144 BIRD-KEEPER'S MANUAL. 



pair of dark green Canaries ; in the first brood 

 there were two yellow birds; this rather sur- 

 prised me until I thought of the cause : one of 

 the old birds, or perhaps both, had been produced 

 by yellow and green Canaries. If you wish to 

 have pure yellow birds, pair a bright yellow 

 male with the whitest hen you can procure ; if 

 mottled or splashed birds, pair a bright yellow 

 male with a bright mottled female, or a mottled 

 male with a pure white female.^ The blending 

 of the colors of these birds has arrived to such a 

 height of late, and the bird-fanciers of Europe 

 have got them by mixing, so striped, streaked, 

 spotted, and speckled, that it must be very diffi- 

 cult for one poor little Canary bird to know an- 

 other. But not only in color have they trans- 

 mogrified them, (for as the Flat-head Indians are 

 said to flatten the heads of their offspring,) so we 

 might almost suppose that they stretched out the 

 young of the Canary bird, for they have got some 

 of them almost as long as two common birds. 

 For some of those birds high prices are given, 

 but it is mere fancy ; the breed is not superior 



* Do not pair two mottled or splashed birds, as the colors will be 

 faint or mealy; or two Yellow Birds, except they be very large 

 and pure, as they will degenerate in size and color ; nor two crested 

 birds, as the crests of some will be imperfect. 



