29 



favourite ; and it will only be when slie is about t^ 

 sit that he will pair with the others, and this is all 

 the notice he will take of them, for afterwards he will 

 only notice their young. It is from these mothers, 

 however, that the most and the best birds are gene- 

 rally procured. 



If the floor of the room or aviary is well covered 

 with moss, little else need be added for making the 

 nestSj otherwise they should be supplied with the hair 

 of cows and deer, hogs' bristles, fine hay, lint, wool 

 cut two or three inches long, paper shavings, and the 

 like. That which is coarsest serves for the outside, 

 and the softest and finest for the inside. If they 

 have shrubs, traces of the natural instinct of the 

 Canary are soon observed in the nests which they 

 construct without the help of the turner or basket 

 weaver ; but they are of an inelegant form, and the 

 outside is not very carefully finished. The females 

 alone, as is usual among birds, are the builders, the 

 males only choosing the situation and bringing the 

 materials. Seven or eight days are generally reckoned 

 from the first pairing to the laying of the first egg ; 

 the other eggs, whose number varies, without ex- 

 ceeding six, are laid successively every following 

 day, and often at the same hour. The laying- 

 ended, pairiDg continues during the first days of in- 

 cubation. 



