CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
18 
spoonful, pour over it three times as much cold or lukewarm 
milk — ^his will form a stiff paste, which must be beaten up 
smooth. For delicate birds, such as the nightingale, sprinkle 
over this dried flies, or meal vv^orms, cut small — these will 
tempt the birds to eat the paste, which having tasted they 
will be fond of. This authority also gives directions for the 
preparation of two other kinds of general food, which we 
subjoin, 
UNIVERSAL PASTE, NO. 1. 
Take a stale well-baked white loaf, put it into fresh water, 
and leave it there until perfectly saturated, then press out 
the water, and pour boiling milk over the bread; then add to 
it about two-thirds of barley, or wheat meal, tolerably coarse, 
but free from husk or ])ran : mix, and use as required. 
UNIVERSAL PASTE, NO. 2. 
Grate a carrot (which may be kept in sand in a cool place 
the whole year through), and mix it with some white bread, 
about the quantity of a penny roll, previously soaked in 
fresh water, and squeezed dry ; add to this mixture about an 
equal quantity of the No. 1 paste, and incorporate the whole 
well together by means of a pestle and mortar. 
The author observes of both these pastes, that they ought 
to be made fresh every day, as they soon become sour, an 
objection, we may notice, to which all moist preparations 
are liable. He also states that he gives his birds, of which 
there are generally from thirty to forty of various kinds in 
possession of one room, the paste No. 1, on which they 
f thrive so well and seem so happy, that no one would 
suppose them to be captives: the food is put out in an 
earthen vessel, at which about half of them can feed at once. 
A little hemp, poppy, and rape seed, and a few ants' eggs and 
bread-crumbs, are occasionally added as a treat. 
We have now, we believe, given all the general directions 
that may be required under this head. In our remarks upon 
the several species will be found particular directions for the 
kind of food especially adapted for them. Many pages might 
he filled with recipes for pastes and other dainty preparations, 
