It gives a most miserable and discouraged feeling to read the long list of diseases incident to the canary, and the remedies proposed for them. It is our firm belief that most of these maladies are the result of bad management or neglect, and that those who really love their birds will not be troubled by many of them.

It is very touching the way the sick birds cling to one in their troubles; they lie looking at one for help so pitifully, taki«g so gently the offered food, and always seeming disposed to nestle so closely to one. After all I can say, however, I can but repeat my conviction that cleanliness, watercress, and abstinence from messes are the best means of preserving a bird in health ; and if, after all, it does become ill, keeping it very warm - not roasted before the fire, but nestled in snugly - is the best mode of both comforting and curing it.

Colds. - Canaries have a peculiar talent for taking colds, and are heard conversing in the hoarsest notes. They also frequently sneeze and shake their heads. For this, melon seeds, chopped fine, are beneficial, and a piece of Spanish liquorice about the size of a pea, dropped into the water-glass, is a very simple remedy. If, however, it is left there long, I always give a second glass of clean water, after a short time in the morning, as the birds begin to dislike the taste if they have nothing else to drink. For sneezing, produced by obstruction of the nostrils, pass a very fine feather, dipped in olive oil, through them.

Decline. - This disease, the symptoms of which are a general roughness of the feathers, a great appetite, and yet a gradual wasting of the flesh - is usually the result of an unnatural diet, which impairs the digestive powers. The most effectual remedy, besides supplying the patient with the best and most natural food, is to make it swallow a spider which will act as a purgative, and to put a rusty nail into its water-glass, which see'ms to give vigor to the stomach and bowels. "Watercress is a specific for decline in canaries. The narrow cage which prevents much exercise, and the sugar, confectionery, and other dainties given them, frequently produce decline.

Huskiness or Loss of Yoice. - Young males, when moulting, are frequently so affected, but birds of all ages and at all times may be ; a cold is the general cause. Never purchase a husky bird: you may be told it is only a little cold, and will pass off. So it may, but it will most likely return before long, and become a chronic disease, ending in decline. The remedial measures are:- Keep the bird warm, and give it some linseed with its rape and canary. Every morn*

94: CANARY BIRDS.

ing it should have a small teaspoonful of warm bread and milk, and now and then a little bit of sponge cake soaked in sherry wine.

Overgrown Claws and Beak. - These, although scarcely to be called diseases, sometimes have as bad an effect upon the health of the bird as if they were really such; for the consciousness of possessing claws and beak of an undue length, and the fear of getting them entangled in the wires of the cage, or other objects about, will cause it to mope and refuse its food : therefore, they should be properly trimmed with a pair of sharp scissors. Care should be taken not to cut them so closely as to produce blood. This may always be avoided by holding the claw to be operated on up to the light, and seeing how far down the toes the vessels extend. Your grasp of the bird should be firm, yet very gentle, and all that you do should be done without haste or trepidation.

Wooden Shoes, it is a real pleasure to cure, it is so pleasant to see the bird's relief when the load falls off. This discomfort arises from a damp or dirty cage, or one not sufficiently supplied with clean gravel; when the feet become perfectly clogged with a sort of dirty shoe. When bought with clogged feet an immediate cure should be attempted ; we take it for granted no one will allow their own birds to get into such a condition. Take a saucer, containing lukewarm soft water, not hot, but tepid, and then carefully catching the bird in one hand cause it to stand for at least five minutes, if possible, in its shallow bath.

To take hold of the bird without hurting it, it is very essential to keep the hand quite outside the wings; watching an opportunity for lightly closing it when the bird has both its wings folded. It is best to keep the head over the thumb; and as the feet are very often tucked up just when we want them down, the mistress's hand is usually forced to take a bath with the bird. Jenny, one of my pets, was extremely bad when I got her; but after three days of this treatment, she was as comfortable as could be; and considering how she pecked and screamed at being caught at first, it was very amusing to witness her complacency as her shoes wore out. I always present the patients with hemp-seeds while in the bath; sometimes they only hold them (taking them back to their cage to eat); but at any rate it assures them that people who give them such delicious things, cannot possibly mean harm.