The Natural History of Cage Birds

The second are those which feed on both seeds and insects, such as quails, larks, chaffinches, and bullfinches; some of these also eat berries and the buds of trees.

The third are those which seek only berries and insects, such as nightingales, red-breasts, thrushes, and fauvettes.

The fourth are those which eat insects only, such as wagtails, wheatears, stonechats, and blue-breasts.

The species in this last class are the most difficult to preserve; but most of them, having nothing particular in their song, offer no compensation for the trouble and care which they require; but the following is the best method for success. After having collected the flies, which in spring may often be seen in great numbers on the windows of old buildings, they must be dried, and preserved in a jar. When live insects can no longer be found, these flies must be mixed with the paste, hereafter described, which may be regarded as a general or universal food, and given to the most delicate birds, such as nightingales, provided ants’ eggs or meal worms are now and then mixed with it.

Recipe for the general food. – In proportion to the number of birds, white bread enough must be baked to last for three months. When it is well baked, and stale, it must be put again into the oven, and left there until cold. It is then fit to be pounded in a mortar, and will keep several months without becoming bad. Every day a teaspoonful for each bird is taken of this meal, on which is poured three times as much cold, or lukewarm, but not boiling, milk. If the meal be good, a firm paste will be formed, which must be chopped very small on a board. This paste, which is very nourishing, may be kept a long time without becoming sour or sticky; on the contrary, it is always dry and brittle. As soon as a delicate bird is brought in, some flies or chopped worms should be mixed with the paste, which will attract it to eat. It will soon be accustomed to this food, which will keep it in life and health.

Experience teaches me that a mixture of crushed canary, hemp, and rape-seed, is the favourite food of canaries; goldfinches and siskins prefer poppy-seed, and sometimes a little crushed hemp-seed; linnets and bullfinches like the rape-seed alone. It is better to soak it for the young chaffinches, bullfinches, and others; in order to do this, as much rape-seed as is wanted should be put into a jar, covered with water, and placed in a moderate heat, in winter near the fire, in summer in the sun. If this is done in the morning, after feeding the birds, the soaked seed will do for the next morning. All of them ought to have green food besides, as chickweed, cabbage leaves, lettuce, endive, and water-cresses. Sand should be put in the bottom of the cages, for it seems necessary for digestion[7 - See Rennie’s “Faculties of Birds,” Chap. V., for experiments on the subject. – Translator.].

Amongst those of the second class, the quails like cheese and the crumbs of bread; the lark barley-meal, with cabbage, chopped cress, poppy-seed mixed with bread crumbs, and in winter, oats; the chaffinches, rape-seed, and sometimes in summer a little crushed hemp-seed. Too much hemp-seed, however, is hurtful to birds, and should only be given as a delicacy now and then, for when they eat too much of it they become asthmatic, blind, and generally die of consumption. Yellowhammers like the same food as the larks, without the vegetables; the tits like hemp-seed, pine-seed, bacon, meat, suet, bread, walnuts, almonds, and filberts.

The birds of the first class are easily preserved in the house, at least if not taken during the pairing season, for then the loss of their liberty affects them so much that they become sullen, and die of hunger.

Although the notice of a universal remedy is generally rather suspected, I cannot refrain from here recommending one or two sorts of paste which I have always used, and which agreed so well with all my birds, excepting those which I keep in cages on account of their beautiful songs, that it may justly be termed general or universal food: it is not only very simple and cheap, but also prevents great loss of time to those who possess a great many birds.

The universal paste. – To make the first paste, take a white loaf which is well baked and stale, put it into fresh water, and leave it there until quite soaked through, then squeeze out the water and pour boiled milk over the loaf[8 - The reason of this union of vegetable and animal food may be easily seen; the bread supplies the seed for the birds of the first class, and the milk the insects for those of the second, while the third and fourth here find their mixed food; and thus it ought to agree with all. Besides, the birds of the first class do not confine themselves exclusively to seeds; in their wild state they eat many insects, and some even feed their young entirely with them; this proves that animal food is sometimes useful and beneficial to them. – Translator.], adding about two thirds of barley-meal with the bran well sifted out, or, what is still better, wheat-meal; but, as this is dearer, it may be done without.

For the second paste, grate a carrot very nicely (this root may be kept a whole year if buried in sand), then soak a small white loaf in fresh water, press the water out, and put it and the grated carrot into an earthen pan, add two handfuls of barley or wheat meal, and mix the whole well together with a pestle.

