Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-16
HOW TO CARE FOR BIRDS
One Who Understands Them Tells of Often
Made Mistakes
The Belief That Canaries Are Unhnppy
in Cages fs Not Borne
Ont by Fact.


dreamed could be known, and who has
been in the bird department of a be ,,n-
town stole II there is one thing the MEM
oers OF the human race love to do II is 70
get a prescription free. That is what this
particular woman has been giving this past
week for birds. and every one in town who
has bird, has had bird, or is thinking
or getting bird. has been to see her Her
words are at a premium. and 1t is like a
woman doctor at a woman's club when
there has been a general invitation after
the address to ask questions
1t Is a strange thing" said the woman
When she stopped to sit down a minute and
So being lost to sight had a few minutes
10 herself. but people seem to think thar
canarleS suffer from being in cages. II is
mistake. They never have known any
thing else. and they are perfectly happy A
woman came in here only today and re-
marked:
Poor little things; shut up tight. with
out breath of air.
Well. I'll admit that perhaps We don't
any Of us have quite as much oxygen As
we ought to have. with the Christmas
crowds around us hut the birds are in these
litue open cages. and they have as much
arr as We have. The trouble is very often
that birds are given too much air They
are brought up in the houses Of the peas
ants in the Hartz mountains They raise
them in the houses. make by hand the lit
tie cages in which they are shipped TO this
country. and neither the birds nor their
ancestors for long time back have known
anything else.
One woman said to me the other day
that her birds had not been singing for
some months. and she thought she wouIi
SIMPLY open the cages some day and let
them fly away. Poor little things thay
would not live twenty-four hours IL thsy
Were let out. summer winter ! begged
her II she was tired of them not to turn
them adrift like that but TO give them 10
fnt,I Of.
The great trouble In keeping birds -
draughts. which are almost sure To kill
them. When birds were first put into The
big department stores nearly half Of them
were lost. but now we have them put in a
sheltered place, and probably very few are
lest in season.
Il feel so sorry for the poor little birds
that | see hanging outdoors PeopJe think
that it will do them no harm on a warm
DAY, and they put them out, and they have
company come in and stay to dinner and
they are engaged in the evening. and by
the time they are in bed they remember
that they have left the bird out and bv
that time 1t has taken a bad cold / see
them hanging out when | go by in cars and
.eeI IKE stopping TO take them in. EN-
IRENE heat is almost bad. and in small
apartments whore birds are hung in kitch-
ems which are close, hot and steamy they
are sure to acquire some disease.
There are very few people who know
anything about birds. There was one nice
little woman in Boston who really did nm
derstand them. She died recently sayaptv
t~o years Old and she had been keeping A
birds boarding house for forty-two wears
She had one Of the Oldest parrots known
ninety years old Sometimes she had as
many as 300 birds They were sent to her
from all parts of the country some of them
to be boarded simply and others Ia ba
treated. She used to give them regular
| medicines and cured many of them
mere Is great increase in the demand
for birds. Last year different dealers in
this country imported 10000 and last July
ana August ii was almost impossible to
md one This year We shall have at least
i to,Uoo more imported, L believe. We have
been receiving more birds than any other
country but on the continent they seem to
pc following our example, and have divert
| ed some of our supplies
There Is all the difference in the world
| In canarieS and In their notes Different
people like different qualities of tone hut
the majority of people like to be advised
Frequently they take advice of any one
VINO happens to be standing around when
they purchase the bird. Some one will say.
" Thats a good bird
1es, II has very sweet notes some one
else viii say, and the purchaser will decide
Immediately upon that bird which may
not be one of the best by any means Yon
want to hear a bird a number of times be-
fore you can decide how it can sing and it
may take two or three efforts before il will
really give out its notes freely A friend
of mine has a bird which has certain
pretty little song that she likes very much
listen ffra1a. 1A.
fore you hear it.
When | am going around among the
birds and hear one that has a sweet note
| go to it and make single mark on the
cage Ihen come around some time later
Mhen the bird Is singing again. and If I still
IKE 1t | put second mark on the cage
Then when l hear it third time I nut a
third mark on If / am satisfied, and then
II any one comes in and asks my advice
about bird ] have one that can recon-
mend.
There is as much difference in the dfsno-
sitions of birds as there is in people Now
We have had a pair Of birds here that /
have been very much interested in They
were put in the cage together, and they i'm
ncdiately made friends instead of quarrel
ing. They sat on the perches together IL
one went TO the seed dish the other would
follow, and then they would both go 10 the
water dish. If one sat in the swing and the
other on the perch they touched bills and
Kissed each other / don't stay in one place
long enough to keep BIRDS but if l did |
should want bird that would let me love
it had one canary that lived for twenty
one years.
"Canaries can learn to do many cunning
tricks. When 1 have one l take 1t in my
hand every day for few minutes. Then /
open the cage door, put a little bit of some
thing green IN my hand. and the bird hops
out on it. He is accustomed to the hand
and is not afraid. After that he can learn
to DO many tricks ! fnow one man who
has canary which will never eat hemp
The man will put two or three of the seeds
in the seed iish stand by the cage and say:
Master is hungry; he wants to be fed He
will open the cage door: the bird will fly
out on his finger. take hemp seed from the
dish. crack 1t with his bill. and then lay it
on his masters tongue.
Java SparrowS are very attractive little
birds. There was one in one of the stores
that seemed to take fancy to me Ii
would tWitter whenever l went near the
cage and stop when went away. If | held
it near my face II would twitch my ear in
play. / decided that l must have IL. but
while / went to see about getting il some
one had sold it. The man was just ready to
take it. He offered TO give ii up If wanted
it so much. but 1 could only have kept il a
few months. and was glad to have 1t find
a good home. That was in Brooklyn and
some time after there was FIRE in the
apartment house where the purchaser of
the bird lived. He escaped with his wife.
and then remembered the bird. and they
had become so attached to IL that he went
back and rescued IL at considerable risk.
"One thing / never do is to hang a bird
high. If the cage is high you cannot see
into 1t without climbing a chair. and
you don't realize when anything is needed.
Some people say their birds will not sing
while they are mating. My birds will sing.