INTRODUCTORY 



quality, are found in many homes ; 



but the Canary, most probably from his 



attractive appearance and friendly 



CaEe= wavs, is the bird of the peoijle. 

 Birds. ■., 1 f 1 



btill, among popular favourites, 



there is the Linnet in his tiny cage, 

 hanging outside the attic casement of 

 some toiling artisan who sees but little 

 blue sky except over tiled roofs and smoky 

 chimney-tops, ever on the move and singing 

 the day through of breezy hill-sides and 

 blooming whin bushes ; or the Skylark on 

 his fresh sod, bought with hard-earned 

 penn}% carolling of green fields, new-mown 

 hay, and skies all sun ; the Blackbird or 

 Thrush, in quaint wicker cage, chanting 

 rich bursts of delicious music, wakening 

 echoes of bygone days and carrying the 

 listener back to some low-roofed, thatched 

 cottage, with porch overgrown with wood- 

 bine, reminding him of early hojoes and 

 loves, and ambitions now tempered by stern 

 necessities and manhood's cares. Every 

 gush of melody floods his heart like refrains 

 of angels' songs, and whispers perhaps of 

 loved ones left behind sleeping peacefully 

 under a little green moimd in a far-off 

 village churchyard. 



But these birds are not everyone's 



property. Early associations and early 



surroundings have a great deal 



^^^ to do with developing a liking 



Favourite i- ,• -n 



<-=«..-„ in anv du'cction. Born m a 



woodland district, native wood- 

 land songsters are the early friends and 

 companions of some ; while others — and 

 they are by far the greater number — 

 unacquainted with these rustic beauties, 

 make friends with the bird within reach of 

 all, and install the Canary as favourite at 

 home. And well he adapts himself to anj^ 

 circumstances. It matters not whether he 

 be in a gilded cage in a drawing-room, 

 tended by gentle hands, singing finished 

 melodies acquired under expensive masters, 

 or rolling out his own noisy, rollicking, un- 

 tutored ditty in a cottage, he is equally at 

 home. Cheerful and sprightly, companion- 

 able and docile, varied and beautiful in 

 plumage, easily kept and easily bred, it is 

 not to be wondered at that he is such a 



favourite, for not the least of his many 

 virtues are his strongly-marked social dis- 

 position and domestic proclivities. 



The way in which a pair of Canaries set 

 up housekeeping and order their house- 

 hold is enough in itself to give 

 anary ^j^^ j^j^.^ ^ strong claim on our 



Domestic '^ 



Economy, sympathies. Other birds will, 



under favourable conditions, 

 occasionally breed in confinement ; but 

 the hero of the first portion of our volume 

 has for generations established itself in 

 our families as one of us, and, regardless of 

 prying eyes or inquisitive curiosity, builds 

 its little homestead and treats us to all the 

 interesting details of bird-life which can 

 be seen nowhere else but in its little 

 establishment. There is a strange fascin- 

 ation in a bird's nest, and few there are 

 who cannot recollect with what emotions 

 of delight and wonder they made their 

 first discovery of the family chimney-corner 

 of even the humble hedge-sparrow with its 

 treasure of little blue eggs, carefully con- 

 cealed in a quiet nook in the garden ; 

 and who has not then lifted the children 

 one by one to peer quietly through the 

 gently-parted leaves, and take stealthy 

 glances at the little freehold ? Who will 

 say they were not wiser and better for each 

 visit ? If there be living poetry in songs 

 without words, where look for tenderer 

 sentiment, purer rhji^hm, or sweeter 

 cadence ? It is not often that with all 

 our care and watching we are able to 

 observe the whole of the daily routine of 

 such a little household, or to learn how, 

 without design or copy, and without ever 

 having seen a model, a bird constructs its 

 nest after an unvarying pattern peculiar 

 to its kind. It is one of the mysteries of 

 which creation is full, though some are of 

 such everyday occurrence that we cease 

 to regard them as mysteries. But our 

 friend the Canary brings much of this home 

 to us, and shows us with scarcely any 

 reserve how the thing is done, busying 

 about all day long, doing and undoing in 

 a perpetual bustle yet with wonderful 

 method, till the work is turned out in 

 inimitable style. A breeding-cage is an 



