86 THE NIGHTIXGALE. 



gales have been kept in cages for two or 

 three years, they are extremely subject to 

 the gout, for which the best remedy is, 

 to rub their feet with fresh butter; this 

 may also be used for those breakings out 

 about the eyes and bill with which they 

 are sometimes affected. 



When you find them grow melancholy, 

 a little white sugar candy put into their 

 water will often have the effect of re- 

 storing their spirits : should this, however, 

 be of no service, a few meal worms given 

 every day with ants, ants' eggs, and ants' 

 mould, strewed at the bottom of the cage, 

 seldom fails to have the desired efiect: a 

 new laid egg boiled hard, and chopped 

 small, mingled with the ants, together with 

 a little saffron in their water, is also consi- 

 dered a good thing. 



Nightingales are often in danger of being 

 choked, through not taking sufficient care in 

 mincing their meat, to free it from sinews 

 and strings, which hanging in their throats, 

 or twisting about their tongues, causes them 

 to neglect their food. When you perceive 

 a bird troubled in this way, which is easily 



