CANARY BIRD. 



73 



hard chopped eggs, dry bread, cake without salt, and, once in two or 

 three days, a few poppy-seeds. Some bird-fanciers give their breeding- 

 birds plantain and lettuce-seed ; but this should be done sparingly, and 

 only for two days, lest it should weaken them. 



About the 15th of April they ought to be furnished with flax, soft 

 hay, wool, hair, moss, and other dry materials, for building- the nest, 

 which usually occupies three days : the time of incubation is thirteen 

 days ; but when the hen has sat eight or nine days, it is necessary to 

 examine the eggs, holding- them carefully by the ends, against the sun 

 or a lighted candle, and to throw away the clear ones. Some bird-fanciers 

 substitute an ivory egg until the last is laid, when the real ones are 

 replaced, that they may be hatched at the same time. 



When the young 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 should consist of a paste composed of boiled rapeseed, the yolk 

 of an egg, and crumbs of cake unsalted, mixed with a little water : this 

 must be given every two hours. This paste ought not to be too wet, 

 and must be renewed daily, until the nestlings can feed themselves. 

 The hen has generally three broods in the year, but will hatch five 

 times in the season, each time laying six eggs. 



The process of moulting, which takes place five or six weeks after 

 they are hatched, is frequently fatal to them. The best remedy yet 

 known is to put a small piece of iron into the water they drink, keeping 

 them warm during the six weeks or two months which generally 

 elapse before they regain their strength. ( This malady, to which they 

 are all subject, is often fatal to the hen after the sixth or seventh year; 

 and even the cock, though from superior strength he may recover, and 

 continue occasionally to sing, and survive his mate four or five years, 

 appears dull and melancholy from this period, till he gradually droops, 

 and falls a victim to this evil. 



If it is proposed to rear gay birds, the cock and hen should be of the 

 same deep colour ; if mottled birds are required, both parents should be 

 mottled. When a gay bird and a fancy bird are matched, they are 

 termed mule-birds, because they are irregularly mottled in their 

 plumage, and therefore of no value, although they be equally good 

 singers. The spangled or French Canary cock, with a meally hen, 

 often produces beautiful varieties. 



The most common cause of disease in birds proceeds from a super- 

 abundance of food, which brings on repletion. In this case the intestines 

 descend to the extremities of the body, and appear through the skin, 

 while the feathers on the part affected fall off, and the poor bird, after 

 a few days, pines and dies. If the disease is not too far gone, putting 



