CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
7 
conduce to its health and happiness ? And as this will de- 
pend very much upon the particular species of bird in ques- 
tion, a few general rules are all that we can here lay 
down. 
First, let us impress upon our readers the necessity for 
cleanliness and attention to the wants and comforts of the 
little prisoners. If birds are kept in a state of confinement, 
which is not natural to them, it should ever be borne in mind 
that they are so for the pleasure or profit of those who keep 
them, and with whom it ought to be a matter of duty to see 
that they are properly cared for, and rendered as comfortable 
as circumstances will admit. It very commonly happens 
that domestic pets come to an untimely end, and with birds 
especially is this the case ; and how can we account for this, 
otherwise than by the supposition, that there has been great 
neg'lig-ence somewhere ? Birds are not naturally tender and 
delicate creatures, but cage birds generally are so, their 
artificial mode of life renders them highly susceptible of all 
atmospheric changes, and liable to diseases with which in 
their wild state they are never attacked, or if so, their in- 
stinct teaches them where to resort for the necessary reme- 
dies. How cruel is it, then, if you doom them to confine- 
ment, to devote them also to sufiering, and probably death, 
because you will not take the pains to minister to their w^ants, 
and protect them from the various casualties which endanger 
their prison life. 
The practice of leaving cage birds to the care of servants 
cannot be too strongly reprehended ; by these they are ge- 
nerally considered as a trouble and a nuisance, and their 
destruction, if it be not hastened, is seldom guarded against, 
for the sooner they are out of the way the better." Let 
the lady feed and tend her pet canary, or other sweet 
songster, herself 7'egidarly ; ay, let her clean out its cage, 
too, or, at least, see that it is done, and so repay in some 
slight degree the debt of gratitude which she owes the bird, 
kept a prisoner for her gratification. 
These remarks have been forced from us by a keen sense 
of the wrongs and injuries to which our feathered friends are 
constantly subjected, arising from an observation of the vast 
amount of unnecessary suffering* entailed upon them by care- 
lessness more than heartlessness. We are persuaded that 
