136 



CAiNARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



cage — iinlil. indeed, the young hii-ds get 

 fairly well <in to tlie seed — they can tlien 

 be transl'erred to the hirger llight cage. 

 where they will lia\e more room I'or 

 exercise. 



Before taking this final step, the dilTrrent 

 broods should be marked so that eacii bird 

 can l)e I'ecognised at a future 



Marking 

 the Broods. 



day. Tl'.is can be done by 

 using numbei-ed rings, either 

 open or closed. We prefer the former, 

 Avhieh should l)e ])laeed on the birds' legs 

 on the lii-st day they leave the nest, or 

 ■when they are twelve days or a fortnight 

 old. To ring the young birds, gently 

 lilt them one at a time fi'om the nest, 

 place the ring round the leg, close it with 

 a little pressure of the finger and thumb, 

 and return the bird to the nest. By 

 putting the rings on at this early age 

 the birds do not try to get them off to the 

 extent that they do if the o^ieration is 

 deferred until the\ are older. They will 

 then often peek at their legs and feet 

 until these beeonie inllamed by the en- 

 deavours to get rid of the rings. 



If closed rings are used, these must 

 be put on when the biT'ds are about six 

 or seven days old, as they have to be 

 slipped o\ei- the toes on to the leg, and 

 it requires great cai'e and skill to put 

 tluin on even at that age. The Ihree 

 front Iocs should be gently held close to- 

 gether and the I'ing sli|)ped o\tr; as the 

 ring is passed o\'er the ankle, I he hind toe 

 is carried u)) the back of I he leg until 

 the ring is beyond the length of the toe 

 and has .allowed the latter to come l)aek 

 to its noi-mal pusilicm. 'J'lie ring will then 

 dropdown (]uite easily, resting just above 

 the ;mkle. It is because the young birds 

 ha\e to be hanilled at such a tender 

 age that inruiy fanciei's object to the 

 closed ring ; but we have nexcr heard 

 an objection iigainst the use of the o])en 

 ring. 



If, of course, the ))recder prefers not to 

 use any kind oF ring, then he must mai'k 

 the birds by some other means, such as the 

 simple system of notching the inside web 

 of the wing, which in no way interferes 



The 



Necessity 

 for Marking. 



with the a])))earance of the bird, .-uid is 

 not discernible xmtil the wing is examined 

 in the hand. With two wings at disposal, 

 and not less than, say, ten leathers in 

 each to mark <>n, the breeder i'e(|nii'es 

 nothing more than a sharj) pair of small 

 scissors to enal)le him, with the exercise 

 of a little ingemiity, to contrive a set of 

 notches re])resenting numbers corres])ond- 

 ing with the miml)er of the cages, and to 

 indicate also the fact of the bird having 

 belonged to the first, second, third, oi- fourth 

 nest, thus gi\ing its age to a week. The 

 notched wing becomes, in fact, the ])ri\ate 

 index to the st(K-k-book. 



Another method is to stam]i the inner 

 web of the wing feathers with a number 

 by means of a small rubber stamp in 

 which the numbers can be regulated as 

 required. 



Some such method is necessary in a 

 room in which breeding means something 

 more than putting up so 

 many ]),-iirs of birtls every 

 year without any regard to 

 their parentage, and with 

 no more delinite end in view than pro- 

 ducing as many young ones as possible. 

 Such is not what a laneier means by 

 breeding. Tie will have been endeavouring 

 to build with material of which he knows 

 something, and in that endeaxdur has not 

 been groping in the dark and trusting to 

 elianee. He has been keeping lieFore him 

 one object, and all his work tends in that 

 direction. He has planned to produce 

 certain results, now and in the future, 

 and these results must be chronicled in 

 some way to guide him in his work. Here 

 ."ii'e several l)irds wliieli, to anyone else 

 ])ut himself, sim|)ly mean Canaries. They 

 are \cry nnieh alike, so much so that he 

 can scarcely tell one lYoni the other: 

 but to him each re{)resents some link in 

 ;i chain he is forging, some stone dressed 

 and eai\-ed into shajic, and destined to 

 till a particular niche in the little cdilice 

 he has designed : and each should be duly 

 mai'ked anil mindxrc-d, so that, when 

 re<iuired, it can at once be put in its proper 

 })laee and to its proper use. They are 



