7G 



CANARY BIRDS. 



calcinated oyster-shell, and principally at breeding-time, chalk 

 or the finely-pounded shell of raw eggs will be added. The 

 sand which is strewed over the bottom of the drawer or the 

 aviary, must never be damp, or, worse still, permeated with 

 ground water ; river-sand is best, the grains of which are 

 not too coarse. If nothing but some sharp river-sand can 

 be procured, it should be well dried first, and then mixed 

 with good garden-mould to about one-third of the whole. 

 The single canary, no matter of what breed, must, - as a 

 matter of course, be kept strictly clean ; the drawer of the 

 cage had best be scraped out every morning, or, at least, 

 every second or third day, and then strewn with fresh sand. 

 If a wooden drawer be once neglected, it should be scalded 

 out with hot water, then carefully dried, so that the boards 

 do not get warped. Some wood-ashes or insect-powder 

 should then be thinly spread over it, covered with news- 

 paper and thickly strewn over with sand ; the aviary or 

 moveable hatch must be cleansed in a similar manner ; the 

 dirt must never be allowed to accumulate in such a manner 

 that it smells, or that the birds soil their feet. 



Bathing. — A bathing-trough is occasionally, and parti- 

 cularly in summer, put into the cage of a singly-kept 

 singing-bird, and is removed after the bird has bathed in it. 

 During breeding- time the birds, both old and young, are to 

 be protected with especial care against draughts and wet, 

 against sudden and excessive variations of temperature, bad 

 food or water, putrid herbs, etc. Altogether, cleanliness, 

 fresh, pure air, and light, are, as is the case with human 

 beings and with most animals, the first requisites for thriv- 

 ing. If the weather be mild, the windows should be kept 

 open day and night. 



Vermin. — When a bird gets mites (bird-lice), he should, in 

 the places where he cannot cleanse himself, that is, the head, 



