Mule Breeding. 1 1 1 



the aperture, and Master Goldie will be thereby frustrated 

 from carrying out his malicious vagaries. The eggs ought 

 to be removed daily until three have been laid, when the 

 goldfinch should be tat en from beside her. It must not be 

 presumed that all the tribe of goldfinches are gifted with 

 those vicious proclivities, and those who are desirous of leaving 

 the twain together can do so; but be it remembered that it 

 will be very necessary to exercise considerable vigilance, 

 especially at the commencement of the breeding season, or a 

 whole nest of eggs may be sacrificed ere the mischief is dis- 

 covered, or worse, as has frequently happened, not until the 

 second or even third nest of eggs has been destroyed by the 

 finch. 



INCUBATION. There is no advantage to be gained by leaving 

 a goldfinch and canary together during incubation, as it is an 

 exceedingly rare occurrence to find a " goldie " assisting to 

 rear the progeny; in fact, I have only known of two well- 

 authenticated instances of this kind during the whole of my 

 experience. Plenty of goldfinches will feed the canary hens 

 whilst they are nesting and sitting ; but they apparently deem 

 it no part of their duty to succour the young birds after they 

 are brought forth; indeed, many of them proceed to destroy 

 the newly-hatched broods, and the majority of those which do 

 not, ill-treat them without compunction after they have left 

 the nest. In addition to these drawbacks there is another 

 important consideration, and that is, that the presence of 

 the male bird would be sure to induce the hen to commence 

 a second brood earlier than she otherwise would do; and if 

 she began to lay, as she doubtless would, ere the young mules 

 could cater for themselves, there would be great danger in 

 losing them, as they would in all likelihood perish. 



NATURAL ALLIANCE, &c. There are a great number of 

 difficulties to contend with in mule breeding, as both gold- 

 finches and canaries naturally prefer an alliance with birds of 

 their own species, although rare instances have been recorded 

 where a mutual attachment has been known to exist between 



