35 



and the most experienced Fanciers that ever lived, had more or less to learn in 

 this school. Some of the Almonds do not set close, particularly the old and 

 valuable ones (why I say old and valuable ones, had they been otherwise they 

 would have been discarded) ; besides they do not appear to have sufficient heat 

 in their bodies to hatch their eggs. When this is discovered, you had better set 

 their eggs at the commencement under feeders, that have laid at the same time, 

 by exchanging their eggs ; and this must not be done in a forgetful manner. You 

 may always know when you begin to understand the birds, whether their soft food 

 is on or not, by trying the craw or crop of the birds, and if on, it appears soft and 

 pappy ; on the contrary, hard, but will come on in a few days. 



When I get a little nonpareil out of the shell, I am lost in wonder and astonish- 

 ment how I shall get it fed. I have heard it stated that there are Fanciers who 

 keep doves to feed their short faced birds, and I am assured that they feed well, 

 and longer than the pigeon. As I never tried I do not know ; but if they will 

 many a valuable short faced bird would be saved. I have before now been placed 

 in such a difficulty with a particularly short faced bird, that after trying half a 

 dozen pair of birds that had hatched at the same time, and yet could get none 

 of them to feed it. I have thought that if I had canary birds hatching at the same 

 time, I would have tried them ; and if they fed it for a day or two, then have 

 placed it under pigeons to bring it up. It may be worth trying doves, as they 

 have eight broods a year. The shorter faced your feeders the better, I think they 

 ought not to exceed six-eighths : for if you feed with strong, long-faced, take for 

 example a dragon, one inch and a quarter, or one and a half, you will observe 

 when the little short-faced birds leave their pans, and if very hungry, chase the 

 old ones either in their penn, aviary, or loft, and in their haste to obtain food will 

 thrust its head into the old bird's mouth, or comparatively speaking, down its 

 throat, to meet the food, by which means the young bird's head is flattened, (being 

 soft at the time), quite the contrary of what could be desired, a lofty head ; it 

 therefore follows, that by having long-faced feeders, you flatten the head and 

 wrench the beak ; but on the contrary, having short faced feeders the young ones 

 cannot thrust their heads into their mouths, neither will the beaks be so wrenched. 

 If the owl pigeon was not so shy, I should prefer it for a feeder. But short faced 

 hardy blue tumblers, beards, or baldheads are very good. 



There are some few Fanciers who would not shift oftener than once, neither 

 would I, provided I thought it safe to trust to that shift to finish the birds ; but 

 as I do not, I shall write my remarks :— I approve of shifting, the. young birds at 

 six days ; yet giving the old ones an older bird to draw off their soft food, which 

 they generally do in about ten days. It is evident by this that their soft food 

 is not off'; but the danger of their ,being ofi" the young ones a considerable time, 

 suffering them to die of cold, with their crops full, while the old ones are calling 

 to nest again. In your experience you will find as many or more die of cold 

 crammed full, than those that are not fed, and the reason is this : that they require 

 warmth by being sat on, as much or more than they do food. I think crammed 

 as they are, and the food getting chilled or cold, is the cause that accelerates their 

 death. I give the young birds another shift when they are twelve or thirteen 

 days old, under a pair of feeders that have fed three or four days, for the sake of 

 warmth ; and now my last shift, however well apparentljr, the pair of birds feed 

 that have the shift of the birds twelve days old, you will have to ask yourself 

 the question will this pair of birds finish them, by feeding four weeks till they 

 can feed themselves— it may, or it may not be so. You cannot help your thoughts 

 on this or any other subject; but as I do not think it safe, I endeavour for the 

 last shift, to get them at twenty-one days old under a pair of good tempered burds, 

 (for there is a vast difference in their tempers) after they have fed a week or so ; 

 calculating that they will feed them well for three weeks, which will finish them 

 and by this time they will feed themselves. 



