PAIRING. 17 



time. Their long familiarity is apt to pro- 

 duce indifference, but after a short separation, 

 old acquaintance is soon renewed, and you 

 may calculate almost to an hour when the 

 hen will begin to lay. 



Some breeders put the birds intended for 

 breeding into a small cage, with only one 

 upper perch, to make them familiar and 

 sociable with each other. Others put them 

 at first into the cage appointed for breeding ; 

 the former method is allowed to be the best. 



During the time they are pairing, they 

 should be fed high, by giving them sparingly 

 every morning a little chopped egg and 

 bread, mixed with a little maw seed and 

 some bruised hemp. As soon as they be- 

 come sociable, feed each other, and sleep 

 on the perch close together, then the breed- 

 ing cage for their reception may be prepared. 



It is needful to remark, some birds at first 

 pairing will fight very much, and the hen 

 strives for the mastership, but in most cases, 

 without success. If they fight too much, and 

 will not come to any reconciliation in the 

 course of one month's trial, it will be best to 

 part them and try another hen. 



These birds have their sympathies and an- 

 tipathies, which nothing can subdue. The 

 sympathy of a male is shown by putting 

 him alone in an aviary where are many 

 females ; in a few hours he will make choice 

 of one, and will not cease for an instant to 

 show his attachment, by feeding her. Nay, 

 he will even choose a female without seeing 

 2* 



