42 



NOTES TO THE 



bird's song by being brought up from the nest among them. 

 As regards the canary market in England, the great breed- 

 ing places are Norwich, Yarmouth, Yorkshire, Leicester, and 

 Manchester. These places supply the London market with 

 canaries. Canaries are mostly bred by shoemakers during 

 the summer, and sold to the London trade from October 

 till March. They are sent up in " scores," one score being 

 twenty pairs. If you were to send for a " score " of canaries, 

 they would send you forty birds. The breeders prefer sending 

 them in pairs. Three hens are charged as a " pair." The whole- 

 sale price in the autumn is 4 per score. The price rises in 

 the spring, and advances to as much as 7 per score. 



The most valuable and delicate canaries are the Belgians. 

 When undisturbed they sit " all of a lump," but when the cage 

 is taken down they show their beauty by lengthening themselves 

 out like a telescope, and bringing themselves into form. Some 

 will nearly pass through a large wedding ring, and birds of 

 first-class will fetch as much as 10 per pair. The kind of 

 canary most resembling the Belgians are the Yorkshire birds. 

 These are also very long and graceful. They vary from 7s. 6d. 

 to 30s. per pair. Norwich, as a rule, produces the richest coloured 

 birds. The motto is : 



Norwich for colour, 

 Belgian for shape, 

 And German for song. 



The best come from the Hartz Mountains. German birds are 

 not much to look at, but command high prices on account of 

 their beautiful song. 



CHAFFINCHES, p. 41 . The London bird-catchers take great num- 

 bers of cock chaffinches by dummies. A dummy is a stuffed finch, 

 fastened on a peg, which can be placed on a fence or on a tree 

 by means of a small sharpened wire on the end of the peg ; 

 bird-lime twigs are placed under and above the dummy. The 

 birds are attracted by the song of a call bird in a cage, which 

 is placed or hidden in a ditch close by. The wild bird, thinking 

 that the dummy is singing, comes down to attack it by striking 

 at it ; the feathers of the wild bird get caught by the bird-lime 

 and bird and twig fall to the ground. This plan can only be carried 

 out when birds are in full song, when they are " off song " they 

 will not strike at the dummy. The wild bird thinks the dummy 

 is a poacher on his beat. 



There are four or five different ways of putting the chaf- 

 finch's song into words. Thus one bird sings, " Ring, ring, rattle, 

 chuck wido ; " a good " chuck wido," is considered the best song 



