86 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



Communal 

 Nests. 



one season in a thick privet hedge that 

 ran along one side of tlie fiy of an outdoor 

 aviary. 



In cases where twice, or even three times, 

 as many liens as cocks are in the aviary — ■ 

 a state of alTairs which is often advisable, 

 where good shelter cannot be afforded — 

 polygamy is chrectly encouraged among the 

 cocks. The repeated calls for attention 

 from the various hens is more than they 

 can resist, for a time at any rate, and 

 meanwhile the first choice of the season sits 

 quietly incubating her eggs. Polygamy, 

 of course, is rarer among those males whose 

 duty it is partly to incubate the eggs. I 

 am not prepared, indeed, to say that 

 any such species are polygamous, for they 

 are kept too busy during incubation time, 

 taking their tiu'n at sitting on the eggs. 



x\nothcr outcome of the complete 

 domestication of the Canary is seen in 

 the fact that all nests become 

 common property. The birds 

 seem to want a place in which 

 to lay, and nothing more, and select their 

 favourite nest much in tlie same way as 

 do domestic poultry. All are at one time 

 or another alTccted by the desire to set 

 up house for themselves, and go about it 

 very energetically, evidently im|)resscd 

 with the im])ortance of having, according 

 to bii'd builchng-society maxims, a roof-tree 

 (iT I heir own. This once done, and the 

 instinct satislicd, nothing further seems to 

 be desired. There is no idea of privacy, 

 nor Ihc slightest regard for |>roperty rights. 

 Two or three, or as many hens as can 

 possibly find a rcsting-])iace, may be seen 

 occu|)yiiig the same nest and c\en sitting 

 on each others l)aeks, anywhere and any- 

 how, so long as tlicy can only find some 

 means of s(|ucc/,ing in. like hens in a poult rv- 

 yard, taking possession of the same eggs, 

 too anxious to cover IIumh to think of 

 (|uari(lling. Tlie yonng even become 

 eonunon pro|)erty, and we have freciucntiy 

 seen two hens. ouv. on either side of a nest, 

 assisting the cock bird to feed a family 

 which could certainly be in no way related 

 to one of them, and which sjic had taken 

 no part in hatching 



These, of course, are exceptional cases. 

 At times some extraordinary instance will 

 be found in a wild l)ird at liberty, for we 

 have more than once on our rainl)les seen 

 an old lilackbird feeding a young Thrush 

 which kejit fiuttcring after it and crying 

 for food. We have also seen an old 

 Thnish feeding a yovmg Blackbii'd which 

 kept crying for food in the same manner. 

 In neither case would the adult bird be 

 the parent of the young one it was feeding, 

 but it is evident that the jiitiful appeals 

 of the yomig birds, who had apparently 

 got astray from the nest, ajipealed to 

 the parental instinct of the adults. 



There was a time when we had the im- 

 pression that only Canaries and other birds 

 ke})t imdcr domesticated condi- 

 Unfertile ^j^^^^^ j^.^^j unfertile eggs and 



neglected their young. This 

 delusion Avas largely due to our not having 

 been observ-ant enough in our tra\cls in 

 Nature's realm. For, as time went on. we 

 found many wild birds' nests which con- 

 tained not only imfertile eggs, but whole 

 broods of \dung dead in llieir ik'sI, without 

 a particle of food in their crops. Whether 

 the parents had met with an untimely 

 death by some marauder or other we do 

 not know, but the fact remains that we 

 have frequently found nests of dead young, 

 and also deserted nests of eggs. The 

 unfertile eggs were not always occasioned 

 by non-sitting, as we have found them in 

 nests with a \-oung brood being tenderly 

 eared for by their |)arents. In some 

 instaiu'cs Ihistering the mother from the 

 nest will cause failure in breeding amongst 

 birds in their wild state, as well as with 

 birds in captivity. Then, of coin-sc, they 

 ha\e the ill elTccts of unfavourable seasons 

 to contend against, jnst as birds indoors 

 h:i\-e. with this dilTert'nce, that the captive 

 birds ha\e shelter and food provided, and 

 arc thus relie\etl ol uuieh misery and 

 diseomforl . 



The illiislral inn on page .ST is a pretty 

 design for an outdoor a\iary of simple con- 

 struction by -Mr. A. C. liorth. ll could, ol' 

 course, be built on a large or small si'ale, 

 and with or without sleeping quarters — 



