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the moment they are laid. However, regard to their food; it may be ren

this practice is more adapted to our own convenience than to that of the bird, and is contrary to the economy of nature; it makes the mother part with a great deal of heat unneceffarily, and burdens her at once with five or fix young, which incommode her more than they give her pleasure; while, when the fees them come fucceffively One after the other, her pleasures are multiplied, and her ftrength and courage fupported accordingly, very intelligent bird fancyers have affured me, that the natural way has always fucceeded better with them than the above-mentioned practice.

Indeed I muft fay that, in general, too fubtle practices, and the fcrupulous. cares which our writers advife us to beftow on the rearing of birds, are more hurtful than ufeful. We muft, as much as poffible, imitate nature in every thing. In their native fpot Canary birds baunt the banks of little rivulets, or of moift ravines; we must not therefore fuffer them to want water, either to drink or to bathe in. As they are natives of a very mild climate, we must defend them from the rigor of winter; but as they feem now long naturalifed with us, they are accuftomed to our cold weather, for we may keep them in a room without fire, and even with the window open, guarded however with a net-work to prevent their efcape. I have known many bird-fancyers who have affured me, that, by treating them thus hardily, they lose fewer than by keeping them in warm rooms. It is the fame with

dered more fimple, and perhaps the birds will be better for it*. One circumftance it is particularly neceffary to attend to, and that is, to beware of pairing them too foon in the feafon : in general, it is the custom to permit their union towards the 20th or 25th of March, whereas the 12th or 15th of April is a more proper time; for when they are put together while the weather is ftill cold, they grow indifferent for one another; and, if the hen happens to lay eggs, the leaves them if the weather does not grow warm; thus we lofe a whole hatching by feeking to have it too early.

The young birds are different from the old ones, not only in colour but in other qualities. A young CanaryBird of the year, obferved on the 13th of September 1772, had the head, the neck, the back, and the quill-feathers blackish, except the four first feathers of the right wing, which were whitish; the rump, the coverts of the wings, the tail, which was ftill not quite formed, and the under part of the body, were alfo of a whitish colour, and there were not as yet any feathers on the belly from the fernum to the anus. This young bird had its lower mandible entering within the upper, which was pretty thick and a little hooked. As the bird advances in age, the difpofition and fhades of the colour change; the old are diftinguished from the young. birds by ftrength, colour, and fong.The old ones have always the ftrongeft and moft vivid colours, their feet. are rougher, inclining to black if they

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* I have learnt, from the fatal experience of trufting to the directions of others, to confine my treatment to the following: I have given them for food, rape-feed and millet; water every other day in Winter, and once or twice a-day in Summer; groundfel when it is to be had once a month; chick-weed in moulting time; inftead of fugar, bruised oats and Turkey corn; but particularly great cleanness is neceffary.

Traité par M. Batteau,

I must here remark a small error: It is generally agreed, that Canary-Birds muft by. no means have groundfel while they are moulting; for that food is too cooling, and prolongs the feafon of their indipofition. The other directions given by Mr Batteau ap pear to be well founded.

are of the grey race; and the nails are thicker and longer than those of the young. The female fometimes fo much resembles the male, that it is not eafy to diftinguish the difference at firft fight however, the colours of the male are always the brighteft, his head a little thicker and longer, the temples more of an orange colour, and under the bill a flame-coloured yellow, which defcends lower than in the female; his legs are alfo longer, and he begins to record almost as foon as he can feed himself. It is true that there are hens which likewife begin thus early; but taking all these marks together, we will be at no lofs to distinguish, even before the first moulting, the cock from the hen. After that time there is no more uncertainty, for the cock declares himself by his fong.

Every quick exertion of the voice is in animals a strong indication of paffion; and as love, of all internal emotions, is that which agitates them ofteneft, and tranfports them most powerfully, they do not fail to exprefs its ardour. Birds by their fong, the bull by its lowing, the horfe by neighing, the bear by growling, all announce one and the fame defire. The ardour of this defire is by no means fo ftrong nor fo confpicuous in the female as it is in the male, and accordingly the expreffes it but feldom by her voice; that of the hen Canary-Bird is nothing more than a gentle note of tender fatisfaction, a fign of confent, which does not escape her till fhe has long liftened to and fuffered herself to be won by the ardent prayer of the male, who exerts himself to infpire her with the fame paffion which he feels,

But when her defires are once excited, there is a neceffity for gratifying them, otherwife the often falls fick and dies.

