PAIRING AND SITTING 



round to be one-half opaque, or rapidly 

 becoming so, the dividing line being drawn 

 diagonally. A day later, and, in a strong 

 light, the network of blood-vessels can be 

 distinctly traced spreading over the inner 

 surface of the shell ; and a day later still 

 the fertile egg becomes entirely opaque, 

 while the imimpregnatcd ones remain 

 perfectly transparent. In a nest of four 

 or five an unfertile egg should not be re- 

 moved, as the young ones, when hatched, 

 will cluster over it, and it serves as a 

 support for them ; fragile as it is, they 

 will not break it, though it be allowed to 

 remain till they are full grown. 



But the fancier must not, even at this 

 advanced stage, begin to practise that 

 simjile elementary arithmet- 

 ical process which experi- 



RisKs of the 

 Final Stage. 



ence has shown frequently 

 results in erroneous conclusions ; he must 

 wait patiently till the morning of the 

 thirteenth day, before which arrives he 

 may have learnt a practical application 



of another wise saw : " Many a slip " 



We all know the rest and have often ex- 

 perienced it. The proverb is stale but very 

 true. A man, to become a successful 

 Canary-breeder, must have the quality of 

 patience strongly woven in his composition. 

 The principal dangers to be apprehended 

 in the later stages of incubation are the 

 misfortime of the hen forsaking her eggs, 

 or the young birds dying in the shell — 

 " going back," as it is called. The former 

 may arise from the sitting-fever subsiding, 

 which may be occasioned by a sudden 

 change in the weather, such as the advent 

 of a second winter, or any marked fall in 

 the temperature. Sitting hens do not like 

 the long, cold nights, and this is when the 

 value of some heating apparatus will be 

 realised. Similar causes may have a fatal 

 effect on the young ones in the shell, but 

 most probably the decline in the natural 

 heat of the hen's body has most to do with 

 it. It is the steady decline, the gradual 

 dying out of the fire at a time when the 

 flame ought to be kej^t up, that docs the 

 mischief. 



Young birds, when within a day or two 

 15 



of hatching, can, however, survive several 

 hours of exposure, and if the eggs be 

 found to be quite cold they should still 

 be persevered with. 



This would not, of course, apply in a 

 case of gradual decline, but in one of 

 accidental exposure, as, for instance, when 

 a hen has deserted her eggs, or has been 



BARREN KGG. 



FERTILE EGG. 



inadvei'tently shut off from her nest. 

 We have known many instances of hens 

 deserting their eggs a day or two before 

 they were due to hatch, in some of which 

 the eggs were left for six and eight hours 

 before another hen covild be found to take 

 them, and yet every egg was successfully 

 hatched. In cases where a second hen is not 

 available, and it is necessary to draw on 

 the services of a friendly breeder, the eggs 

 nuist be carried in the nest, covered with 

 wadding, a layer of doe hair, or other 

 similar nuiterial. 



We draw attention to this matter so as 

 to warn the breeder against being too hasty 



in breaking cjpen eggs which 

 Delay in j|q j^q^ hatch out to time. 



The Canary sits thirteen days, 

 and hatches almost to the hour with com- 

 mendable punctuality. If eggs do not 

 " chip " at the time expected, and yet are 

 evidently fertile, they should on no account 

 be interfered with for at least eight or 

 twelve hours, and if early in the season 

 even longer. The eggs of the first nests 

 in the season are sometimes a day late in 

 cliijjping, and occasionally as much as 

 two or three days. This probably arises 

 from the hen not having got the full 

 incubation heat up when eonunencing to 

 sit, or else through not sitting closely 



