At the end of his account of the Wood Lark, Eleazar Albin offers some practical advice to anyone keeping the species in captivity. Keep the cage clean, he says, and don’t hang it out in the rain. Feather parasites can be avoided by giving the birds fresh sand to dust in and letting them bask in the sun. And to cure
Giddiness of the Head, [caused] by too much feeding on Hempseed … give them Meal-worms, or Ants and their Eggs.
The males should be given liquorice, candy, and “a blade or two of Saffron once a Week”:
this makes him long winded, and lavish in his Song.
Not necessarily an advantage in a cagebird, I’d think.
