34 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
January 1, 1910 
Gleanings 
FOR 
«| Bird Fanciers. 
The Norwich Canary. 
A breeder, in ‘ Canary and Cage Bird 
Life,’ says :— 
If any of your numerous readers are 
thinking of taking up a fresh variety or 
of making a start in the fancy, I would- 
advise them to take up the Norwich 
Canary. It is a very hardy bird, very 
prolific, and commands a ready sale, 
Prices are also remunerative, which is 
a consideration, especially to the working 
man, as good birds fetch a good price, 
and the inferior ones, or wastrels, as they 
are called, have a ready sale amongst 
dealers and suchlike as songsters. 
Their color, being rich, is attractive to 
all, which is a great addvantage to 
novices, as it enables them to get rid of 
their stock which the are not wanting to 
keep. 
A very good way for the novice or 
anyone who is beginning is to attend the 
shows, as moat of the societies give good 
classification for these birds, and enter 
their birds in these classes, and compare 
them with those of others, making the 
the show-room, so to speak, their school- 
room, where they will soon learn the 
good and bad points of their birds. 
Norwich Canaries have three points— 
shape, quality and color. Shape comes 
from the hen, so always have the hen a, 
typical as possible, whether yellow or 
buff, even if a bit of size has to be sacri- 
ficed to get it, and see that they are 
tight in feather. Size and color come 
from the cock, and it is necessary to see 
that these two points are prominent, in 
the cocks, and endeavor to improve each 
year on the past year’s birds. 
Then success is bound to crown your 
efforts in the end. 
Feather Plucking. 
This is a habit to which Parrots, like 
other birds kept in confinement, some- 
times become addicted, and it is a diffi- 
cult one to cure, All that can bo done is 
to pay attention to the diet of the bird, 
and furnish it with something to occupy 
its attention, as letting it have a piece of 
half-rotten wood or even a cotton-reel to 
nibble at. When wild, many of the- 
Parrot family eat woody fibre, some of 
them making it a large portion of their 
diet. One must not give a Parrot food 
of a too stimulating character, and, meat 
in any form is bad. A suitable diet is 
freshly-boiled maize, good sound hemp- 
seed, oats, Canary-seed, buckwheat. and 
dari, toget! er with green food, such as- 
The 
too exclusive use of hemp is a mistakes. 
and the ‘ bread soaked in tea’ is altogether 
wrong. Nothing containing salt must 
ever be given, but a lump of sugar now 
and then as a special treat may be 
supplied. It should not be forgotten 
that Parrots naturally dust themhelves in 
sand, and require sharp grit to aid in the 
lettuce, cabbage, and green peas. 
digestion of their food. 
A Bird Tragedy. 
Records of the nestlings and even of 
old birds perishing miserably by becom- 
ing entangled in string used by nesting 
material are not very uncommon, Finches 
appear to be the greatest sufferers, and 
the following instance, recorded by Mr. 
F. Stubbs in ‘ The Oldham Chronicle’ is: 
the only one known to me of a Reed 
Warbler being trapped in this way. He 
came upon the nest, which a boisterous: 
wind and waves of the lake swung from 
side to side until he began to fear for the 
contents. But it happened to be empty. 
A nestling was visible on the outside 
hanging by the neck. He managed to 
pull the reeds towards the bank, and then 
discovered what had happened, A long 
strand of loosely ravelled twine had beer 
woven by the birds into their nest, and 
in some unaccountable manner an un- 
feathered youngster had got its neck 
firmly noosed in a loop of the twine, an 
was hanging dead by the side of the 
nest. The other nestlings were missing: 
Human it.terference was hardly to be 
thought of, for the nest was in unbroken 
reeds growing in a couple of feet ° 
water, and nearly 6 ft. from the bank- 
He concluded that the little victim had 
been entangled in the nest, and that its 
frantic parents, in trying to release it 
had accidently turned out the other 
nestlings and tipped the noosed one over 
the edge, there to hang until it died. 
. 
