THE CANARY. A 



I must not omit to mention here an important observation, which has 

 been often made, that if two females are given to one male, and one of 

 them happens to die, the other immediately takes charge of the abandoned 

 eggs, and assumes so completely the duties of foster-mother, that in order 

 rigorously to fulfil them she avoids and even repulses the caresses of her 

 mate. 



Canaries pair not only among themselves in our aviaries and cages, they 

 also form connexions foreign to their species, and, provided the analogy i* 

 not too remote, produce fruitful mules. Serins, citral finches, siskins, 

 goldfinches, or linnets, are the species which succeed best*. To succeed, 

 however, 't is necessary that the birds should have been brought up from 

 the nest. The custom is to give an old male of one of the above-named 

 species to a female canary,- the principal reason being that an old femalr 

 of one of those species, though she would not object to the union, could 

 never be induced to lay in an artificial nest, like a female canary. The 

 offspring of these mixtures combine the colours of the father and mother, 

 learn well enough if they descend from a linnet or goldfinch, but sing 

 badly if they come from a siskin or lesser red pole. 



They are easily brought up with the paste mentioned above for canaries. 

 Tt is asserted that the mules of serins, citral finches, and goldfinches, arc 

 fruitful. It is remarked, however, that their first eggs are very small, and 

 the young hatched from them very weak ; but the next year the eggs be- 

 come larger, and the young stronger and more robust. 



No sooner can the young canaries eat alone, which happens on the thir- 

 teenth or fourteenth day, and sometimes even before they leave the nest, 

 than the males begin to warble, and some females also, but in a less con- 

 nected manner, which serves to point them out. As these pretty birds are 

 so docile as to neglect entirely their natural song and imitate the harmony 

 of our instruments, it is necessary immediately to separate from his com- 

 panions and from every other bird the young one which is to be instructed, 

 by putting him aside in a cage which is at first to be covered with a piece of 



* Green birds, bullfinches, and even chaffinches, yellow-hammers, and the like, 

 have been tried ; but the difficulty augments with the difference of species and 

 food: for example, I have never seen a male canary very fond of a female yellow- 

 hammer, nor a male of the latter kind of a female canary, though the plumage 

 may be selected so as to offer a striking resemblance. An ardent bullfinch will 

 sometimes yield to the allurements of a very ardent hen canary. I have myself 

 witnessed it ; but with every care, it is seldom that the eggs prove fruitful, and pro- 

 duce young. Dr. Jassy, however, writes me from Frankfort, that he hag obtained 

 mules of a bullfinch and canary, by making other canaries sit on the eggs and bring 

 up the young ; and that this plan is pursued in Bohemia. A tufted or crested fe- 

 male should never be chosen, because this ornament is very unbecoming to the 

 large head of a mule. " My bullfinch," he adds, " is so attached to the female 

 canary that he mourns all the time they are separated, and cannot bear any other 

 bird." 



I possess a nightingale which, having been for a long time shut up with a female 

 canary, lives very sociably with her, and sings as usual ; indeed, he was so ardent 

 in the spring, that he paired with her in my presence, but the eggs were unproduc- 

 tive. I shall try next spring, if the same thing happens, to give the eggs to another 

 sitter. AUTHOR. 



