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Our  Canaries 
THE  MORALITY  OF  CAYENNE  FEEDING. 
After  a  time  the  practice  of  cayenne  feeding  began  to  be  severely  criticised 
and  denounced  as  cruel  and  objectionable.      Opinions  were  divided  on  the 
subject,   and  although  those  whose  experience  and  knowledge  of  the  subject 
gave  the  greatest  weight  to  their  opinions  were  among  those  who  most  strongly 
repudiated  the  idea  of  cruelty,  or  any  evil  effects  upon  the  health  or  system 
of  the  birds,  it  may  be  well  within  the  bounds  of  probability  that  the  unskil- 
ful or  indiscriminate  use  of  a  powerful  stimulant  like  cayenne  as  a  daily  item 
of  food  for  weeks  together  was  not  altogether  without  ill-effect.     That  the 
wholesale  destruction  of  health  and  disorganisation  of  liver  which  was  laid  to 
Its  charge  by  over-zealous  opponents  was  literally  correct,  we  do  not  for  a 
moment  believe.    The  obvious  vigour  and  stamina  of  the  colour-fed  breeds  as 
a  whole  were  diametrically  opposed  to  such  a  theory.    Other  known  causes, 
too,  of  these  ill-effects  were  apt  to  be  overlooked,  such  as  feeding  largely,  or  al- 
most solely,  as  was  often  the  case,  upon  rich  egg-food  for  weeks  at  a  time  during 
the  whole  course  of  the   moult  ;    and  rightly  or  wrongly  cayenne  was  the 
convenient  peg  upon  which  all  and  sundry  losses  and  ills  in  Canarydom  were 
promiscuously  suspended  and  held  up  to  opprobrium. 
But  if  cayenne  feeding  had  in  reality  been  an  unalloyed  evil  it  was 
certainly  of  that  type  from  which  good  is  eventually  evolved.  For  it  set  men 
thmkmg  and  investigating  in  other  directions  for  a  less  noxious  substitute,  with 
the  result  that  the  colouring  properties  of  the  "  tasteless  peppers  "  which  are 
now  commonly  used  for  the  purpose  were  discovered.  It  was  a  misfortune  that 
this  substance  came  to  be  popularly  known  as  "  tasteless  pepper,"  as  it  is' 
doubtless  due  to  this  term  that  much  of  the  prejudice  against  the  old  cayenne 
feeding  is  still  attached  to  it,  whereas  the  fruit  from  which  it  is  prepared  is 
as  harmless  and  innocuous  as  the  succulent  tomato,  which  it  resembles  in  no 
small  degree. 
OUR  MODERN  SYSTEM. 
The  present  system  of  colour-feeding  is  well  explained  in  the  following 
notes  kindly  contributed  by  Tvlr.  J.  W.  Ramsden,  whose  researches  into  the 
subject  of  the  botanical  identity  of  the  plant  from  which  our  "  tasteless  pepper  " 
is  obtained  have  been  somewhat  extensive.  "To-day,"  writes  Mr.  Ramsden, 
"  the  article  most  used  for  colour-feeding  is  what  is  known  as  tasteless  or 
sweet  red  pepper.  A  pure  sweet  pepper  is  not  only  harmless,  but  beneficial 
to  the  most  fragile  and  delicate  bird.  It  is  the  fruit  of  the  Capsicum  annnum 
grossum  cultivated  in  Spain  and  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  used  for  salads 
or  served  like  tomatoes.  Colour-feeding  improves  and  deepens  the  natural  colour 
of  the  bird  that  is  being  fed.  It  will  therefore  be  easily  understood  that  the  bird 
that  will  be  richest  in  colour  after  being  colour-fed,  will  be  the  bird  that 
was  richest  in  natural  colour.    To  obtain  natural  colour  you  must  breed  for  it. 
