82 OUR HOME PETS 



he never thought of training her, and for 

 weeks she uttered no sound, but listened and 

 looked at the singing bird, and one day she 

 surprised her owner by giving the robin's 

 song perfectly. Treated in the way described, 

 a canary will learn to imitate almost any bird 

 song. 



The third method, and the most natural, is 

 to have the young bird trained by a fine singer 

 of his own family a canary and all that is 

 needful to do is to keep the young one during 

 the learning period in a room with the fine 

 singer alone, when he will follow his copy so 

 far as his powers allow. 



The things to remember are that he should 

 not be disturbed by other sounds, especially 

 other singing, and that he learns more quick- 

 ly if his cage is covered, so that his attention 

 may not be distracted by seeing anything. 



One caution should be heeded. However 

 annoying or untimely a bird's song may be, he 

 should never be stopped by violence, throwing 

 something at him, scolding, or shaking the 

 cage. These little creatures are exceedingly 

 sensitive, and they are by terror sometimes 

 thrown into an epileptic fit, and occasionally 



