50 . CANARIES AND CAGZ-BIltDS. 



to take it in the morning, when you feel assured she ought to have her first chick out 

 of the shell. Should she not do this, nor the cock carry food to her, take her gently 

 off the nest, and let her see that there is plenty of food, and one or more little bills 

 gaping for it. Her maternal instinct will inform her what she ought to do in the 

 case ; and, having once fed her young, she will continue to do so : the cock will 

 most likely also follow her example. 



AVliile incubation is going on, take care that the room is kept quiet : even the 

 violent shaking of a door may, it has been asserted, injure the young in the shell. 

 When these are hatched, the male bird generally takes upon himself the responsi- 

 bility of providing them with food, as if to give the hen a little rest after her heavy 

 duties. Should you find, as is sometimes the case, that the young are insufficiently 

 fed. administer a little food, prepared of cracker grated fine, and crushed rape, 

 mixed and moistened, when wanted for use, with a little water, and yolk of egg. 

 About four quills full of this is sufficient for each nestling at the time : the frequency 

 of its administration must depend upon the quantity of food given by the old birds ; 

 if you have to bring up the young altogether by hand, ten or twelve times a day 

 will not be too often. The young Canaries are almost destitute of plumage until 

 they are about twelve or fourteen days old, at which time the hen bird usually 

 begins to prepare for a second brood, and has often built her nest and laid her eggs 

 before the first are fully fledged. According to some authorities, Bechstein among 

 them, the growth of the feathers is promoted by the immersion of the young birds 

 in a bath of lukewarm water ; this renders them, however, extremely liable to get a 

 chill : and it is best, if you observe any backwardness in the development of the 

 plumage, to take an atomizer filled with warm water, and, standing at some dis- 

 tance, let a gentle spray fall over mother and young. It has been found, that when 

 a male Canary lias paired with two females, and one of them has died after laying, 

 the other hen lids received the chicks into her nest, and sat and tended on them as 

 if they had been her own, even repulsing the attentions of the cock, that she might 

 be enabled to do so. 



After the thirteenth day the young birds can generally feed themselves, and 

 when a month old may be taken from their parents altogether : they may then be 

 placed in a good-sized store-cage, or in small separate cages, as Bechstein recom- 

 mends, and fed with their ordinary food, with which a little soaked rape-seed has 

 been mixed. 



Canaries may be mated up to the middle of May or the first of June, and, after 

 they are once mated, will breed until September ; and some pairs breed every month 

 in the year. If a pair are worked too hard, they will be of little value at the end of 

 the season. A choice pair of birds ought not to rear over three broods in a season, 

 and the limit might better be set at two broods. 



Those who enjoy breeding fancy-colored Mules should arrange to put the pairs 

 together in May. As stated above, Goldfinch, Linnet, Bullfinch, and Siskin males 

 may be mated with the female Canaries. To that list of names, some American 

 native birds may be added, including the Goldfinch, or Yellow-bird, the Bobolink, 

 the Nonpareil, and the Indigo-bird. Males of each of these mate during the 

 month of May, and should be put in prime, fresh condition for use by the 15th 

 of that mouth. Do not expect that all you have to do is comprised in the formal 



