KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



357 



You will thereby save the lives of many a 

 parent and many an offspring. The old 

 birds will thoroughly understand what you 

 are about, and will show themselves well 

 pleased when the change has been effected. 

 We shall speak more of these vermin by- 

 and-by. 



Before your first brood can well feed 

 themselves, it is more than likely that their 

 Papa and Mamma will be anxious to extend 

 the branches of their family tree. This is 

 why we recommended your cage being fur- 

 nished with two nest boxes, in two separate 

 divisions. Keep the cage therefore well 

 cleaned, and the bottom well covered with 

 bruised mortar and chalk. 



When the nestlings are about a month 

 old, their parents have an odd way of getting 

 rid of them — viz., by pecking at them, 

 and hunting them about all over the cage. 

 They look at them as if they were inter- 

 lopers, and quite able to get their own 

 living. This is, therefore, the proper time 

 for removing them into separate habitations. 



Place them in mahogany cages, made pre- 

 cisely as we have already recommended, and 

 hang them up in a warm situation. In a 

 few days the males will freely " record" their 

 song, and give full evidence of the pleasure 

 they feel in being possessed of a house of 

 their own. As young canaries are very 

 imitative, and copy all they hear, let us 

 again advise their being made the associates 

 of none but first-rate songsters from their 

 very infancy. It is more difficult to unlearn 

 than it is to teach. As for the hen birds, 

 unless you retain a few of the strongest for 

 the purpose of breeding from them at a 

 future time, they should be got rid of with 

 all convenient haste. They are perfectly 

 useless. 



With respect to hybrids — we have taken 

 no notice of these under this head. Gold- 

 finch-mules and linnet-mules, being bred in 

 a different manner, will receive full notice in 

 our " Own Journal," under the respective 

 Treatises on the " Goldfinch" and the 

 " Linnet." These birds may be reared to 

 immense advantage ; and if well taught in 

 their infancy, their value can hardly be 

 stated. They will live to a " green old age." 



We should here remark, that the change 

 of diet, from soft to hard food, should not be 

 too sudden. Place some of each kind in the 

 cages of the young birds, and withdraw the 

 "nursery diet" by degrees. Be sparing 

 with your green meat, and also any little 

 luxuries that may act too violently on the 

 internal machinery of your pets. Avoid 

 also sugar, and hempseed; giving them 

 occasionally a little maw-seed, Clifford's 

 German paste, sponge -biscuit, and stale 

 sweet bun. 



Thus instructed, you have it in your own 



power to rear some of the finest song birds 

 that were ever known. You may, more- 

 over, live perfectly independent of the whole 

 tribe of bird-dealers — with whom, entre nous, 

 the fewer dealings you have the better. 



THE FAUVETTE. 



Let us now sing of that lovely little 

 creature, the Greater Pettychaps, or Gar- 

 den Warbler (Sylvia hortensis), which is 

 called also, — the Fauvette. He is now in 

 our gardens, flitting from tree to tree, en- 

 joying himself to his heart's content. 



This sweet little bird (says Eennie), 

 whose colors are not so gay as some 

 of the others, is nevertheless plump and 

 handsomely shaped. Its song is scarcely 

 to be surpassed by any of the genus, the 

 nightingale alone excepted. It first visits 

 us in the spring about the latter end of April 

 or beginning of May, and its arrival is quickly 

 made known by its very loud and long song. 

 It generally begins low, not unlike the song 

 of the swallow, but raises it by degrees until 

 it resembles the song of the blackbird. It 

 sings nearly all through the day ; and the 

 greater part of the time that it stays with 

 us, until August. In confinement, it will 

 sing nearly all through the year, if it be 

 treated well. In a wild state, it is generally 

 found in gardens and plantations, where it 

 feeds chiefly on fruit ; but it will not refuse 

 some kinds of insects. It is very fond of the 

 larvae, or caterpillars, that are often found in 

 great abundance on cabbage plants — the 

 produce of Pontia brassier. We know no other 

 bird of the genus that will feed on them. 

 Soon after its arrival here the strawberries 

 are ripe, and it is not long before it finds 

 them out. It generally tastes the plums, 

 pears, and early apples before it leaves us ; 

 and when in confinement, it also feeds freely 

 on privet, elder, and ivy berries; it is also 

 partial to barberries, and a soft apple. 

 These birds, we rejoice to say, are not so 

 easily caught as some of the other species ; 

 they are more shy of getting into a trap. As 

 we are such haters of bird-catchers, we shall 

 be mute as to their capture. Let them live 

 and enjoy themselves whilst they are amongst 

 us, say we. They will readily take to feed 

 on the bruised hempseed and bread before 

 described, or on bread and milk; they are 

 also fond of fresh raw meat, both fat and 

 lean ; also, the yolk of an egg occasionally. 

 To bring them to eat it directly, a few cur- 

 rants, raspberries, or some small fruit, must 

 be stuck in it ; whilst eating these out, they 

 taste the other food, which they prefer to the 

 fruit at first for a change. Fruit of some 

 sort or other should, if possible, be always 

 kept in their cage. In winter, they are very 

 fond of a roasted apple ; and as soon as the 



