THE CANARY. 



155 



have a little saffron in their water. Figs 

 chopped small among their meat will help 

 them to recover their flesh. When their legs 

 are cramped, they should be anointed with 

 fresh butter, or capon's fat, three or four days 

 together. If they grow melancholy, put white 

 sugar-candy into their water, and feed them 

 with sheep's hearts, giving them three or four 

 meal-worms in a day, and a few ants with 

 their eggs. 



With regard to adult birds, those that are 

 taken before the twenty-third of April are 

 counted the best, because after that they begin 

 to pair. They usually haunt woods, coppices, 

 and quickset hedges, where they may be taken 

 in trap-cages baited with meal-worms. They 

 should be placed as near the spot where the 

 bird sings as possible ; and before you fix the 

 trap, turn up the earth twice the breadth of the 

 cage, because they will there look for food. 

 They are also taken with lime twigs, placing 

 them upon the hedge where they usually sing ; 

 and there should be meal-worms stuck at pro- 

 per places to draw them into the snare. After 

 they are taken, their wings should be gently 

 tied with thread, to prevent their beating them- 

 selves against the cage. This should be first 

 hung in a private place, that the bird may 

 not be disturbed ; and it should be fed every 

 two hours, at farthest, with sheep's hearts and 

 eggs minced very fine, mixing it with meal- 

 worms. However, the first food must be 

 worms, ants, caterpillars, and flies. You must, 

 to feed the bird, take it in your hand, and 

 open the bill with a stick made thick at one 

 end, giving it the insects, or four or five bits 

 of food as big as peas, to entice it to eat. Its 

 common food should be mixed with ants, so 

 that when the bird goes to pick up the ants, 

 it may pick up some of that also. The night- 

 ingale, when caged, begins to sing about the 

 latter end of November, and continues its song 

 till June. 



CHAP. VI. 



OF THE CANARY-BIRD, AND OTHEK HARD- 

 BILLED SINGIXG BIRDS. 1 



THE Canary bird is now become so common, 

 and has. continued so long in a domestic state, 

 that its native habits, as well as its native coun- 

 try, seem almost forgotten. Though by the 

 name it appears that these birds came origin- 

 ally from the Canary islands, yet we have it 

 originally from Germany, where they are bred 

 up in great numbers, and sold into different 

 parts of Europe. At what period they were 



1 The Canary is a delightful cage-bird, and is, unques- 

 tionably, one of the sweetest of singtrs. Its form is 



brought into Europe is not well known ; but 

 it is certain that about a century ago they 

 were sold at very high prices, and kept only 

 for the amusement of the great. They have 

 since been multiplied in great abundance : 

 and their price is diminished in proportion to 

 their plenty. 



perfect in symmetry, and its hue " beautiful exceed- 

 ingly," through all the varieties of yellow, white, black- 



ish, and chestnut. The primitive race, as it came from 

 the Canary isles, is supposed to have had the upper parl 

 of the body of a linnet brown, and the under part of a 

 yellowish green, with dark-brown eyes. The little 

 foreigner takes kindly to mates of another race, and hence 

 the various species now in existence. With the gold- 

 finch, the linnet, and the green-bird, iu particular, the 

 canary readily enters into the ties of wedlock. The 

 nest which the canary builds is remarkable for its neat- 

 ness: and when different materials are supplied to it for 

 this end, it evinces great discrimination in selecting the 

 best. The eggs are of a sea-green colour, spotted at one 

 end more or less with maroon or violet. What the pro- 

 per food for the canary is, has been the subject of much 

 dispute. Dr Bechstein, in his work on cage-birds, has 

 some excellent observations upon the head. Summer 

 rapeseed he has found to answer best, mixing with it 

 now and then, for the sake of variety, a little hempseed 

 or canary. Green food, such as chickweed, is given in 

 spring, and fresh water daily, both for drinking and bath- 

 ing. All complicated mixtures of food are noxious, 

 though too often used. Canaries not only have fine 

 notes of their own, but are possessed of excellent memor- 

 ies, and repeat musical sounds which they hear, with 

 ease and precision. Among the novelties exhibiting this 

 season (1839) in London is a canary, which is said to 

 articulate words as distinctly as a parrot. The manner 

 of training them to the imitation of instruments, or the 

 whistling of tunes, is thus described by Bechstein : 

 " No sooner have the young canaries reached the thir- 

 teenth or fourteenth day, than they begin to warble ; 

 and as these pretty birds are so docile as to neglect en- 

 tirely their natural song, and imitate the harmony of our 

 instruments, it is necessary immediately to separate from 

 his companions, and from every other bird, the young 

 one which is to be instructed, by putting him aside in a 

 cage which is at first covered with a piece of linen, and 

 afterwards with a darker cover. The air which is to 

 be taught should be performed five or six times a-day, 

 especially in the evening and morning, either by whistl- 

 ing or on a flageolet or bird-organ : he will acquire it 

 more or less readily in from two to six months, accord- 

 ing to his abilities and memory; if his separation from 

 the other birds is delayed beyond the fourteenth day, lie 

 will retain some part of his father's song, which he will 

 always intermingle with his acquired air, and conse- 

 quently never perform it perfectly." 



