12 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. 



notes are quickly put where they will not injure more proficient pupils, and their 

 training is then continued until the bird-raiser satisfies himself that further perfec- 

 tion cannot be attained. No two bird-raisers have teachers for the young birds 

 which have voices exactly alike ; and. by the interchange of teachers for the instruc- 

 tion of the young, the voice is still further cultivated. It requires a practised ear 

 and an immense amount of experience to select the highest class of birds. The 

 choicest birds, when sold to the dealers, are heard separately, and each separate 

 note recorded. The foreign buyer of the St. Andreasberg Canaries is obliged to 

 visit the breeding- places as early as July, before the birds are fully feathered, and 

 pay in advance for them, to be delivered when fully instructed. The breeder 

 retains three or four of the choicest, as instructors for the following season. 



It is claimed, that, after all the care which is lavished upon this class of Canaries, 

 only about ten per cent of the entire number raised are judged to be perfect by the 

 connoisseur ; and under no circumstance is a bird perfect in song when he has less 

 than six-months' training. The highest-prized notes are learned by the quiet birds : 

 for the more excitable birds are apt to become nervous, and break into sharp, de- 

 tached notes, which impair the song. To produce these best songsters, the breeder 

 must give close attention to a multiplicity of things, among others, the amount 

 of light which they receive, the kind and variety of food given, and the proper voice- 

 training : most necessary of all is it to carefully cull all naturally sharp or harsh 

 voiced birds, as soon as their faults are noticed, from among the young brood. 



The object to be attained in the best- trained bird's song is to get the greatest 

 combination of various difficult trills and odd notes, and the excellence consists in 

 the performance of them. Loud or harsh notes are not desirable, and the bird 

 uttering them is quickly rejected. The length of the song, combined with quality 

 of voice and a continued repetition of the varied strains, are the qualities which 

 mark the perfect bird. Short notes, no matter how sweet or soft, are not regarded 

 as worthy of merit. The Nightingale-notes, when sung solely, are not prized as 

 highly as those of a bird which combines certain lengthened trills or passages of 

 melody. The perfect bird's song should be like an endless stream, the finish and 

 commencement of his song not being perceptible. Some of the choicest birds have 

 a compass of four octaves, and will execute the various passages in the most per- 

 fect style ; but no matter what strains, notes, or combinations he has mastered, it 

 is always desirable that the beginning and the finish of the song should be the 

 softest notes of all. The trills and other notes should be fully gone through, and 

 the passing from one note to another should be an imperceptible glide. 



The notes, trills, and combinations number twenty-five or more ; the best known 

 and highest prized being the water-bubble, deep roll, bell, flute, warble, whistle, and 

 the numberless trills. These are all varied, and form an endless number of com- 

 binations : as one bird may commence his song with an entirely different note or 

 trill from another ; and. when both birds' songs are listened to, they appear to be 

 entirely different. Although the same notes are gone through with, they are sung in 

 an entirely different order. An enthusiastic lover of the St. Andreasberg Canary 

 describes his song as follows : 



"A few days ago, in climbing a mountain on the west side of the Hudson River, 

 near Catskill, weary and thirsty, I unexpectedly found a spring welling from a rock. 