These pastes should be made fresh every morning, as they soon become sour, particularly the first, and consequently hurtful. For this purpose I have a feeding-trough, round which there is room enough for half my birds. It is better to have it made of earthenware, stone, or delft ware, rather than wood, as being more easily cleaned, and not so likely to cause the food to become sour.

The first paste agrees so well with all my birds, which are not more than thirty or forty, at liberty in the room, that they are always healthy, and preserve their feathers, so that they have no appearance of being prisoners. Those which live only on seeds, or only on insects, eat this food with equal avidity; and chaffinches, linnets, goldfinches, siskins, canaries, fauvettes, red-breasts, all species of larks, quails, yellowhammers, buntings, blue-breasts, and redstarts may be seen eating out of the same dish.

Sometimes, as a delicacy, they may be given a little hemp, poppy, and rape-seed, crumbs of bread, and ants’ eggs. One of these is necessary for the birds of the third and fourth class.

Every morning fresh water must be given to the birds, both for drinking and bathing. When a great many are left at liberty, one dish will do for them all, about eight inches long and two in depth and width, divided into several partitions, by which means they are prevented from plunging entirely into the water, and in consequence making the place always dirty and damp[9 - If a rather large, flat, and not very deep vessel be used, in which the birds can bathe at their ease, it will make them more healthy and clean. – Translator.]. A vessel of the same size and shape will do for holding the universal paste, but then it must have no partitions. Quails and larks require sand, which does for them instead of water for bathing.

Some birds swallow directly whatever is thrown to them: great care must be taken to avoid giving them anything with pepper on it, or bad meat. This must be a general rule. I shall also remark, that food sufficient for one day only must be given to birds kept in cages, for they are accustomed to scatter it about, picking out the best, and leaving only the worst for the next morning; this makes them pine, and puts, them out of humour.

Mr. Sweet’s food for soft-billed birds (sylviadæ). – The birds of this sort, though the finest songsters and most interesting of all the feathered tribe, have been less known or noticed than others, probably owing to the greater number only visiting us in summer, when the trees are so densely clothed with foliage that birds are not easily seen, and when heard sing are generally considered by those who hear them to be either blackbirds or thrushes, or some of the more common singing birds. When they are seen the greater number of them receive the general appellation of white-throat, without distinction, though this is rather singular, since they are all very distinct when examined, and their songs are all very different. If you speak to a bird-fancier or bird-catcher about any of them, you might as well talk of a bird in the wilds of America, for they know nothing of them. Many of them are therefore difficult to be procured in the neighbourhood of London, though most of them are plentiful there.

With care, the whole of them may be preserved in good health through the year, and many of them will sing through the greater part of the winter if properly managed. They require to be kept warm; the room in which they are should never be allowed to be below temperate, or they will suffer from it, particularly the tender sorts; at first the cold will make them lose their sight, after which they seldom recover. The redstart and nightingale are most subject to this; it sometimes also happens to the fauvette, and also to the whinchat.

When in a wild state, the birds of this sort feed principally on insects or fruit, and berries of various kinds. None of them are seed birds, so that they must be managed accordingly. The general food which I give them is hemp-seed, bruised up in boiling water, as small as it can be made; I then put to this about the same quantity, or rather more of bread, on which is also poured boiling water, and then the whole is bruised up together into a moist paste, particular care being required that there be very little or no salt in the bread; for should there be rather much it will kill the whole of the birds. The food should also be mixed up fresh every morning, as it soon spoils and turns sour, in which case the birds will not touch it, and sometimes it will make them go off their food altogether. When given to the birds, some fresh, raw, lean meat ought to be cut up small enough for them to swallow, and mixed with it I generally put about the same quantity of meat as paste, and sometimes they will peck out the meat and leave the paste; at other times they will eat the paste and leave the meat; but in general they eat it all up together, particularly where several different species are kept together in the same large cage, a plan which I consider by far the best, as they amuse each other, and keep one another warm in cold weather. Besides the above food, an egg should be boiled very hard, the yolk taken out and crumbled or cut in small pieces for them; the white they will not eat. One egg I consider enough for twenty birds for one day, with their other food, it being only intended as a change of diet, which they will not continue well in health without.

