154 



precious bantlings die. At this moment however, I 

 had in one of those small garden cages, designed for a 

 single pair of pigeons while breeding, a Norwich hen 

 of proved reliability with youngsters a fortnight old. 

 I therefore withdrew her lawful husband and sub- 

 stituted my Wild Canary, in order that her next nest 

 might be connected with him. But the " best laid 

 schemes of mice and men gang aft agley " — the first 

 time I opened the rather large door at the end to 

 change the drinking water my charming friend flew 

 straight out past my shoulder, made no short halting 

 flight into the nearest tree or bush, but swiftly sped a 

 bee line between the apple trees across two gardens, 

 mounting higher the farther he flew, till at last he 

 lodged at the top of a lofty elm. There he sat and 

 sang: to me, who faintly heard with blunted mind and 

 silent tongue, it seemed he sang for hours, — and there 

 ended the First Lesson from the book of the Wild 

 Canary. 



Zbc IRearina of the Mbitc*«tbroatct) 

 jfmcb. 



(SpermophUa albigularis) . 

 By the Rev. C. D. Farrar. 



QUAND on n'a pas ce qu'on aime, il faut aimer ce 

 qu'on a ; which being interpreted means, if you 

 cannot get just what you want you must be 

 content with what you have. I felt like that 

 when I commenced bird keeping again after an en- 

 forced absence of two years through illness. Was it 

 not Sir Walter Scott who was fond of saying, " Thank 

 God, all good things are common ! " When therefore 

 I one day saw an advertisement of a pair of White- 

 throated Finches for sale, I wrote off at once. You 

 may ask, "Why did I not wait until the next day?" 

 Because next day anything may happen. When the 



