BEITISH SONG BIKDS. 305 



amongst their own notes some of the nightingale and woodlark's 

 songs are the most esteemed, and it is highly necessary when pur- 

 chasing a bird to hear it sing before you complete the bargain, as 

 many females, particularly old ones, by uttering a few unconnected 

 notes, have been mistaken by unskilled persons for males. Some 

 birds not only imitate airs with correctness, but even learn to pro- 

 nounce distinctly a few short words. The canary breeds four or five 

 times a year, and lays four, five, and sometimes six eggs each time. 

 The birds should not be paired till the middle of April, and they 

 should be put either in a very large cage made for the purpose, or 

 else allowed to range about a room. If you put them in a cage, let 

 it be so large that the birds may have room enough to fly about with 

 freedom. It is a good plan to have two little boxes for the birds to 

 build in, as they are apt to go to nest again before the young ones 

 fly. Birds which are to be paired for the first time ought to be 

 placed in the same cage for a few days, that they may become accus- 

 tomed to each other. If you give the birds the range of a room, 

 nest boxes should be nailed up in various corners, and moss thrown 

 about the floor; if a wire-gauze blind can be fastened across the 

 window, so that the latter may be occasionally left open to allow fresh 

 air to blow freely into the room, it will add materially to the health 

 of its inmates. You must take care to furnish your birds, whether 

 in the cage or room, with some fine hay, horse hair, hair of cows and 

 elks, and hogs' bristles, in order that they may make their nests. 

 When the hen has laid about six eggs she prepares for the process of 

 incubation, which usually lasts thirteen days, and when the young 

 are hatched it is necessary to put a little jar by the side of the feeding 

 trough, containing some hard-boiled egg chopped very fine, and a 

 small piece of white bread which has been steeped in water, and 

 afterwards squeezed almost dry; in another vessel some rape-seed 

 which has been scalded, and then steeped in fresh water, should be 

 put, and the greatest care must be taken that the rape-seed is not 

 sour, else it will certainly kill the young ones. When you bring up 

 the nurslings by hand, the utmost attention must be paid to them, 

 and the food most appropriate is a kind of paste made of white bread, 

 bruised rape-seed, and a little yolk of egg tempered with water. 

 This paste must be given to the little ones on a thin small piece of 

 wood, shaped like a spoon, and they should be fed twelve or fourteen 

 times a day, every time giving them about four beakfuls. The 

 young ones must be suffered to remain with their mothers for about 

 twelve days, by the end of which time they will be fledged, and on 

 the thirteenth day they usually begin to peck up the food for them- 

 selves ; they will require to be fed by hand for twenty- three or 

 twenty-four days, and at the expiration of that time they may be put 

 into separate cages, the bottoms of which should be strown with fine 

 hay or well dried moss. They must, however, be fed for some weeks 

 on the before-mentioned paste, with the addition of the general food 

 of a full-grown bird, and as they gain strength and vigour the paste 

 may be gradually withdrawn, until at length they become accustomed 

 to their ordinary food, which should consist of summer rape, canary, 



