INTRODUCTION. 
vn 
on, to give it the same food; after having had the bird for some time, say 
a week or so, during which period it must on no account be exposed to 
any cold, but the temperature be kept even, say about 70°, the baize cover 
may be gradually removed, and the bird accustomed to the ordinary temper- 
ature of the house, but in any case it will be well to cover it up at night. 
We now come to a point which is of the utmost importance to observe, 
namely, the treatment of a newly-purchased Parrot during the night. Many 
people are apt to forget that when the light and the fire are out during 
the night in a room which had been very warm during the day-time, the 
temperature falls a considerable number of degrees, and the bird gets chilled, 
and too often dies. If the owner has a fire in her bed-room, let her 
take the cage up with her when she is going to bed herself, but if not, 
let the fire be well banked up before retiring to rest, and let no housemaid 
enter the room in the morning before the mistress of the bird: for house- 
maids, as a rule, even when not actually inimical to Parrots, are utterly 
regardless of them, and have a habit of throwing up the window, even on 
the coldest morning, and letting the chilly outside air blow in keenly on 
the bird, which feels it all the more from having been kept snug and 
■warm before; and it is this mauvais quart d'lieure in the morning before 
the fire is lit, and while the room is being “dusted”, that is fatal to so 
many Parrots, whose owners wonder how “poor Polly” can possibly have 
taken cold. 
It may here be asked, “Supposing my Parrot to have taken cold, what 
ls the best course to adopt?” Well, in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred, 
the bird will, in spite of every care, gradually get worse and die; but in 
the hundreth “she’.’ has an extraordinarily good constitution, and if kept 
m an equable temperature of from 70 to 75 0 , and fed on soft food, soaked 
bread and boiled maize, for instance, and has tepid or lukewarm water to 
drink, she will recover: but prevention is better than cure; see that your 
bird does not catch cold, and you will not have the trouble of nursing it, 
a nd the grief of seeing it suffer, and probably die. 
Avoid purchasing a Parrot in the winter time, and especially avoid having 
°ne sent to you a long distance by rail; but curb your natural impatience 
to become the owner of a Parrot until summer, and, where practicable, 
carry home your prize from the place where you have bought it; and, 
having got it home, see that is exposed to no draught, even in summer, 
but is gradually accustomed to the ordinary variations of temperature in 
your house. 
