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consequently preserves the colour of the birds intact; but by all means let them have a plentiful supply of fresh air. It is said by some old experienced exhibitors that it is not possible to keep a bird "up" in colour for a whole season; and that it is necessary for any one to have three or four prize birds to accomplish anything approaching a feat as a successful exhibitor; but I can assure those who feel disposed to try this plan that they will be well satisfied with the result.

CRESTED BIRDS sometimes have a difficulty in throwing off their head gear when moulting; when this is found to be the case, remove the feathers by hand. Do it as gently as you can, a few at a time, day by day, until all are withdrawn; they come off very easily at this time, and do not cause pain to the birds. It is very desirable that the moulting of the crest should not be protracted, or it will appear stunted in its growth.

If a show-bird has the misfortune to damage a tail- or wingfeather, it should be withdrawn as soon as the mishap is discovered.

Cayenne feeding and artificial heat-say about 60deg. Fahr. -especially the latter, are great factors in developing and increasing the size of the crest in Crested Norwich and Lancashire Coppy Canaries.

During the process of the moult it is necessary to feed liberally, and more particularly those birds which appear out of sorts, or those that have been bred with for several months. The process of moulting greatly reduces the strength, and frequently impairs the vitality of birds; so that strengthening and invigorating food, and a plentiful supply of pure air, free from draughts, are of considerable importance at this period. Hard-boiled eggs mixed with bread or biscuit, a few groats, a little hemp-seed, inga-seed, maw-seed, and linseed, together with a bit of sweet apple or a moderate quantity of fresh green food, often will tempt them to eat and uphold their strength. Where a large quantity of birds are kept for stock purposes, one or other of the compounds may be used with advantage and at small expense. A bath during warm dry days will be found of much service.

CHAPTER VI.

MISCELLANEOUS.

DIARY.-Those bird fanciers who intend to breed birds for exhibition or profit should keep a diary or record of their proceedings and success during each breeding season, and also a "Stud Book," to enable them to trace without difficulty the pedigrees and performances of those birds which comprise their studs.

The diary ought to be begun at the commencement of the breeding season, and continued to the end of the year, or longer if desirable-at all events until all the young birds are over the moult and the surplus stock disposed of; every event should be chronicled therein, such, for example, as the full particulars of the birds you breed from, the dates of pairing, laying, setting, hatching, &c. A few minutes should be devoted to this important duty every day, say, immediately after breakfast, if convenient, if not, at some more suitable time of day; but do not procrastinate, neither must an entry be omitted, as this would greatly mar the value of the journal. Each bird ought to have a distinguishing name or number, so that the produce of each individual pair of birds could be easily traced from one generation to another, and their blood-relationship established clearly beyond doubt. The diary should be about 14in. by 10in., moderately thick, and either plain or ruled with horizontal lines only. An entire leaf should be appropriated to the use of each pair of birds for the season. Every

occurrence should be fully recorded in this book, and if properly and carefully kept it will prove both valuable and interesting for future reference. The one kept by myself is arranged as in the following page.

When a bird dies or is sold, the fact should be duly recorded in the column headed "Remarks." If a bird dies during the breeding season, and the survivor of the pair is mated with another partner, it will be advisable to make a new entry in the diary, as if it were a distinct pair of birds. It will be found a somewhat tedious occupation to keep a journal of this description at first, but after you get accustomed to it, you will regard it more in the light of a pleasant pastime than that of an arduous task; and I can assure those who adopt this method that the perusal of these records in after years affords an agreeable, interesting, and instructive amusement, and the amount of pleasure derivable from such a source can only be realised by those people who are themselves ardent and enthusiastic lovers of birds.

STUD BOOK.-Having given on the opposite page a specimen entry of my mode of keeping a Diary of Bird Breeding, I will now proceed to give one of my "Stud Book" as well. This book can be compiled from the diaries principally, but whenever you make a new purchase, or claim a bird at any show, you must find out its pedigree as best you can; if you fail to do this, then you must content yourself by entering it with such particulars as you know, and state such facts as the following: "Claimed at . . . . Show, No. 301, V.H.C.," or whatever else may be the state of the case.

If only it would become a general practice to show all birds with a distinguishing name at our exhibitions, in the same way as dogs and other animals are shown, it would give a keener zest to those who are directly interested in them, and a stud book could be kept much easier, and the pedigrees traced back for many more generations; but, as matters stand at present, few fanciers care to go beyond the performances of the birds they possess, and that of their parent birds, and few, if any, attempt to get beyond the performances of their grandsires and granddams, because it necessitates such a large amount of

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writing; but if a bird were famed by a name or title, the record of that name and that of its owner would be all that would be needful to bring it vividly before the recollection of those men who are learned in "birdology," for they alone can properly appreciate the value of a strain of birds that have repeatedly won honours. We should then have the satisfaction of being able to trace any bird of renown and distinction after this mannerBrown's Warrior, Smith's Conqueror, Jones's Beauty, and so on; and these appellations, or similar ones, would in a short time become just as familar to our ears as are those of Fletcher's Rattler and Pickett's Tyneside, and other celebrities in the dog world.

MICE OR RATS IN BIRD ROOMS.-One of the greatest annoyances that a bird fancier has to encounter is when any of these pests make an inroad into his aviary or bird room, for they are not only mischievous and troublesome, but even dangerous and destructive, and when once they get a firm footing in any place they are most difficult to dislodge.

Whenever you discover the presence of mice among your birds, you must not neglect to examine the whole of the seedhoppers and feeding troughs attached to those cages which contain birds every morning, for I have known numerous instances where mice have literally devoured every grain of seed in a hopper or feeding drawer of a cage in a single night, and the occupants of the cage were left without a morsel of food. Some fanciers do not feed their birds more than twice or thrice at most weekly during the winter months of the year, therefore if an occurrence like the one I have just related should take place, the birds would inevitably perish. I have known valuable specimens meet with an untimely death from this cause, and the owner (a novice of course) wonders what was the matter with them, for the cunning little animals knowingly leave all the husks behind, and this tends to deceive the inexperienced and unwary.

As soon as it has become evident that the precincts of your "sanctum" are infested with mice or rats, a strict scrutiny should be immediately instituted, and their runs found out and traced to their source. Rats are more easily got rid of than

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