INTRODUCTION. 
TIME FOR REMOVING- WILD BIRDS FROM I HE NEST. 
It may be necessary that I should give some general direc¬ 
tions about the time at which it is desirable to remove young 
wild birds, intended to be reared, from the nest. This is when 
the tail quills shoot forth, and when all the feathers begin to 
expand, and before the birds can yet completely open their 
eyes. If they are removed earlier, their stomachs are too weak 
to endure the food of the aviary, and if it take place later, it is 
usually extremely difficult to induce them to open their beaks 
to receive food with which they are unacquainted. But there 
are species of birds which can at all times be easily fed and 
tamed. As a general rule, all seed-eating birds may be 
tamed, both adult and young. 
DISEASES OF TAME BIRDS. 
Like all tame animals, birds that are kept in confinement, 
are exposed to more maladies than those which live at large; * 
and especially as they are frequently so closely confined in 
cages that they have scarcely room to move. These maladies, 
however, are considerably increased by their having all kinds 
of delicacies, as pastry, sugar, &c., given them, which spoil 
their stomachs and usually produce a slow consumption. 
The following are the chief maladies which affect birds, and 
their remedies, as laid down by Dr. Bechstein, the efficiency 
of which he proved upon his own. Indeed, the variety of birds, 
as well as the variety of their food, requires also a difference 
of treatment in their maladies; and in speaking of each species, 
I shall have occasion to notice how their peculiar diseases may 
be treated, when the general remedies are not suitable to their 
nature. 
* It has been frequently asserted that birds in their natural state are never ill, but 
is is unfounded. 
