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THEIR CAGES AND THEIR KEEP.

BEING

A PRACTICAL MANUAL OF BIRD-KEEPING AND

BIRD-REARING.

BY

K. A. BUIST.

London:

MACMILLAN AND CO.

1874.

[All Rights reserved.]

CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,

CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.

PREFACE.

I HAVE written these pages, a record of my own personal experience in bird-keeping, in order to afford help and practical everyday information to those who, like myself, have hitherto had everything to learn through failure and loss. The volume is solely intended for the perusal of beginners in the profitable occupation of successful bird-rearing; for those who love their pets, are anxious to benefit by any instructions, and are willing to undergo temporary inconvenience for the good of the dumb, sentient creatures, kept in confinement for their own amusement and pleasure; for those who wish to study birds scientifically, and as a natural history pursuit, quite as much as a mere pecuniary consideration, and who are capable of admitting that they possess personal characteristics equally with the more favoured horse or dog.

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I claim the same rights for birds, lower in the scale of creation, yet alike gifted with a capacity for feeling, suffering, loving, and in an inferior measure, for thinking. A bird's instinct corresponds in its own proportion and degree to a man's power of thought; mind it has not, but remember, brains, nerves, and feelings, it has. Neglect occasions acute physical suffering; affection and frequent notice awaken habits of observation and memory. In bird-keeping as a pursuit, it is safest at first to be guided by the teaching of books; afterwards trust more implicitly to personal observation and experience than to any printed guide. At best, an author can only advise, inform, and lay down general rules. Different birds need different handling.

What I have written is so simple, general, and comprehensive, that the treatment can be advantageously applied to all species, British and foreign, large and small. Make your method as true to nature as possible, and the result must invariably be satisfactory. Let the food be inartificial, simple, abundant, varied and pure; the cage, surroundings, and daily habits the same. I give particulars as to the necessary management to secure

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