VIII 

 THE CANARY 



" In thy lone aerial cage 

 Thou hast thine ancient heritage; 

 There is no task work on thee laid, 

 But to rehearse the ditties thou hast made." 



STEDMAN. 



ALL that I have said about the care of other 

 birds will apply as well to the canary, but this 

 bird is so common an inmate of our homes, and 

 so little understood and so frequently neglect- 

 ed, that I feel moved to give him a chapter to 

 himself. 



The canary has been for so many genera- 

 tions a captive that he is almost as completely 

 domesticated as the chickens and ducks of 

 our barn-yards. More absolutely even than 

 they is he dependent upon us for his life, and 

 more trustfully than they does he nest and 

 raise his young under our very eyes. This 

 touching dependence and confidence should 



