CANAEIES. 49 



better do it for them, pressing the hair gently and evenly down all round the sides ; 

 the rims of the nests should rest firmly on the platform of the cage. Notwithstand- 

 ing all your care and attention, you will sometimes find a first egg laid away from 

 either nest, in one of which you must gently place it ; and most likely the second 

 will be laid by its side. Some persons adopt the plan of removing the eggs as they 

 are laid, and putting ivory balls in their place, and then restoring them all together 

 to the nest, that the young may be hatched at the same time ; but the policy of this is 

 very questionable : there is great danger of breaking the eggs ; and it gives unneces- 

 sary disturbance to the old birds, which, in the management of their domestic 

 matters, should not be interfered with unnecessarily. We have said that the 

 Canary has his fancies. When you are mating him with two hens, he will some- 

 times be very ardent and loving towards one of them, and neglect the other alto- 

 gether. When this is the case, it is best to put the neglected hen in one division 

 of the cage by herself until the other begins to lay, then place the male with her, and 

 keep him there until she does the same, after which the sliding-door may be left 

 open, as there is no longer any occasion for keeping the birds separate. Seven or 

 eight days after pairing, the first egg is generally laid, and each day after another, 

 until the whole number, four or five, is laid. In about thirteen days from this time, 

 the young ought to make their appearance ; wait another day, and, should there then 

 be no signs of hatching, take the eggs carefully from the nest, keep them for four 

 or five minutes in lukewarm water, and then replace them. It is well before doing 

 this to hold them up to the light ; as, if they are semi-transparent, they are bad, and 

 may be destroyed. This experiment may be tried when the eggs have been set on 

 eight days only ; and the mother-bird, perhaps, may be saved some unnecessary 

 trouble, and loss of time. Sometimes a hen will lay three or four eggs, and then 

 desert the nest. If those eggs are examined, they will generally be found bad : by 

 what secret instinct is the bird informed of this ? Some hens will cut their eggs ; 

 and some turn them out of the nest, and break them. In the former case, it is gener- 

 ally hunger which drives the bird to do it ; to prevent this, food should be prepared 

 over night, and placed where she can easily get it : in the latter case you may be 

 pretty sure that your hen is a hasty, impatient bird, that will not endure the 

 drudgery of attending to her offspring. If she hatches them, they will most likely 

 be served as the eggs were, or left to perish of hunger: such a bad mother 

 should not be used as a breeder. Before deciding on this, however, examine the 

 feet of the bird ; as this overturning of the nest will sometimes occur from the claws 

 being dirty and clogged, or the nails too long. 



As soon as the young are hatched, Bechstein recommends that a small jar should 

 be placed beside the common feeding-trough containing a quarter of a hard-boiled 

 egg, minced very fine, with a piece of white bread previously soaked in water, and 

 squeezed dry ; and with this another jar, containing rape-seed which has been boiled 

 and well washed, to remove the bitter taste from it : these should be prepared fresh 

 every morning. It sometimes happens that a young mother is so over-careful and 

 anxious about the eggs not hatched, that she will not leave the nest to feed the 

 young birds which are out ; and so they get starved. If you keep a register of the 

 laying of the eggs, you will know exactly when the hatching ought to commence. 

 Let plenty of food be placed close to the nest over night, and observe if she <>-ets off 



