THE LINNET. 
with regard to the goldfinch mule — with this difference. A 
goldfinch will require two hens. When the first brood is a week 
old, you may put into the cage another hen, and another set of 
breeding-boxes ; thus, in three weeks, you will have two 
families of goldfinch mules. The linnet, however, is no 
bigamist, and if you were to give him another wife, after his 
first little family was born, his modesty would be so outraged 
that the new comer would have rather a harassing time of it. 
Some prefer to breed from male canaries and female linnets 
and goldfinches, but this I do not advise, as I always find that 
birds born of such unions are not near so handsome as the 
others; besides, the song of both parents is not so nicely 
blended, and the mule is sure to have a much greater share of 
one than the other. 
Thirteen days after the last egg is laid the little birds will 
make their appearance. Boil together, for ten minutes, grated 
French roll and rape- seed, squeeze it dry, and add to it the 
yellow of a hard-boiled egg; mash this into a soft paste, and 
put a supply of it daily inside the cage. If the hen (or the 
cock) appears to take proper care of their progeny, let her have 
the sole management of them for five weeks. Then put them 
into small cages, and gradually wean them from the paste with 
flax, rape, and canary-seed. Keep a head of groundsel between 
the wires of the young birds’ cage. It sometimes happens that 
the fledglings while in the nest will get in a duty condition, 
their feathers will be matted together, and not only will the 
bird look unsightly, but, if allowed to remain so, its health will 
suffer. Dip the nestling in a basin of warm water, and clean 
him with a flannel and Windsor soap. Be sure you dry the 
bird thoroughly ; first, as well as you can with a towel, and 
afterwards by holding it near the fire. 
If the parent birds should neglect their little ones (not at all 
an uncommon occurrence) you will have to take them in hand 
yourself.’ Feed them with the food already mentioned as good 
for young birds, — the first week every hour in the day, after 
that every two hours. Feed them with a quill, and as tenderly 
as possible, as if you should hurt their mouths or throats they 
will probably refuse the food altogether. 
The Linnet’s Cage. — Give him room enough. The old 
fashioned rule as to the “ proper size ” of the linnet’s cage 
being eight inches high, six deep, and seven wide, is happily 
fast disappearing. People begin to discover that it is no more 
proper to immure a bird in a morsel of a cage than it is for a 
214 
