146 BIRD-KEEPER'S MANUAL. 



without frightening other hens off their nests, and 

 have them all flying around you ; and there is 

 no fear of confusion amongst them, or of their 

 quarrelling together, in a room, as I have seen 

 them ; for birds will get irritated sometimes as 

 well as men, and fight too. Two or three years 

 ago I had about fifteen females, all sitting on 

 eggs together in nests in a room. For a few days 

 they all sat well, and I had every prospect of 

 having a large family of young Canaries, when 

 one lady bird began to get restless, and come off 

 her nest oftener than was necessary to eat ; then 

 she began to visit her neighbors, and at last got, 

 like some other lady birds, to be a complete gad- 

 der abroad, and we almost gave up all hopes of 

 her ever raising her family, and thought some of 

 removing her out of the community. One day, in 

 my absence, (as there are degrees in crime,) she 

 had commenced pilfering from some of her steady 

 neighbors ; they had resented, of course ; then 

 came the tug of war, and Greek met Greek. 

 The males had interfered to make peace, as was 

 their bounden duty; the other lady birds, seeing 

 their lords in danger, had come to the rescue, and 

 there was nothing but riot and confusion, in this 

 hitherto peaceful community. And when I ar- 

 rived I found the floor strewed with broken eggs 



