CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
93 
sliding door may be left opeii; as there is no longer any oc- 
icasion for keeping the birds separate. Seven or eight davs 
after pairing, the first egg is generally laid, and each day 
after another, until the whole four or five are produced ; iii 
about thirteen days from this time the young ought to make 
their appearance 3 wait another day, and should there then 
be no signs of hatching, take the eg'gs carefully from the 
nest, keep them for four or five minutes in lukewarm water, 
and then replace them ; it is well before doing this to hold 
them up to the light, as if they are semi-transparent, they 
are bad and may be destroyed ; this experiment may be 
tried when the eggs have been sat on eight days only, and 
the mother bird, perhaps, may be saved some imnecessary 
trouble and loss of time. Sometimes a hen will lay three or 
four eggs, and then desert the nest ^ if those eggs are ex- 
amined, they will generally be found bad : by what secret 
instinct is the bird informed of this ? Some hens will cut 
their eggs, and some turn them out of the nest and break 
them 5 in the former case it is generally hunger which 
drives the bird to do it; to prevent this, food should be 
prepared over night, and placed where she can easily get it ; 
in the latter case, you may be pretty sure that your hen is a 
hasty impatient bird, that will not endure the drudgery of 
attending to her ofi'spring : if she hatches them, they will 
most likely be served as the eggs were, or left to perish of 
hunger ; such a bad mother should not be used as a breeder. 
Before deciding on this, however, examine the feet of the 
bird, as this overturning of the nest will sometimes occur 
from the claws being dirty and clogged, or the nails too long. 
As soon as the young are hatched, Bechstein recommends 
that a small jar should be placed beside the common feed- 
ing-trough, containing a quarter of a hard-boiled egg-, 
minced very fine, with a piece of white bread, previously 
soaked in water and squeezed dry ; and with this another 
jar, containing rape-seed which has been boiled and well 
washed, to deprive it of all acrimony; these should be 
prepared fresh every morning. It sometimes happens that 
young mothers are so over careful and anxious about the 
eggs not hatched, that they will not leave the nest to feed the 
young birds which are, and so they get starved : if you keep 
d register of the laying of the eggs^ you will know exactly 
