100 
CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
and free from draughts. As the weather will most hkely ; 
be warm, the moult commonly occurring in July or August, 
you need not muffle them up : hang them in the sunshine as ' 
much as possible, give them hemp-seed and stale sponge I 
cake, and any nourishing food they seem to fancy ; they v\nll ' ■ 
not eat much. Let them constantly have a lump of sugar i 
to peck, and throw into their water a little saffron or a piece i 
of refined liquorice now and then. William Kidd recom- ' 
mends a very small quantity of raw beef scraped and 
moistened with cold water about once a week, and ripe 
chickweed, with yolk of eggs ; and an American breeder * 
says that, Should the moult prove uncommonly bad, the , 
bird should have sponge cake soaked in sheny wine, and a 
little of the same wine blown over his feathers every day or 
two while he is drooping. At this time be very careful to 
keep your birds supplied with sand or gravel." 
Want of appetite sometimes occurs after breeding, moult- ! 
ing, or other sickness: in this case, the bird should be [ 
tempted to eat by any little dainties that can be thought of ; i 
a composition, made of millet, canary, rape, and hemp seed, [ 
mixed with moist garden loam, and then dried in the foriiik ] 
of cakes, has been found of service in this disorder. -j 
Cancer is sometime prevalent among canaries : it appears i 
to be contagious, and generally attacks the feet or the bill, j 
which become much swollen ; take care to keep the cage i 
perfectty clean, and bathe the part affected frequently with i 
olive or almond oil wash it also with lukewarm milk. \ 
Brolien limhs are best left to themselves: human con- j 
trivances, where &o fragile a thing as a bird's leg or wing is : 
concerned, are generally more mischievous than useful; 
nature will perform the cure if it is to be done : place the 
little sufferer carefully and tenderly in a small cage without 
perches upon some soft hay, let the seed box and wateivt 
vessel be within reach, and muffle up the cage with flannel , 
or baize, and keep everything as quiet as possible, so that the 
bird may not be excited to move ; the chances are that, in a 
few days, all will be right again. 
Decline. — A hen canary will som.etimes mope and pme 
fiway v/ithout any perceptible cause ; this is usually on ac- . 
• H. B. Hirst, Booli of Cage Birds, Philadelphia. j 
