HIS MUSIC LESSON 8 1 



The instructor may have to spend hours, pos- 

 sibly twelve, before the bird learns his lesson ; 

 but he must persist in reiterating those few 

 notes and no others, till the pupil repeats them. 

 When he sings his notes he should be re- 

 warded with something he likes; for one a bit 

 of food, for another a little praise. 



No matter how well he has learned his arti- 

 ficial song, he will forget it the first time he 

 moults, unless it is carefully repeated to him 

 every day while moulting. 



If the bird's owner wishes the canary to 

 sing like a lark or robin, he must be put 

 under native instruction. He is to be placed, 

 with his cage covered closely, in a room alone 

 with his teacher, whose cage is in a light, 

 sunny window. The lark sings for its own 

 pleasure, and the canary, in his darkened 

 cage, forced to pay attention to it, learns to 

 imitate it. 



One man, who kept a large number of ca- 

 naries, tells of having one of them trained by 

 a wild English robin. Her cage for it was a 

 female a year old hung alone near the win- 

 dow, outside which was the robin's favorite 

 singing-perch. The cage was uncovered, for 



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