It is feldom that Canary-Birds brought up in a chamber fall fick before hatching: fometimes a few cocks over-eat themselves and die: if the hen grows fick while fhe is fitting, her eggs must be taken away and given

to another; for though the should get better foon, he will not return to her neft. The first symptom of ficknefs, especially in the cock, is melancholy: whenever he is obferved to lofe his natural gaiety, he must be put in a feparate cage and placed in the fun in the fame room with the hen. If his feathers appear rough, you must look if he has not a pimple above the tail ;— when the fuppuration here is fit to be opened, the bird often performs it himfelf with his bill; but if it goes on too flowly, it must be opened with a large needle, and the wound anointed with faliva, without mixing any falt with it, which would fmart it too much. The next day, you may let him loofe, and obferve, by his behaviour and eagerness for the hen, whether he is cured or not. If not, you must take him again, and with a fmall quill blow a little white wine under his wings, put him in the fun, and next day when you let him loofe judge as before of the state, of his health; if melancholy and dif. guft for the female continue after thefe remedies, all hope of cure is vain; he must be put into a feparate cage, and another male given to the hen fimilar to the one he has loft, or if that cannot be, one of the fame variety with herfelf: there is generally most sympathy between thofe which resemble each other, except in the cafe of cream-coloured varieties which prefer the females of any other colour. But care must be taken that the new male be not a novice, but already acquainted with the duties of a parent. When the female falls fick fhe muft have the fame treatment with the male.

The most general caufe of fickness is too abundant or too rich food :when these birds are made to breed in a cage or clofet, they often eat too much, or felect the fucculent food defigned for the young; hence the confequences are either repletion or inflammation. By keeping them in a room this inconvenience is in a great meafure prevented; becaufe being a

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mong a great number, they hinder one another from eating to excefs. A cock who eats for a long time is fure to be beaten by the other males; and the fame is the cafe with the hers; thefe quarrels give them exercife, temperance, and occupation from neceffity: it is chiefly on this account that they are felcom or never fickly in a chamber during the beeding time; it is only after hatching that infirmities and difeafes attack hem. The greater part have the pimple we mentioned a bove, and afterwards all of them are fubject to moulting. Some fupport pretty well this crange of state, and do not fail to fing a fhort while every day; but most of them lofe their voice, and fome of them even die. When the hens have attained the age of fix or seven years, many of them die in moulting; the cocks fupport this fpecies of disease more eafily, and exift three or four years longer. However, as moulting is a natural effect rather than an accidental disease, these birds, would have no need of remedies, or would find fuch for themselves had they been reared by their parents in a ftate of nature and liberty. But being under reftraint, fed by us and made more delicate, moulting, which to birds at freedom is only an indifpofition, a lefs perfect ftate of health, becomes to those in captivity a ferious and often fatal malady, for which indeed there are but few remedies*. It remains only to say that moulting is the lefs dangerous, if it happens early, that is, in a good feafon of the year. Young Canary-Birds moult early in the year, about fix weeks after they are hatched they become melancholy, appear rough, and put their head under the wing. Their down fails in

this firft moulting; and in the second the following year, the large feathers, even thofe of the wings and tail, fall likewife. The young birds of the last brod, which have not been hatched till September or later, fuffer accordingly much more in moulting than thote which were batched in the spring. Cold weather is very unfriendly to this ftate, and they would all die were they not kept in a temperate, or rather warm place. While this function is going on, that is, for fix weeks or two months, nature labours to produce new feathers; and the organic nolecules which had been previously employed in forming the fen inal fluid, are now engaged in this new production; accordingly, when moulting, birds neither breed nor pair; for the fuperflux of life is wanting, which every being mult have before it can convey it to others.

The most fatal and most common difeafe that the young Canary Birds especially are fubject to, is that called the furfeit, in which their bowels feem to defcend to the extremity of the body. The intestines are feen through the skin, in a state of inflammation, redness, and difter fion; the feathers on the part fall off; the birds grow emaciated, give over eating, tho' they fit perpetually befide their meat, and die in a few days. The cause of this disease is the too great quantity, or too fucculent quality of the food. All medicines are fruitless; diet alone can fave a few out of the number of birds thus affected. They must be put into feparate cages, and nothing given to them but water and lettuce feed: this food is cooling and purgative, it tempers the ardour which confumes them, and fometimes caufes evacuations

* At moulting time put a bit of steel, not iron, into their water, changing it three times a week: give them no other medicine, only put a little more hemp-feed than usual among their meat during this critical period. Note of Father Bougot. Obferve that fteel is preferable to iron, only that you may be sure there is no ruft, which would de more harm than good,

tions that fave their lives. In fine, we may obferve, that this disease proceeds folely from our method of rearing these birds, for it is feldom that thofe fed by the parent birds are ever attacked with it. We ought therefore to be particularly cautious of over. feeding them when we bring them up with the ftick: boiled rape feed, a little groundfel without fugar or bif cuit, and in general rather too little than too much food, is the most approved method.

When the Canary-bird utters a faint and frequent cry, which feems to iffue from the bottom of his ftomach, he is faid to be afthmatic: he is also fubject to a fort of extinction of voice, elpecially after moulting: the afthma is cured by adminiftering plantain feed and hard biscuit foaked in white wine: and the extinction of voice by good food, fuch as yolks of eggs mixed with the crumb of bread; and for drink, a ptifan of liquorice; that is, water in which liquorice root has been steeped and boiled.