The sorts, which feed on insects when wild, should have some of these preserved for them through the winter, except where they can be procured at all seasons. At a baker’s shop, for instance, there are always plenty of meal-worms, crickets, and cockroaches, of which most of these birds are very fond: when those are not to be procured, a good substitute is the large white grubs that produce the cockchafers, which in some years are very plentiful, and may be kept in pots of turfy earth through the winter, as may also the maggots of the bluebottle fly, if procured late in the autumn; and they may be generally had as late as December. A quantity of these, kept in a pot of turfy earth in a cellar, or any other cool place, where they may not turn into flies too soon, is, I think, one of the best sorts of insects, and easiest kept and procured, for such birds through the winter. They will not touch them until they are well cleaned in the mould, but are then very fond of them, and a few every day keeps them in excellent health, and provokes them to sing.

Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert’s food for soft-billed birds. – Milk, which Mr. Sweet recommends, I have found very fatal to many of the soft-billed birds, and I never give it; but the blackcaps do not seem to suffer from it. They are very fond of a boiled carrot mashed and moistened, or beet-root boiled and mashed. A boiled carrot will keep fresh many days, in a basin of cold water, and is an excellent substitute for fruit in feeding them. Boiled cabbage, cauliflower, green peas are good for them; all sorts of puddings; a very little roast meat minced, I give them every day, and a little yolk of egg when it suits, but it is not necessary. The standard food is hemp-seed ground in a coffee-mill, and bread crumbs scalded and mashed up together, and fresh every day. They are very fond of ripe pears and elderberries (but elderberries stain the cage very much), currants, cherries, honeysuckle, and privet-berries.

Professor Rennie says, “I have more than once given the blackcap and other birds a little milk by way of medicine when they appeared drooping or sickly, and with manifest advantage[10 - White’s Selborne, 8vo. edit. 1833.].”

BREEDING OF TAME BIRDS

House birds, being most of them reared like canaries, can only be made pair with great difficulty. When this object is accomplished, all of them require a large quiet place, a whole room if it can be had, in which branches of pine should be put, – a place, in fact, as much as possible resembling their natural abodes. But should you succeed in this respect, as you can never procure the materials which form the general base of their nests, it is better to give them artificial ones, made of the bark of the osier, straw, or even turnings of wood, in which it is only to put the soft stuff for lining, such as wool, the ravelings of silk, linen, or cotton, and the birds will take possession of it.

It is of consequence that the food for paired birds, and for the different ages of their young ones, should be chosen with judgment. I shall mention what must be done in this respect, in the articles relating to the different species of birds which I am going to describe in this work.

I must not omit two interesting observations which were communicated to me by a lady of my acquaintance. It sometimes happens, during a dry season, that the young birds are not hatched on the proper day, or are in danger of not being hatched at all; if, in this case they are plunged for one minute in water about their own warmth, and then replaced under the bird, the effect will be as quick as it is successful[11 - See Rennie’s “Habits of Birds,” p. 13. – Transl.].

For the same reason, sometimes the young birds remain without their feathers beyond the proper time; a tepid bath removes with such success the dryness of their quills, that in twenty-four hours after replacing them damp in their nest they are in general covered with feathers. I shall end this paragraph with showing at what time it is best to remove young wild birds from their nest when intended to be reared. It is when the quills of the tail feathers are come out, and the other feathers are begun to grow, the eyes not being quite open. If removed earlier, their stomach will be too weak to support their new food; if taken later, it will be very difficult to make them open their beaks to receive a food which is unknown to them. There are some species, however, that are so easily reared, that any time will answer.

DISORDERS OF TAME BIRDS

All tame animals are much more subject to disease than wild ones; and birds so much the more, as they are often shut up in very small cages, where they can take no exercise. It is often supposed that birds, in their natural free state, have no diseases; but people who will take the trouble to observe, will soon perceive the falsehood of this assertion. I have often found hedge-sparrows full of pimples, particularly in the naked parts, the feet, and round the beak. Their diseases are often increased by the delicacies of all kinds which are given them, such as biscuits and sugar, which injure the stomach, and cause a slow decay.

The principal diseases and their cures, according to my experience, are as follows; not, however, that different birds do not require, according to their food, different treatment.

I shall mention, under each bird, what must be done to cure those diseases which are peculiar to it, when general remedies fail.

