The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1894-10-06
room open, will furnish you a glorious
Look out for Draughts.

room open, will furnish you a glorious
concert.
Look Out for Draughts.
Draughts are fatal to Gagged birds
so in winter see that the cages hang
in the middle of the greenhouse, and
at least three feet from the side or top
of it. A bird hung with part of the
cage OverlOokinga south window tight.
ly weather-stripped, with a branch of
withered leaves dropped partly over
the window, will sing most of the time.
Birds will sing, too, when placed any
where in a quiet room which is flooded
with sunlight part of the day.
Some of the wild birds Gagged are
great eaters and from want of proper
exercise become too fat to sing. To
remedy this open the cage door, al
lowing your bird the liberty of Tue
room for a few hours once or twice a
week. In case he is so heavy from long
confinement that he can hardly fly at
all, give him daily outings until he re-
covers the use of his wings. Robins.
grosbcaks, b%obolinks, Virginia night
irgales and Am ,rican song thrushes
iced looking after in this respect. The
food dish at times when emptied by
noon, as will often happen, should not
be filled again until the following
morning.
Some soft-billed birds scatter their
INC (king bird food in a very wasteful
manner, throwing it out with Il side
motion of the bill. To check this give
them Il glass dish fastened on the out
side of the cage. and bend chiclscn wire
over 1t with the meshes large enough
for the bird to get its food, but not to
scatter it.
Song birds are divided into two class
eS, seed-eating and sOft-billed birds. The
former have rather thick, strong bills
the sparrow or linet for instance.
They are easier to care for, cleaner,
and as a general rule, more hardy than
the soft-billed. The latter are known
by their slender, sharp bills. This class
includes some of the finest singers, like
the nightingale and thrush. Though it
is more trouble to care for them, their
sweet voices will repay the genuine
lover of bird music. There are Il few
birds that need both seed and hooking
bird food, the skylark or the Missouri
lark being examples.
American the Best.
Bird dealers are naturally anxious to
sell the imported birds in preference to
the native American songsterS, n will
often go so far rs to say that our birds
are not their equal in song. and for this
re 20 they do not keep them. This is
untrue, for in fact in the United
States we have n larger number and a
greater variety of song birds than in
al Europe. The nightingale we do not
possess. but we ha1e the wonderful
and unrivaled mocking bid, the inimit-
able bobolink, the melOdious brown
thrasher. the pure. p~assionlesS strains
of the hermited thrush, and the more
plaintive voice of the rose-breasted
grosbeak, and many more songsters
that cannot be excelled in any part of
the world.
Tho proper care of wild birds in cap
tivity is of the utmost Importance. The
writer has found by long experience,
if the following is observed, that the
remain clean, healthy and in sing
ing trim:
Keep the cages clean by charging
the sand and gravel frequently. The
best cage floor covering l have found
is sifted building sand; when convent
ent. mix small gravel with it. Never
let it become foul enough in the cage
to produce an odor. Watch the perches,
and when they become at all caked or