2G 



hen, you will most likely have cinnamon birds. If 

 you pair for several seasons the lightest mealies pro- 

 curable you will have white and flaxen coloured birds, 

 and so you may go on producing varieties innumerable. 

 Tor our own part, however, we recommend the system 

 of " like producing like," keeping them clear and dis- 

 tinct, rather than crossing and recrossing as above 

 described ; but above all the breeding of self-coloured 

 birds rather than of irregularly or fancifully marked 

 birds we now too often see. 



A male of from two to five years of age should be 

 chosen for pairing ; for experience has taught, that if 

 a young male is placed among older females, they will 

 produce more males than females. A bird is known 

 to be old by the blackish and rough scales of his feet, 

 and by his long and strong claws. 



Grood males are valuable and scarce. Some are dull 

 and melancholy, always sad, and seldom singing ; in- 

 different to their mates, which are equally so to them : 

 others are so passionate, that they beat or even kill 

 their mates and their young ; others are too ardent, 

 and pursue their mates while they are sitting, tear the 

 nest, destroy the eggs, or excite the females so much 

 that they voluntarily abandon them. 



The females have also their defects. Some, too 

 ardent, only lay without sitting ; others neglect to feed 

 their young, beat them, and pick out their feathers, so 



