THE CANARY. 23 



night, lays her fourth egg in the morning, and gen- 

 erally commences to sit so closely that the date of 

 hatching may be reckoned from the fourth morning. 



SHE WILL SIT THIRTEEN days and hatch, punctually 

 to the hour, one egg each day. But if the eggs 

 should not hatch as expected, let the bird remain 

 undisturbed three or four days, then remove the eggs 

 and nest, and in a few days give a new nest. 



THE MALE bird should remain with the sitting 

 female if he behaves well ; but if he shows a dispo- 

 sition to disturb too much, or drive the female from 

 the nest, he may be put in his own apartment. Usu- 

 ally he sits on the eggs when she gets off, or else feeds 

 her. The pair may bathe twice a week. 



THE NESTLINGS are fed by the old birds with the 

 egg and cracker paste which should be given fresh 

 two or three times a day. In some cases where the 

 old birds are very good parents and feed the young, 

 as they should, a second nest is put in the same cage 

 with the young birds, and the second laying goes on 

 while the father bird feeds the young until they can 

 eat for themselves. But if the male gets quarrelsome, 

 or the pair in getting too anxious to mate more thus 

 neglect the young, it is well to separate them, putting 

 the male in his own cage until the young birds can 

 eat for themselves and fly on to the perch. They 

 may then be removed and the male returned to his 

 mate, and another brood raised. 



BOTH PARENTS DESERT the young birds or feed 

 them too little sometimes. In such an event a bachelor 

 uncle or a maiden aunt will sometimes adopt the 



