52 Handbook of Natures-Study 



4. Are the canaries all the same color? What is the difference in 

 color between the singer and the mother bird? Describe the colors of 

 each in your note book as follows: Top and sides of head, back, tail, 

 wings, throat, breast and under parts? 



5. What does the canary eat? What sort of seeds do we buy for it? 

 What seeds do we gather for it in our garden? Do the goldfinches live on 

 the same seeds? What does the canary do to the seeds before eating 

 them ? What tools does he use to take off the shells ? 



6. Notice the shape of the canary's beak. Is it long and strong like 

 a robin's? Is it wide and sharp so that it can shell seeds? If you should 

 put an insect in the cage would the canary eat it ? 



7. Why do we give the canary cuttlebone? Note how it takes off 

 pieces of the bone. Could it do this if its beak were not sharp? 



8. Note the actions of the birds when they drink. Why do they do 

 this? 



9. Can you see the nostrils? Where are they situated? Why can 

 you not see the ear? 



10. When the canary is interested in looking at a thing how does it 

 act? Look closely at its eyes? Does it wink? How does it close its 

 eyes? When it is drowsy can you see the little inner lid come from the 

 corner of the eye nearest the beak? Is this the only lid? 



11. How are the legs and feet covered? Describe the toes. Com- 

 pare the length of the claw with the length of the toe. What is the shape 

 of the claw? Do you think that such shaped claws and feet are better 

 fitted for holding to a branch than for walking? Note the arrangement 

 of the toes when the bird is on its perch. Is the hind toe longer and 

 stronger? If so, why? Do the canaries hop or walk about the bottom 

 of the cage? 



12. What is the attitude of the canary when it goes to sleep at night? 

 How does it act when it takes a bath ? How does it get the water over its 

 head? Over its back? What does it do after the bath? If we forget to 

 put in the bath dish how does the bird get its bath? 



NESTING HABITS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE SPRING 



13. When the canaries are ready to build a nest what material do 

 we furnish them for it? Does the father bird help the mother to build 

 the nest? Do they strip off the paper on the bottom of the cage for nest 

 material? Describe the nest when it is finished. 



14. Describe the eggs carefully. Does the father bird assist in 

 sitting on the eggs? Does he feed the mother bird when she is sitting? 



15. How long after the eggs are laid before the young ones hatch? 

 Do both parents feed the young? Do they swallow the food first and 

 partially digest it before giving it to the young? 



1 6. How do the very young birds look? What is their appearance 

 when they leave the nest? Does the color of their plumage resemble 

 that of the father or the mother? 



17. Where did the canaries originally come from? Find the place 

 on the map. 



Supplementary reading "A Caged Bird," Sarah Orne Jewett in Songs 

 of Nature, p. 75; True Bird Stories, Miller. 



