CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



cast, west, nortli. and 

 south, devote their 

 spare time to tliis in- 

 tcrcstin<T hobby. In 

 almost every home 

 where the imisie ol' the 

 sc\vin<T machine or 

 other adjunct to home 

 industry is heard, 

 tiicre. above all other 

 sounds, rises the cheer- 

 lul hut noisy music 

 oF the bird-room, for 

 small though some ol' 

 the cottages be the 

 birds nuist have their 

 share of them. 



The yoimg ones, as 

 soon as they can take 

 care of themselves, 

 are sold by the score 

 ornament to any house, and to almost any indiscriminately, or by the j^air. the pro- 

 room in it. cceds materially helping to fill the stocking- 

 It is not astonishing, then, that the foot wliich provides for a rainy day or the 

 demand for these birds is inunense ; that claims of Christmas. There arc but few 

 the breeding and rearing of breeding estal>lishments in tliis country 

 them form no inconsidcraljle that are worked as business concerns pure 

 item in the Tuinor industries and simj^lc. It is one of those businesses 

 of the coiuitry. The mmibcr which. ]ierha])s. |)rcsents no l:)ettcr balance 

 of amateur breeders wlio a.dojit one or sheet than docs a small jioultry cstaljlish- 

 more of the many varieties of the Canary ment maintained e\|)rcssly for a su]i])l\- 

 as their speciality, and make the develo])- of eggs. Half the profit consists in the 

 ment of its Ijcautics their study, is very ])lcasurc : and the other half in money, 

 large, as the index of the catalogue of any which might go in more (|ucslioiiai)lc ways, 

 pid)lic exhibition can attest, and the mun- l>ut which is saved in small sums, by every 

 bcr is greatly augmented b\- the contimious investment in seed or other necessary, and 

 stream poured into the bird markets of returned in tiic lumj) just at a time when 



A Fl.NU. 

 An Afternoon Ramble ot the Border City Ornithological Socifl' 



An 



Important 



Industry. 



London, Jlanchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, 

 (Jlasgow, Preston, and other large towns, 

 by those who make a business of it. 'i'lii- 

 city of Xorwich, wilh the surrounding \il- 

 lages and hamlets, counts its l)reedeis by 

 the thousand ; while in Coventry. I)ci'l)y. 

 Northani|)ton, Not I ingham. and other towns 

 in the midland district where labour is of 

 a sedentary character, as well as in many 

 towns in Yorkshire and Lancashire, the 

 Canary is the poor man's savings l)ank ; 

 the substitute for the family pig where 

 sanitary laws forbid the erection of a sty. 

 A vcrv large number of the working classes 



it is useful. The occasional self-denial called 

 into operation in ministering to the wants 

 of creatures not ai)lc to provide for them- 

 scl\cs. and tiic lessons of kiniliuss thus 

 taught, must also be wi-illcn down on the 

 credit side of the accoimt. Few hobbies 

 pay. e\cc|)l in the hands of larger (■ai)italists 

 than are the breeders of Canaries for the 

 London market, for it is from collage homes 

 t hat t he main supply <if song-birds is drawn. 

 The higher class birds hardly come mulcr 

 this category, and our remarks, therefore, 

 appiv more especially to the common 



singing Can 



Jtritish home. 



