The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-30
FARE ron GAGGED BIRDS.
A Pure Feed Crusade eald % Ne Mee1ea
An Behalf 0f Hsuschssd rbts.

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A Purc Fssd Crusade saad % No Nesesa
An Behalf ef Hsusehssd rbts-
ssayl. said the bird store man. tive got
q Job for the reformers. Why don't some
Of them start a pure food crusade and N
out what's being fed to tho pets. nesh. hsh
and fowl, OF this oountryf
you take my Line, for instance Lots OF
folks won't buy birds nowadays because
they no sooner get 'en homo than they up
and die-fhe birds do.
Some folks won't take q canary a. q gift.
They say, What's the user just about the
time the bird begins to tune up IL turns up
it's toes and that's the end Of it.
.Now, I tell you, here's where the pure
food crusade ought to come In. Those
birds are poisoned. and youil find the poison
right ia their little seed cups.
Folks think that all they've got to do ID
to buy bird seed, any old bird seed,
then sit back and listen TO q canary most
sing it's head on. Bus there are rs many
kinds Of bird seed as there are OF breakfast
foods and some OF them aren't any more
at to cat than--well. than some breakfast
foods are, and you know / can't make It
stronger than that.
.The worst bird seed the good Lord ever
allowed TO grow 10 the kind hat comes
from Smyrna. It's bad by nature and It's
worse when it's harvested and shipped.
for it's full then OF grit and dirt and the
greatest mess Of seeds from forty. different
kinds OF weeds, half Of 'em rank poison
all mixed right in with what there Is @,
Feed q canary ON shot and out Of the busi-
ness end Of q shotgun, too. 49,,
THE best seed comes from Sicily. Its
fat and clean and easy to crack.
aNns- Il - -fsA n.-ns2 srraunAE "A
Indian millet and Turkish NAV seed and
cage instead Of with the Bird angels.
Don't give your bird hemp seed, either.
how her bird loves hemp seed and she talks
q lot OF stuff about the birdie instinct and all
that. Pshawl OF course the bird likes hemp
seed. So does the woman's little giri--if
shes got one.like candy, ~
seed and the candy it's eood-by birdie and
baby. Hemp seed lie too fattening and
heating for cage birds. And yet they won't
eat another kim Of seed 30 long as there
n a grain Of hemp to be had.
Once in a while 1t won't hurt them to
have a little. But il must be only a little.
Birds need a bit OF cuttlefish bone. They
whet their bills On 1t and eat q little, too.
so is gravel. Sprinkle il on the floor Of
the cage. Be sure it is gravel, though. some
so-called gravel is only crushed stone. Civ
ing Il to a bird is as sure and. cruel a way
Of committing murder as giving 1t ground
There's one item Of bird food that has
already been investigated, for il happens
to be one that IL used by human bipeds also.
That's red pepper. Feed 'em on red pepperf
People give their birds cracker and egg
with a little red pepper during moulting
season to make the birds plumage hav a
reddish tint. oh. yes, II does. But you want
to be sure your red pepper isn't ground
leather.
aYou wouldn't believe IL, but there are
folks that don't know any more h to try
to feed a mocking bird the same az they
would a canary. We class the two sorts OF
birds as hard billed and soft billed: 1t 10
considerably more Of a trick to raise h
latter kind, though some OF 'em are even
finer singers than the hard billed species.
1T would keep a large sized and indus
trious family hustling all day long to e
their natural food Of insects and worms.
So there are prepared foods put up for them
and here again is a chance for the pets
pure food crusade to find out things.
mess Of old meat, mouldy bread, seed and
lard. One manufacturer pretends to sell a
food made OF roasted beef heart, toasted
wheat bread, blue nav meal, ant eggs,
dried sweet potatoes, pea meal and dried
~currants. II that's straight it's good
enough for any bird.
But you've got to give your mocking
bird, for instance, some variety. Prepared
food one day, raw carrot added the next
and 80 on with a variety Of vegetables and
fruits, raw or cooked.
And once in a while, just for q treat Of
the finest kind, give him some flies, worms,
spiders and dainties OF that sort. Try mea
worms, for example. You can keep EN-
on hand all the time. just partly al an old
jar with bran and scraps Of leather, put
some meal worms in and tie a cloth over
the top. Wet up the contents occasionally
and you'll soon have a stock Of meal worms
to give to the birds.
If you dom mini handling the things
you can take them out and feed them to
your pet. It won't be any time 1t all till
he win be eating out OF your hand