THE PIP

This is a catarrh, or cold, by which the nostrils are stopped up, and the membrane covering the tongue is hardened by inflammation. In large birds it is common to remove this skin, taking it off from the base to the tip: by this means this part can again perspire, the saliva necessary for digestion can flow, and the taste and appetite returns. A mixture of fresh butter, pepper, and garlic, generally cures this catarrh. It is a good thing, also, for the birds to drink the pectoral infusion of speedwell; and the nostrils may be opened by passing up a small feather. The ruffling of the head, the beak often open and yellow at its base, and the tongue dry, are the most decisive indications of this disease.

THE RHEUM

The symptoms of this disease are frequent sneezing and shaking of the head. Some drops of pectoral elixir in the infusion of speedwell, which the sick birds must be made to take, appears to me to be the most efficacious remedy. I have given fowls even twenty drops of the elixir in a glass of the infusion.

When it is merely hoarseness, Dr. Handel, of Mayence, gave to his birds for several days, as their only drink, a very diluted decoction of dry figs, sweetened with a little sugar, and afterwards purged them for two days following, with the juice of carrots.

ASTHMA

This is a very common disease among house birds. Those attacked with it have their breath short, often open their beaks as if to gasp for more air, and, when agitated or frightened, keep them open for a long time.

The cause of this disease may doubtless be found in the mode of life which these birds lead. Their food is generally too dry and heating, being principally hemp-seed, which is very injurious, but liked by all; and is the more hurtful, as it inclines them to eat too much. If to this be added the unchanged air of the rooms, particularly those which have stoves instead of chimneys, and the great heat which is kept up during winter, it is plain that there is much to injure the delicate lungs of these birds.

A moist and refreshing regimen and some aperients, more or less often, according to the violence of the disease, appears the most appropriate remedy. A favourite linnet and goldfinch, when attacked with very bad asthma, were relieved and preserved for several years by the following method.

The first thing was to leave off hemp-seed entirely, confining them solely to rape-seed; but giving them at the same time abundance of bread, soaked in pure water, and then pressed; lettuce, endive, or water-cresses, according to the seasons, twice a week, giving them boiled bread and milk, about the size of a nutmeg. This is made by throwing a piece of the crumb of white bread, about the size of a nut, into a teacupful of milk, boiling it, and stirring it all the time with a wooden spoon till it is of the consistency of pap. It must be quite cold before it is given to the birds, and must always be made fresh, for if sour it will prove injurious.

This paste, which they are very fond of, purges them sufficiently, and sensibly relieves them. In very violent attacks, nothing but this paste ought to be given for two or three days following, and this will soon give the desired relief.

When the disease is slight, or only begun, it is sufficient to give the bread and milk once in three or four days. When employed under similar circumstances, this treatment has cured several very valuable birds. It may not be useless here to renew the advice of always giving the birds an opportunity of bathing every day, by putting in their way a saucer, or any other small shallow bath, filled with water, which should never be too cold, and in winter always milk-warm.

One thing which is very injurious to the lungs of birds, and which too often occurs, is the fright occasioned by tormenting them, or by seizing them too suddenly; for the poor little things often rupture a blood-vessel in the breast while beating themselves about: a drop of blood in the beak is the sign, and a speedy death is the general consequence. If this do not happen, the breathing is not the less difficult and painful; and recovery is rare, at least without the greatest care and attention.

Birds which eat insects and worms, occasionally, by accident, swallow some extraneous substance, which, sticking in their throat, stops their respiration, and stifles them. The only remedy is to extract the foreign body, which requires much skill and dexterity.

When asthma is brought on by eating seeds which are too old, spoiled, or rancid, Dr. Handel recommends some drops of oxymel to be swallowed for eight days following. But the best way is to change the seed, and be sure there is none but good seed in the trough.

ATROPHY, OR WASTING

This is caused by giving unnatural food to the bird, which destroys the digestive power of its stomach. In this case it disgorges, ruffles its feathers, and does not arrange them, and becomes thin very fast. The best thing is to make it swallow a common spider, which purges it, and put a rusty nail into its water, which strengthens the intestines, giving it at the same time its proper and natural food. Green food, such as lettuce, endive, chickweed, and particularly water-cresses, is the safest remedy. A very great appetite is a sign of this disease. A siskin, that was dying of atrophy, had nothing but water-cresses for three days following, and on the fourth he sung.

CONSUMPTION, OR DECLINE

This disorder may be known by the extreme thinness of the breast, the swelling of the lower part of the belly, the total loss of appetite, and similar symptoms. As a cure, Dr. Handel recommends the juice of the white turnip to be given to drink instead of water.