SELECTING AND MANAGING THE BREEDING BIRDS. 95 



price of a good pair of guaranteed breeders — that is^ a 

 pair that have been breeding together — is about j6200, 

 but the beginner should get birds that have not 

 only had one nest, but should, if possible, get birds 

 that have bred for two or three seasons, and have had 

 not less than three nests each season. He may not 

 always be able to get guaranteed breeders, in which case 

 he should buy good four-year-old birds, which he should 

 get for £100 to £130 a pair. If they have been well 

 nourished as young birds, and are well forward, the 

 cock with a deep scarlet in front of his legs and round 

 the eyes, and the back sinews of the leg pink, with 

 generative organ thoroughly developed, and that of the 

 hen large, soft, and sticky, he can then pretty safely 

 rely on their breeding that season. 



The term ^* guaranteed breeders" is so universally 

 used now to designate birds that have had nests, that 

 any purchaser who had bought birds sold under this 

 designation, without any further questions being put and 

 answered, and which he could afterwards prove had 

 never bred, would have no difficulty in law in recovering 

 full damages. But supposing an unscrupulous person 

 to sell as '^guaranteed breeders" two birds, both of 

 which have bred, but not together as a pair, it might be 

 doubtful if the purchaser could recover damages ; so it 

 is always advisable to put the following questions. On 



