DISORDERS OF CAGED BIRDS.

Although we have appended to the description of each bird a brief account of a few of the disorders they are subject to, we shall now notice some of their complaints separately, so as to enforce them more strongly upon the mind of the young bird-fancier. We also give a list of the usual remedies that are applied, not only from our own experience, but from the highest acknowledged authorities.

HUSK, or ASTHMA, is a disease of not unfrequent occurrence amongst caged birds; it sometimes arises from cold, proceeding from neglect, and sometimes from the birds having had too much hempseed, which, although all birds like it, is very injurious, as it is overheating, and incites them to gorge. The curatives are aperients, such as a spider or two every day, and endive and water-cresses; occasionally boiled bread and milk, and bread soaked in water, are very good. Some persons recommend a drink, made by boiling linseed and stick-liquorice in water, as being very excellent. The symptoms are, shortness of breath, and frequent opening of the beak, and if alarmed, keeping it open for some time.

The PIP is a cold which stops up the nostrils, and hardens and inflames the membrane which covers the tongue. The symptoms are opening of the beak, its yellowness at the base, and the dryness of the tongue. A composition of pepper, fresh butter, and garlic is the best remedy, and a feather must be passed up the nostrils, for the purpose of opening them. In large birds, such as domestic fowls, it is usual to remove the inflamed skin, by tearing it off with the nail.

The SURFEIT is a disorder to which young birds are particularly subject, arising either from giving them too much food, or from their own gluttonous propensities, when they feed upon the same kind of diet. The symptom of this disorder is a swelling under the belly, owing to the bowels sinking down to the lower part of the body, and sometimes turning black. The same kind of protuberance often shows itself when the bird is suffering from a cold, and the disorder is then termed a swelling; in this case the swelling is at first white, but it afterwards turns red, as in the surfeit. The utmost care must be taken with the poor little sufferers, as few survive the last stages of this malady. Some fanciers recommend whole oatmeal as a good cleansing food during the first three or four days, putting saffron in the water at the same time; if, however, the bird is too loose, mawseed and bruised hemp-seed, with some groundsel, and saffron in the water, should be substituted. Boiled bread and milk with maw-seed put in it is by some reckoned good, as are also millet, hemp, canary, and rape seeds boiled together, with some hard boiled egg minced very small, and about as much lettuce-seed as any of the other kinds added. Treacle may be put in the water which you give the birds, before furnishing them with their daily supply of seed.

SWEATING is a disorder to which some hen canaries are subject during the time of incubation, or while they are nursing their young.

To stop this complaint, which will, unless checked, kill the young brood, some fanciers advise the hen to be washed in salt and water, then dipped in fresh water to neutralize the effect of the salt, and afterwards dried as quickly as possible, either in the sun, or with the help of dry soft cloths before the fire. This bathing and drying should be repeated once or twice a day, until the little patient recovers. The best plan to cure this disorder, however, is to take the hen away, and keep her from sitting.

OBSTRUCTION OF THE RUMP GLAND.-This gland furnishes the oil with which the birds trim their feathers; it sometimes hardens and becomes inflamed, and unless the sufferer pierces it himself, it must be cut or pierced with a needle, the inflammatory matter pressed out, and a little fine sugar dropped on the place; this simple remedy often effects a speedy cure.

LICE. The insects by which many caged birds are annoyed, are principally produced from their own slovenliness. Old wooden cages are very liable to be infested with these pests; for the insects being very minute, they get into the smallest crevices, and remain housed during the day, making their appearance only at night. Old cages should therefore either not be used, or else very frequently attended to; and if a pan of fresh water is put into the cage, it will be of great service in promoting the cleanliness of the birds, as it will enable them to sprinkle themselves.

OVERGROWN CLAWS AND BEAK.-When a bird's claws grow long, it is necessary to cut them, otherwise they are very inconvenient; they must not, however, be cut so short as to draw blood, else the bird will be lamed. The beak also requires paring sometimes, and the scissors for this purpose, and for the claws, should be perfectly sharp.

