Our  Canaries 
195 
prevent  the  birds  climbing  about  the  wires  or  injuring  their  plumage  by  rubbing 
against  them,  and  the  wildest  birds  may  be  moulted  in  safety  one  in  each  cage, 
and  they  will  invariably  be  found  to  grow  materially  steadier  during  the  process. 
All  food  and  water  vessels  are  arranged  inside  in  sliding  troughs,  and  the  door 
may  either  be  placed  in  front  as  usual,  which  necessitates  raising  the  glass  slide  to 
introduce  the  hand,  or  it  may  be  cut  out  of  one  end  as  in  a  show  cage. 
TO  START  THE  BIRDS. 
Given  healthy,  vigorous  stock,  no  special  efforts  will  be  necessary  to  get 
the  birds  well  started  in  moult  at  the  proper  season.  The  closing  of  the 
breeding  season  is  an  important  factor,  and  when  an  early  moult  is  particu- 
larly desired  the  first  step  towards  it  must  be  the  early  separation  of  all 
breeding  pairs.  The  birds  should  then  be  allowed  to  fly  in  good  large  flight 
cages  and  be  fed  plainly  for  a  week  or  two.  At  this  period  a  little  colour-food 
must  be  given  three  times  a  week  to  all  the  birds  that  are  eventually  to  be 
colour-fed.  About  the  end  of  July,  if  the  weather  is  warm  and  dry,  cover 
over  the  flights,  give  a  more  generous  diet,  and  await  events.  Do  not  be 
impatient  at  this  stage.  Keep  a  close  watch  upon  the  cages,  and  as  soon  as 
a  wing  or  tail  feather  is  discovered  on  the  floor  of  the  flights  containing  adult 
birds,  if  they  are  to  be  colour-fed,  discover  the  bird  that  has  dropped  it  and 
transfer  the  individual  at  once  to  the  moulting-cage,  where  it  must  be  given 
the  colour-food  daily  (as  described  in  our  next  chapter). 
It  will  always  be  most  advisable  to  transfer  the  birds  to  the  moulting- 
cages  in  twos  at  the  same  time  to  prevent  quarrels  when  a  second  bird  is 
placed  in  these  small  cages  with  one  that  has  already  been  in  occupation  for 
some  time.  Therefore,  if  a  single  specimen  drops  into  moult,  another  one 
that  shows  the  dull,  listless  appearance,  loose  and  comparatively  rough  plumage, 
now  and  again  snatching  "forty  winks"  of  sleep  during  the  day,  and  often 
pecking  aimlessly  about  the  floor  of  the  cage  for  something  it  does  not  seem 
to  find  (which  are  all  symptoms  of  an  early  onset  of  the  moult),  should  be 
selected  to  go  into  the  moulting-cage  with  it. 
THE  YOUNG  BIRDS'  MOULT. 
The  moulting  of  the  young  birds  differs  from  that  of  the  adults  by  the 
retention  by  them  of  the  large  quill  feathers  in  the  tail  and  wings — or,  as  they 
are  popularly  termed,  the  flights  and  tail.  These  feathers  are  not  shed 
naturally  until  the  second  moult,  when  the  bird  is  in  its  second  year.  Conse- 
quently the  commencement  of  the  moult  is  indicated  by  the  appearance  of  a 
few  small  feathers,  which  one  must  be  satisfied  are  cast  off"  naturally,  and  not 
plucked  out  by  its  fellows. 
Otherwise  the  order  of  the  moult  is  the  same  in  old  and  young — from 
stern  to  stem,  so  to  speak,  the  hindermost  body  feathers  being  cast  off  first 
83  .  . 
