Finches should be fed chiefly on poppy and hemp seed--the first to be given as its usual food. Now and then some unflavored biscuit may be given them, but they should never be fed on sweetened cake.
Game-birds and birds that build their nests on the ground almost never breed in captivity. Birds that are enemies when in their natural state will live together contentedly in a cage.
In regard to the feeding of birds, it may be stated in a general way that birds with short triangular bills, like the finches, live on seeds or some form of vegetable food entirely, and never require any meat. Birds with long slender bills, like the thrushes, mocking-birds, crows, etc., require animal as well as vegetable food, while birds with long hooked bills, like hawks or gulls, live on a diet entirely of meat. The reason that the birds in the bird-stores are always in such good health is because the bird-fancier understands how to feed them, and varies their diet as their condition demands.
The importance of giving a bird plenty of water, both to drink and in which to bathe, cannot be overestimated. Birds suffer frightfully from thirst when neglected, and as they have no power to express their wants, they often go for hours unheeded, when a little thoughtful attention would give them relief. Care should always be taken to see to it that their water-cup is filled, and that it does not become twisted to one side or the other so that the bird cannot reach it.
After Columbus discovered Cuba the island seems to have been forgotten by the Spaniards, who bent all their efforts to explore and colonize the neighboring island of Haiti, to which they gave the name of Hispaniola, meaning pertaining to Spain or "Spanish land." Although the rising promontory of Cape Mayzi could be discerned on a clear day from the coast of Hispaniola, it was not until nearly twenty years after Columbus had made his memorable discovery that Diego, his son, determined to conquer and settle the island of Cuba. Diego Columbus was then Governor of Hispaniola, and under his orders Captain Valazquez disembarked with 300 men on the eastern coast of Cuba and founded the city of Baracoa. Then the Spaniards crawled around to the south and founded Santiago, which they made their capital, and then followed in quick succession the cities of Trinidad, Bayamo, Puerto Principe, Sancti Spiritus, and Remedios.