THE CHAEPINCII. 
“ ‘ Cut what ? * replied the injured Meatey. ‘ Musn’t a 
fellow wipe his nose ? Wei], I’m blowed ! ’ 
“ ‘ Not with the hanksher yon carries him abont in,’ responded 
the porter. ‘ I knows yer.’ 
“ Meanwhile, the Roarer, who seemed to understand he had 
incurred his master’s displeasure, tried hard to make up for 
lost time. He tried too hard. He galloped over his notes so 
furiously that one out of every three was imperfect. He would 
get as far as “ chickwee ” and utterly lose sight of the “ do ; ” 
whilst the old soldier, with a steady tramp, marched in double 
quick time through every note he uttered. The fifteen minutes 
passed over, and the Sergeant won the match by ten notes.” 
The Chaffinch’s Cage. — No bird-cage is so modest as the 
one proper for the chaffinch. It should be oblong, nine inches 
across, seven inches deep, and seven high. It is useless to put 
him in a larger cage — that is, if you want him to sing, and 
not merely to look at. If you give him sufficient room, he will 
do nothing but hop to and fro from one perch to another. The 
top of his cage should be flat and solid — not dome-shaped 
and wired — as, if placed in a cage of the latter sort, the chaffinch 
would at once acquire the disagreeable habit of “ twilling,” 
that is, looking over his head, and so twisting his neck as to 
overbalance himself. All seed- eating birds are addicted to 
this tiresome habit, and the only way to cure them is to shut 
out the light above their heads. One side of the chaffinch’s 
cage should also be of wood, so as to hinder his seeing any 
other bird there may be in the room, otherwise he will probably 
sulk, and do nothing but utter the unpleasant hiss by 
which he expresses his displeasure. Let the food trough be 
placed on one side of the cage, and the water glass at the other, 
with a perch opposite each. Take the precaution of fitting 
his trough with a lid in which two or three holes are bored, as, 
if he is allowed an open trough, he will be found a shocking 
fellow to waste his seed. 
How to Feed the Chaffinch. — The chaffinch’s staple food 
should be rape- seed. Some people give their birds equal 
quantities of rape and hemp, but I never yet knew an instance 
where a bird was so fed, that he did not go blind by the time 
he was six years old, or die of consumption even before that 
time. Notwithstanding, in moderation, hemp- seed is a good 
thing to give to chaffinches. It is good when they are 
about to moult, when you wish them to sing particularly 
strong, and when they have colds. Five parts rape-seed, and 
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