Feed them hard-boiled egg, minced very fine ; dried currants once or twice a week, a small piece of raw beef, chopped very fine, and all kinds of fresh fruit. Also worms, which can be raised in this manner: Procure a wooden box, line it with zinc (an empty tea chest, if lined with foil, will answer) ; bore very small holes in the sides and top, and fit the lid closely; fill within a few inches of the top with bran, and place in several pieces of old leather ; procure from a flour dealer a few flour worms ; put them in your box. The worms will in a short time become black bugs, which deposit the larvae from which comes the worms ; you have now an excellent food for your birds. Give them several a day. They grow to about an inch in length ; the bran can be changed and the supply kept up. Feed them with the common house spider, the little crab found in oysters, and angleworms. The nearer you approach their natural food, the better they seem to thrive. Be quiet and tender in your handling of the mocking bird, for they are a timid bird, and often die suddenly of heart disease ; it requires caution not to frighten him, for he will drop dead in the midst of his song, apparently as well as can be. Those who give their bird " mocking bird food " will find this is a better preparation, and does not cost so much : Take beef's liver, cut it in strips and dry in the oven ; take hemp seed, soda crackers or stale 14 BIRDS. bread, pound all together fine, and mix in equal parts. When given to the bird moisten with water✪ Mocking Bird Food ; they can pick it up easier. This is another : Take one beef's heart, two pounds of soda crack- ers, two pounds of hemp seed, two ounces of olive oil, half spoonful of x red peppe✪ Alternative Mocking Bird Foodr ; boil the beef's heart ; chop fine ; dry in the oven ; pound fine ; pound hemp seed and crackers, and then mix with the oil and liver. Or this : Fifty cents' worth of German toasted bread, with caraway seeds in ; roll or grind fine, as well as two pounds of hemp seed ; one pound of maw seed ; two beef hearts boiled, dried in the oven after chopping and ground ; one pound of lard, unsalted. Mix thoroughly. Put away in a cool place in light jars. For use, mix a little fresh grated carrot with some of the prepared food every morning. OUT-DOOR HOMES FOR THE SONGSTERS. For those who care about the outside accessories of home there is nothing prettier or that gives a more homelike look than bird-houses. It looks hospitable and cheery to provide a home for the little songsters, and thus bring them around you. Old bird-cages make beautiful swinging bird-houses. Take crinoline wires or strips of refuse tin from the yard of your nearest tinker, and wind them in and about the cage, forming a rough surface, over which apply the mortar; then thatch the roof, which is easily done on the wire foundation ; fasten the bottom on securely by binding with wire to the upper part, and fasten the door so that it cannot fall down.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Feed them hard-boiled egg, minced very fine ; dried currants once or twice a week, a small piece of raw beef, chopped very fine, and all kinds of fresh fruit. Also worms, which can be raised in this manner: Procure a wooden box, line it with zinc (an empty tea chest, if lined with foil, will answer) ; bore very small holes in the sides and top, and fit the lid closely; fill within a few inches of the top with bran, and place in several pieces of old leather ; procure from a flour dealer a few flour worms ; put them in your box. The worms will in a short time become black bugs, which deposit the larvae from which comes the worms ; you have now an excellent food for your birds. Give them several a day. They grow to about an inch in length ; the bran can be changed and the supply kept up. Feed them with the common house spider, the little crab found in oysters, and angleworms. The nearer you approach their natural food, the better they seem to thrive. Be quiet and tender in your handling of the mocking bird, for they are a timid bird, and often die suddenly of heart disease ; it requires caution not to frighten him, for he will drop dead in the midst of his song, apparently as well as can be. Those who give their bird " mocking bird food " will find this is a better preparation, and does not cost so much : Take beef's liver, cut it in strips and dry in the oven ; take hemp seed, soda crackers or stale bread, pound all together fine, and mix in equal parts. When given to the bird moisten with water ; they can pick it up easier. This is another : Take one beef's heart, two pounds of soda crackers, two pounds of hemp seed, two ounces of olive oil, half spoonful of x red pepper ; boil the beef's heart ; chop fine ; dry in the oven ; pound fine ; pound hemp seed and crackers, and then mix with the oil and liver. Or this : Fifty cents' worth of German toasted bread, with caraway seeds in ; roll or grind fine, as well as two pounds of hemp seed ; one pound of maw seed ; two beef hearts boiled, dried in the oven after chopping and ground ; one pound of lard, unsalted. Mix thoroughly. Put away in a cool place in light jars. For use, mix a little fresh grated carrot with some of the prepared food every morning. OUT-DOOR HOMES FOR THE SONGSTERS. For those who care about the outside accessories of home there is nothing prettier or that gives a more homelike look than bird-houses. It looks hospitable and cheery to provide a home for the little songsters, and thus bring them around you. Old bird-cages make beautiful swinging bird-houses. Take crinoline wires or strips of refuse tin from the yard of your nearest tinker, and wind them in and about the cage, forming a rough surface, over which apply the mortar; then thatch the roof, which is easily done on the wire foundation ; fasten the bottom on securely by binding with wire to the upper part, and fasten the door so that it cannot fall down.

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Mocking Bird FoodAlternative Mocking Bird FoodAnother Mocking Bird Food Recipe

The household (of the Detroit free press)