CAGE AND SINGING BIK1>;S. 
never entirely freed from tliem^ and it is best to g^t rid of it. 
If you cannot do this, wash it often, sprinkle the joints and 
crevices with turpentine, or a weak solution of white pre" 
cipitate powder, taking' care not to put the birds into it for 
some hours after the application is made. With this solu- 
tion also, should the vermin prove obstinate, the body of the 
bird may be washed at those parts which cannot be reached 
by its beak. 
Corpulence. — Birds in confinement, and this is espe- 
cially the case with some species of warblers during* the 
autumn, often become uncomfortably fat, owing probably, in 
^ great measure, to the want of sufficient exercise. Dried 
ants' eggs put into the drink, and scraped carrot mixed with 
■the food, will tend to check this disposition to obesity. 
Pairing Fever. — Usually about the month of May, 
when the sexual desire is strongest, birds that are confined 
in cages and denied its indulgence, are attacked with this 
malady : they cease to sing, and sit moping with rufiled 
feathers ; refuse their food, and sometimes pine and die. 
This is the true love sickness," and anything which may 
serve to divert their attention from the silent sorrow which 
consumes them is good. Place them in the cheerful sun- 
shine ; tempt them with dainty morsels of food ; sing and 
whistle to them, and, above all, remove them out of sight and 
hearing of any hen birds of the same species which you may 
possess. Entire change of scene often does much in these 
^cases. Send the despairing lover to visit a friend at some 
distance : if you are a town dweller let it be into the country 
that the bii'd is sent, and he will most likely soon recover. 