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Canary-Birds are frequently affected with ulcers in the mouth; these proceed likewife from too abundant or too fucculent food, which often duces inflammation in the throat and palate, and must be cured by cooling diet, fuch as lettuce-feed with water, in which fome bruifed melon-feeds have been put.

Thefe birds are likewise infested with a fort of lice and the scab, owing to the flovenly manner in which they are kept. Therefore care fhould be taken to keep them always very clean, giving them water to bathe in ; never putting them into cages of old wood, never covering thefe but with new cloth where there have been no moths, and fifting and washing the feeds and herbs given them for food. Thefe little cares must be bestowed on them if we would have them neat and healthy; they would be fo if they were in a state of liberty; but confined and ill seen to, they are, like all

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prifoners, fubject to the evils of capti vity. Of all thofe we have mentioned, none feem to be natural except. moulting. There are even fome of thofe birds which, in this wretched ftate of captivity, are never fick, cuftom feeming to have made it to them a fecond nature. In general, the fault of their temperament is excess of heat, and therefore they constantly need water. When wild, they are found near rivulets or moift places bathing is neceffary for them at all fea fons; for if a plateful of fnow is put into their cage, they will lie down in it and turn themselves upon it with figns of pleasure, even in time of the greateft cold: this fact proves fufficiently, that it is more noxious than ufeful to keep them in very warm places.

But there is another difsease to which the Canary-bird, as well as others, fuch as the Gold-Finch, are fubject to, especially in confinement; I mean the Epilepfy. The yellow Canary-Birds are most liable to this falling-fickness, which feizes them in a moment, even when they are finging the loudeft. It is faid they ought not to be touched or taken up when they fall, but that we ought merely to obferve if they have voided a drop of blood at the bill, in which cafe they will come to themselves and recover in a little space their fenfe and life ; that touching them before would make the drop fall too soon, and would occafion their death. I wfh the truth of this account were well ascertained, for fome facts in it appear to me doubtful. This much is certain, that when they furvive the first fit, they often live as long after it as if they had never been attacked by it. I believe, however, that they might all be cured by giving them a flight wound in the feet, for in this way Parrots are often cured of the epilepfy.

How many evils attend upon flavery! In ftate of freedom would thefe birds be afthmatic, fcabby, or epilep

and neither hear nor fee the male; but when they are excited by the fight of him, or by his fong, they lay much more frequently: fuch effect have objects, even at a distance, on the powers of fentient beings. I cannot better conclude this fubject than by extracting the following remarks of a letter from the Honourable Daines Barrington to M. Maty, on the finging of birds:

tic? Would they be liable to inflam,
mations, to imposthames, to ulcers?
and is not the most direful of all dif
eafes, that arifing from ungratified
love, common to every being in capti-
vity? Females efpecially, being more
deeply tender, more delicately fufcep-
tible, are more fubject to it than males.
It is remarked, that the hea Canary
Bird often grows fickly at the begin-
ning of Spring, before the has got a
mate; fhe fadeš, pines, and dies in a
few days. The vain emotions and
ungratified defires which then feize her
fuddenly, are the cause of her languor,
when the hears fo many males finging
around her whom she cannot approach.
The cock, though the cause of the de-
fire and the most ardent in appearance,"
refifts better than the famale the evils
of celibacy; he feldom dies of priva-
tion, but often of excess.

"Most people who keep Canary"Birds, do not know they fing chief"ly either the Tit-Lark or the Nightingale's notes.

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Nothing however can be more "marked than the note of a Nightingale, called its Jug, which moft of the Canary-Birds brought from thẻ "Tyrol commonly have, as well as " feveral Nightingale ftrokes, or par "ticular paffages in the fong of that "bird.

Upon the whole, the phyfical temperament of the hen Canary-Bird is "I have mentioned the fuperior like that of the females of other birds. "knowledge in the inhabitants of She can lay eggs without any com- "London, because I am convinced, munication with the male, but they "that if others are confulted in relation are addle, and the heat of incubation to the finging of birds, they will corrupts instead of vivifying them."only mislead, inftead of giving any It has been obferved, that hens feldom "material or useful information." lay eggs if they are totally fequeftered,

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Anecdote of Monf. Dangeau, the French Grammarian.

HIS gentleman flourished to- to very ludicrous fituations, and to a

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and was a member of the French academy. He was a very fkilful grammarian, and applied himself chiefly to the cultivation and improvement of the French language. His mind was fo engroffed with the particular object of his ftudies, that he difregarded every other purfuit as of inferior importance; and his inattention in company, in confequence of the abstraction of his thoughts from every thing but his favourite fubject, expofed him fometimes

however, he was very ready to join. He happened one day to be in a mixed company where the converfation turned on the miseries of war, and the calamities likely to happen in confequence of that in which the French nation was then engaged. "Likely to happen!" fays Dangeau. "Happen what will, I have in my common-place book no less than two thousand French verbs all well conjugated."

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