56 BIRD-KEEPER'S MANUAL. 



weakened and debilitated, a premature moulting 

 ensues, and at last it falls a victim. 



I have kept Canary Birds in some parts of this 

 country, where the winters are much colder than 

 they are here. One winter I kept thirty or forty 

 birds in a room, where there was no fire after 

 dark. The thermometer there, would be some- 

 times below zero for a week, and the water would 

 be frozen solid every morning, yet the whole 

 winter I never lost a bird, and they sang sweetly 

 every day. Last spring 1 had about thirty 

 birds sent me to dispose of, that were kept in an 

 attic all winter without having any fire near 

 them; they were healthy and strong and sang 

 well, and a person who had six of the females 

 to breed, assured me that they all had eggs about 

 a week after he got them. If you keep your birds 

 in a room where there is a stove, place them in 

 the coolest part of it, and give them fresh air 

 every fine day ; for humanity prompts me to 

 say, (however much at variance with my own 

 interests,) that of the Canary Birds which I pre- 

 serve during the winter, full three-quarters of 

 them die from being kept too warm and too near 

 the stove. 



The Canary bird seems to be peculiarly adapted 

 for a cage bird. They will sing the whole of the 