MOULTING.-While suffering from this malady, the birds must be taken great care of, supplied with plenty of nourishing food, and kept warm. Millet, lettuce, canary, maw, and hemp-seeds, bread soaked in water, and green food should be given to those birds which subsist upon seeds; and an additional supply of meal worms and ants' eggs to those which feed upon insects. A little saffron, or a rusty nail, may be put into their water with advantage.

LOSS OF VOICE.-Male canaries sometimes suffer the loss of voice after moulting; they should then be supplied with a paste composed of bread pounded very fine, mixed with well-bruised lettuce, and rape-seeds, tempered with a little yolk of egg and water.

COSTIVENESS may be removed by giving such aperients as spiders, plenty of green food, and boiled bread and milk; to those birds which subsist upon meal worms, one bruised in sweet oil and saffron will be an exceedingly good alterative.

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.

If the young fancier wishes to preserve his little captives in health and song, he must be scrupulously attentive to the cages in which they are kept; they should be cleaned out twice or thrice a week, and the perches scraped once a week at furthest, for negligence in these particulars engenders many evils which the birds only can suffer, such as gouty feet, loss of claws, &c., besides the inconveniences unpleasant to the fancier, arising from the scent of sick birds.

Some fanciers recommend the use of a lime wash for the inside of the breeding cage, once or twice during the summer months, but if careful cleaning will not keep the inmates in good health and free from vermin, the cage should be thrown aside.

Never go out for a walk without bringing home a green sod for your skylark, and a little groundsel, chickweed, or plantain for the rest of your birds; who can tell but what a little fresh green-meat hung tastefully about their cages, causes them to fancy that they are once more in their natural haunts. Never let sand nor water be wanting.

ENGLISH TALKING BIRDS.

You have most of you heard at one time or another some of those wonderful stories which are told of talking birds, how a magpie, hanging in his cage near the docks, having listened to the carmen, learnt to call out, "Back, back, gee whoo-up," until one day he, by his calling, backed a cart into the dock, where both the horses, who had obeyed the voice of the mischievous waggoner, were drowned. Of the starling, whose cage hung opposite the little stall of a poor snob, that was wont to give a long whistle, then call out "Snob" every time the poor little cobbler went home with a job, or came back with old shoes to repair, and how the snob at last got so enraged that he used to come out of his stall, shake his fist at the starling, and call the bird everything but a gentleman, while the only reply was a more prolonged whistle, and a louder cry of "Snob" from the starling. How, one day, after a long altercation with the bird, the snob came out to shy his lapstone at it; how he missed the cage, and sent the lapstone through the parlour window bang into a large aquarium, which it smashed to atoms, and left such a lot of anemones, hermit-crabs, prawns, shrimps, and we know not what besides, sprawling over the carpet, as gave the parlour "a most ancient and fish-like smell" for weeks after; and as the value of the aquarium, with its contents, was some ten pounds or more, the snob, when he heard of the damage he had done, packed up his last and awl, never came back for his lapstone, and for aught we know, plunged into the first aquarium he came to, where he may be still swimming about even to this day. Then there was the raven, who, because

the mistress was niggardly and kept the larder locked, the servants, unknown to the mistress, had taught it to call out, "Look to the cupboard; missus," and how one day the mistress came unexpectedly into the kitchen, and hearing the raven cry out, "Look into the cupboard, missus," that she opened a closet door and there found a great long-legged policeman, with half a loaf of bread in one hand, half a ham and a large knife in the other; and how, when ordered to come out, he was unable to speak on account of his mouth being so full of bread and ham. And that was where the servant girl had hidden her sweetheart when she heard her mistress coming into the kitchen, nor would the girl ever have been found out had she not taught the raven to say, "Look to the cupboard, missus." But these are only one or two out of the many scores of wonderful stories told of the things said and done by our English talking birds.

