I wanted to say, “Woman, where is your common sense?” However, I restrained myself, and she went on to say, “A friend of mine had a little bird in a cage and she changed its drinking-water every day and it died, and another friend who had a bird changed the water only once in three days and the bird lived.”
Here was a perplexing case.
However, I laid down some broad and generous rules: “Give a bird fresh food and water every day. If he is caged, don’t let him stuff himself, but if the cage is a good size, as it should be, he can stand quite an amount of food and green stuff, and a daily bath.
“Better than keeping birds in a cage, is to have one end of a room wired off for them. They are far happier and are less likely to have vermin, and they can eat more. My birds eat an immense amount of green food, and I have never had a case of typhoid fever among them. They have fruit all the year round, and in winter I plant bird-seed for them and give them the green sprouts. They are very fond of the common buckwheat, sown thickly in pots and set in the aviary. They eat down the green shoots in a short time, then I overturn the pots and let them have the mud with the worms and roots in it to play with. This is a great opportunity for my old Bob to get nesting material.
“Always buy the best of seeds for your birds. Don’t get seeds in packages. They may be fresh, and again they may be stale. Go to a bird-fancier or a wholesale dealer in seeds. I once gave my birds some sunflower seeds that they would not eat. I thought they had taken a dislike to them, until one day I picked up a few seeds and cracked them. There was nothing inside. I had to open the seeds to find out. The birds knew without opening them.
“Don’t hang birds in bright sunshine, except for a short time. Do you like to sit in the burning sun? Treat your birds as you treat your children. Give them light, some liberty, and amuse them. Birds like variety as much as we do. I try to give mine something to interest them.
“Be sure to see that a new bird knows where to find his food. I had an exquisite little goldfinch starve to death in the midst of plenty because I had not penetration enough to discover that he was too stupid to find out where his food dishes were.”
I once had a bird come to me suffering from the effect of loneliness. His owner had gone to the country, and the neglected bird had sung all day in a lonely house. He had been used to the sound of children’s voices and the care of his mistress. When they left him he was alone except for the space of time required to put fresh seeds and water in his cage. He moped, and was brought to me in a dying condition. So nervous was he from the long hours alone that he started if I went near him. Nothing consoled him, and he soon died.
A canary is a high-strung, nervous, intensely affectionate and faithful bird, and it is pathetic and horrible to reflect how many are tortured to death by the kindest-hearted but most ignorant persons. Bird-dealers give a few directions about the care of birds to persons who buy, but these directions should be in printed form, and should go with the bird.
I can assure purchasers that they suffer loss by not having intelligent instruction. They buy a canary and he dies. They buy another and he dies. I don’t suppose many persons get a good singer for less than five dollars. Twenty-five cents will procure a book of instructions. If birds must be kept in cages these books should be consulted, but better than a cage is partial liberty for a canary.