250 ('ANARIES AND CACK- 11 1 R 1)8. 



An inspection of one of these large bird-houses is exceedingly interesting. It 

 contains from forty to fifty rooms, each room being prepared for its special variety 

 of birds ; some are kept warm, others at a moderate temperature, and still another 

 suite cold ; each bird being kept in the temperature to which it has been accus- 

 tomed. In busy times things are very lively ; as here are twenty-five thousand birds 

 to be cleaned, fed, and watered daily, and for several mouths of each year four 

 thousand received and shipped each week. This number of birds consumes each 

 month all the seed that can be grown on twenty-five acres. Each man has his 

 special duty to perform : the young beginners clean, feed, and water ; the older 

 men sort out the different grades, cull out the sick ones, and prepare the travellers 

 for their different destinations. Every morning all the rooms are thoroughly aired, 

 and every precaution taken to prevent sickness. The music sent forth from one of 

 these large houses, containing, as they oftentimes do, twenty-five thousand songsters, 

 is as loud as it is varied, and would easily drive an average opera audience into an 

 insane asylum. 



How the proprietor can keep track of his large stock is a puzzle to the uninitiated. 

 The trade is not exclusively foreign ; for the finest Canaries are selected by home- 

 experts, men who are specially trained for this peculiar branch, and kept for retail 

 orders at home. Germans are much better judges than we are of the different notes 

 which a fine Canary should have. And in America, where high prices are supposed 

 to reign supreme, a bird-fancier would be surprised to think that fifty dollars would 

 be given for an extra song Canary in Germany ; such, however, is the case : and the 

 very best birds seldom are found in America. Lately an enterprising American im- 

 porter has had a few of this grade of birds sent over ; and, wherever heard, they are 

 always spoken of as being worth far more than the price asked. The men selected 

 for " hearing-up," as it is called, are ancients," and are men who have been reared 

 from boyhood in the business, who can at once detect a false note in a Canary's 

 song. This hearer's patience is never exhausted ; he sits for hours if the bird is 

 not in humor for singing : and, when the song is given, every note which the bird 

 can utter is heard before there is an acceptance or rejection. The long, low trill, the 

 deep roll (the highest prized of all notes), the flute, the bell, the turn, the bubble, 

 and many others, are successively heard : if there is a false move in any, the bird is 

 immediately rejected. That is indeed a fine Canary which proves acceptable ; and 

 when one hears from the ancient's lips, ' ' Dieser ist ein guter vogel " ( " This is a fine 

 bird"), he may be sure of a prize. The finest song-birds which can be procured are 

 selected as the teachers for broods of young Canaries (I am now writing of the 

 finest grade of Canary obtainable) ; and maybe one pupil in ten or twelve follow the 

 teacher accurately, and would pass, in Germany, as one of the superfine. It may 

 thus be easily understood how hard it is to procure a singer which would be regarded 

 in Germany as extra fine. 



Another exclusively German custom is, sending Canaries by mail : one or a dozen 

 birds may be sent as quickly as a letter, and are handled carefully ; the wooden cage 

 is enclosed in a pasteboard box, which is just the proper size to admit it, and with 

 a glass at each end to give the bird light enough to see to eat and drink. It is an 

 excellent idea, and one which should, and may at some future time, be adopted in 

 America. 



