14: CAGE AND SINGING BIRD3. 
the seed. As tlie latter is cracked and eaten, the hulls fall [ 
to the ground; and a fresh supply descends from above, the s 
apparatus heing* self-supplying. Four of these hoppers are t 
to be suspended on the wall, between and on each side of 1 
looking-glasses, recommended to be fastened to the bnck of 1 
the aviary. I'hey should be regularly emptied and cleaned ' 
out twice every month, as a quantity of dust is apt to collect 
in them : if kept half filled only, waste is not so likely to 
occur as otherwise. 
The pans for the food of the soft-billed birds must be icept 
always on the ground; they should be made of glass or 
china, and be of a square form. The floor of the aviary 
should be cleaned daily, and always kept supplied with sand, 
small gravel, and old mortar well dried and bruised. 
FOOD. 
Of course, in selecting and preparing the food of cage 
birds, their natural habits must be studied as far as possible, 
and the great difference which prevails in these renders it 
impossible that any one form of prescribed diet would be 
applicable to all. Nevertheless, as these birds are divisible 
into certain classes distinguished by the kind of substances 
on which they feed, and as all bird-nature is to a certain \ 
extent alike, a few general rules upon this subject may be 
well and safely laid down. 
And first, let us observe, that it is sometimes extremely diffi- 
cult to get newly-captured birds to eat at all, partly because 
that which is offered to them is not quite what they have been 
accustomed to, and partly, no doubt, on account of giief at 
their loss of liberty, and fear arising out of the strange 
scenes and circumstances amid which they find themselvL»s. 
They will not unfrequently refuse to take any nourishment, 
and will inevitably pine and die if some means are not taken 
to induce them to eat. Dr. Meyer, of Offenbach, com- 
municated to Bechstein the following mode of getting over 
this difficulty. Place the bird in the cage in which it is in- 
tended to keep it, with plenty of the proper food and drmk 
in open vessels ; let it remain undisturbed for several hours ; 
then catch it, and immerse it in fresh water ; after which, place 
it back in the cage, and again leave it for awhile. The em- 
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