one 

 that is deposited daily by the hen, until the last is 

 laid, when the false eggs are removed, and the real 

 Dues put back into the nest. When canaries are 

 to be reared by the stick, they must be taken from 

 the mother on the eighth day, taking nest and all. 

 Prior to this, the food for the young must be pre- 

 pared, viz. a paste composed of boiled rapeseed, the 

 yolk of an egg, and crums of the above-mention- 

 ed cake, mixed with a little water ; and this must 



H 