We have but five native birds that can be taught to talk, or rather to imitate the tone of the human voice, just near enough to tell what sounds they do utter, though it requires some little stretching of the fancy even to do this at times, and these are the raven, magpie, jackdaw, jay, and starling. What he did to these birds, or whether he did anything or nothing, beyond taking the twopence he charged for the (supposed) operation we never knew, nor ever shall know now; but in our boyish days an old man named Shaddy used to pretend to cut the tongues of talking birds, and we invariably took the young ones to him to be operated upon. He would never let us see what he did, for as he used to say, "That's my secret, and you would be as wise as I am were I to let you know it." In giving us back our birds after having got the money, he would sometimes say, "That jackdaw, after a little practice, will be able to preach in any church in England," or "That magpie will defend a prisoner as well as any counsellor that ever wore a wig." After cutting one of our raven's tongues, or pretending to do so, he gave us back the bird, saying, "Take care of that bird, there's a look of Shakspeare about him, and there's no knowing in time what he may do." I believe now that Shaddy was a regular old humbug, for the birds whose tongues he pretended to slit, never talked a bit better than the birds reared by other boys who kept their money and never went near him.

The MAGPIE takes the first place amongst English talking birds, and he will make himself heard, we can tell you, for his voice is so sharp and shrill that it almost seems to go through you. But then he is such a thief, and would steal and hide his old father if he didn't keep a sharp look-out. As for eating, we hardly know what he won't eat, excepting the coal-scuttle, and we believe he would have a try at that were it not too big; he eats bread and cheese like fun-o, and we have seen him try at a pot of porter, but that he didn't seem to relish much. Whatever you eat yourself, or nearly so, Maggy will eat, for nothing seems to come amiss to him: he requires a goodsized cage, and ought also to be allowed to run about as much as possible.

The RAVEN never ought to be put in a cage at all, and those who have not got an outhouse for Ralpho, and plenty of room for him to run about in, never ought to keep a raven. Like the magpie, it will eat anything it can get down its throat, even the mortar out of a wall when there is nothing better to be had. It can imitate almost any sound it hears, and is by many considered a better talker than the magpie; it is also equally mischievous, and when it has accomplished its purpose and is discovered, is apt to go off with a triumphant cry, as though it quite enjoyed the fun. It has a peculiar side-long step, and when alarmed, makes noise enough to startle every sleeper in the neighbourhood for a long mile round.

If the JACKDAW is not a good talker, he will make noise enough for a dozen birds, and thinks "no small beer of himself." Jack ought to have his wings cut, and be allowed to hop about, for he is a most amusing old-fashioned fellow. Then it is impossible to expect him to remain silent, living as he has done up in the old church tower among the clanging of bells that must have shaken every feather in his body while he listened to them. You should see him kill a mouse-just one tap of his thick, hard, horny beak, and Mr. Mouse is done for. A little bread and meat, or any odds and ends, seem to satisfy him. Some sounds he can imitate capitally, and one we knew so closely imitated the cry of a milkman as to bring the servant maids up the area steps with their jugs, when "Milk-o" was two or three street off. His hearing must have been very acute, for the milkman generally appeared some five minutes after the jackdaw commenced crying "Milk-o," and no doubt the bird heard him long before anybody else did.

The JAY is a beautiful bird, and quite an ornament to a garden. He can imitate a number of sounds, such as that of a man drawing a cork, the mewing of a cat, the bleating of a lamb, and the sounds of a few words, though never very distinctly. The blue markings on the jay's wings are richer than those of any other English bird. The jay will eat most kinds of grain, and when caged, nothing better can be given it than bread, a few acorns, and plenty of wheat.

The STARLING, in spite of all Sterne says to the contrary, seems to make itself quite as comfortable in a cage as most birds. The same food as that given to the woodlark seems to suit this bird as well as any when in confinement. It is also fond of meat. The bird is prettily marked, but is of no great value either as a singing or a talking bird, and soon forgets all it has been taught. Old Shaddy used to say that a starling might be taught

to talk as many languages as it had slits made in its tongue, and that with a like practice it soon becomes perfect in Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic.