14 
CAGE-BIRDS. 
laid. If, however, jour canarj be an incorrigible egg-smasher, you had 
better purchase half a dozen ivory eggs, and each time she lays, the genuine 
egg must be removed and a fictitious one substituted. When she has done 
laying, you must restore to her her eggs and chance all the rest. If you 
store eggs in this way, it is best to keep them in a warm corner in dry sil¬ 
ver, sand. If possible, however, it is much the better plan to leave the 
birds to their own devices; indeed, if you should have a hen that cannot be 
trusted with her eggs, you had better get rid of her. 
At the expiration of the thirteen days, the birth of as many little canaries 
as there were eggs in the nest will reward your care. Then boil a chicken’s 
egg till it is hard, cut it up fine, and add to it part of a roll that has been 
soaked for a few minutes in water and then squeezed dry. With this mess, 
the birds (or rather the cock-bird, for on him the duty of feeding the children 
devolves) will feed the little ones. Never mix more than a tablespoonful 
of this food at a time, for if it is allowed to go the least sour, you will cer¬ 
tainly have to mourn your young canaries. 
If through some accident the little birds should be left orphans, it is pos¬ 
sible to bring them up by hand. Keep the nest as warm as possible; grate 
up a plain biscuit, and pound some liempseed; mix the two together, and, 
moistened with a little raw yolk of egg and water, drop morsels into their 
gaping mouths with the end of a quill. This must be done once every 
hour , from six in the morning till six in the evening. The quantity admi¬ 
nistered to each at a meal should not exceed the third of a teaspoonful. 
In a fortnight the young birds will be able to shift without their parents, 
and to feed themselves. When they are a month old you may take them out 
of the breeding-cage. Do not, however, entirely discontinue the soft food. 
It should, for at least five weeks longer, be mixed with the usual food of old 
birds. A sudden substitution of solid food for the softer sort may occasion 
constipation and death. 
The canary is a justly favored pet among boys, for it is a hardy bird, that 
requires very little trouble ; it is a pleasant, fascinating little being, full of 
quaint ways and sprightly attitudes, and, better than all, the cage is its na¬ 
tive element. 
Though an ardent admirer of all birds, and indeed of every thing which 
draws the breath of life, we can never pass the cage wherein is confined a 
mocking-bird, a thrush, an oriole, or any other of our indigenous birds, with¬ 
out a feeling of sadness and regret. 
They are not cage-birds, and never ought to be confined within the nar¬ 
row limits of wood and wire. Their attitudes show their uneasiness. The 
mellow, exultant tone of the mocking-bird sounds as joyously when the bird is 
imprisoned within a cage as when it soars high in air, its wings quivering in 
the breeze, its frame rejoicing in the glory of the sunbeams, and its ken sur¬ 
veying the wide panorama which lies spread beneath its gaze. But the ges¬ 
tures of the bird are full of eloquent misery, and speak volumes to him 
who will stop and listen with his eyes. 
