Our  Canaries  ^5 
generally,  though  if  looked  at  carefully,  or  examined  with  a  low-power  lens,  it 
will  be  found  to  bear  a  somewhat  horse-shoe-shaped  white  mark  upon  its  back. 
In  size  it  ranges  from  a  very  slightly  larger  outline  than  one  of  our  periods, 
thus—  .  —for  the  largest  specimens  downwards,  until  they  verge  on  the  invisible, 
and  throughout  the  various  stages  of  growth  the  colour  varies  through  all  shades 
of  crimson,  and  becomes  grey  or  ashy-white  in  the  most  minute  specimens. 
These  light-coloured  miniature  mites,  however,  must  not  be  confounded  with 
grey  lice,  which  are  much  larger,  and  will  always  be  found  principally  upon  the 
bird,  whereas  these  light,  or  greyish-coloured  mites  will  be  found  inhabiting  the 
cracks  and  joints  about  the  cage,  wherein  the  insects  harbour  and  hide  away 
during  the  day,  and  where  they  also  breed.  They  are,  in  fact,  nocturnal  in  their 
habits,  and  have  to  be  searched  for  to  be  seen  during  the  day.  They  are  of  a 
rounded  shape,  with  flattened  bodies,  and  comparatively  small  heads,  and  may  be 
likened  to  a  tiny  spider— to  which  class  of  insects  they  are  not  so  very  distantly 
related — with  the  abdomen  pressed  fiat. 
When  a  cage  is  badly  infested  with  these  insects  it  can  almost  invariably  be 
spotted  "  on  sight  "  once  one  has  learned  to  read  the  significance  of  a  few 
external  signs.  Any  small  crack  or  open  joint  in  any  part  of  the  cage,  the  ends 
of  the  perches,  and  the  hinges  of  swing  doors,  will  soon  get  blocked  up  with  the 
hosts  of  mites  that  retire  there  for  harbour,  and  the  surface  of  the  wood  for  a  little 
distance  around  these  hiding  places  will  soon  become  thickly  dotted  over  with  the 
spoor  of  the  mites  in  the  form  of  minute  white  spots,  which  form  a  readily 
discernible  clue  to  the  foe  that  is  lurking  near  at  hand. 
THE  GREY  BRIGADE. 
On  the  other  hand  the  grey  louse  not  only  preys  upon  the  birds'  bodies,  but 
lives  upon  them  permanently,  and  breeds  there  too.  In  gross  bulk  it  is  probably 
no  larger  than  the  largest  mite,  but  it  is  narrower  and  more  elongated  in  shape, 
and  the  head,  which  is  attached  to  the  body  by  a  rather  slender  attachment, 
somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the  common  house  fly,  is  comparatively  enormously 
large,  being  almost  one-half  the  size  of  the  body.  This  feature  alone  will  always 
distinguish  it  from  the  mite.  It  is  of  an  ashy-grey  colour,  with  a  darker  streak 
down  the  back,  and  the  head  is  also  slightly  darker  than  the  body.  When  a  bird 
is  infested  with  these  pests,  if  it  is  held  in  the  hand  for  a  minute  or  two,  numbers 
of  them  will  leave  the  plumage,  among  which  they  may  be  seen  scurrying  about, 
and  swarm  all  over  the  hand  in  which  the  bird  is  held.  The  chief  breeding  places 
are  around  the  neck  and  the  base  of  the  tail,  where  they  deposit  their  eggs,  or 
"nits,"  and  attach  them  securely  with  a  gluey  secretion  provided  by  nature  to  the 
base  of  the  feathers,  so  that  however  much  the  victim  may  bathe  and  plume  and 
shake  out  its  feathers,  there  is  extremely  little  chance  of  its  getting  quite  rid  of  the 
pest  without  some  outside  help. 
