CANARIES. 191 



sweetmeats, or sugar, is imadvisable j they prefer more simple 

 food, and their health and musical qualities are impaired by 

 this Idndly meant but really unkind practice. A bit of cuttle 

 fish bone is the best dainty. Too much hemp seed is injurious 

 to all birds in confinement, often producing blindness, less of 

 voice, and pulmonary disease. 



The songs of cage birds are of two kinds, the natural and the 

 artificial. The natural song is peculiar in each species. The 

 artificial ih that which the bird acquires by association with 

 other bh'ds, or which is purposely taught it. A bird is said to 

 " warble " or '' quaver" when it always repeats the passages 

 or single notes of its song in precisely the same order. It 

 "■ sings " when it utters the chirping or twittering interspersed 

 with distinct notes without observing any regular succession. 

 It " whistles " or " pipes '^ when its song consists of distinct 

 round flute-like notes. Bird.3 to sing well must enjoy good 

 health, be well fed and be placed in a bright, cheerful, situation. 

 The glaring rays of a hot sun can, however, be endured by but 

 few birds. Birds are naturally endowed with a spirit of rivalry, 

 and if placed where they can hear the song of other birds, will 

 often sing l)etter than they otherwise would. Varying their 

 food slightly will often encourage them to sing. A German 

 writer gives the following rules for canaries by which a good 

 singer may be secured : ^' The first and chief thing is that 

 while young the bird should hear none but a good song, and so 

 not be tem.pted to intermix the notes of other birds with his own. 

 Care must be taken to attain this object, not only at first, but 

 at the first and second molting seasons, as the bird is then 

 obliged to re-leam his song, and might introduce into it some 

 foreign admixture. It should also be noted whether the bird 

 prefers to sing alone or in company. Many birds are so self- 

 wiUed as never to sing except they can display their vocal 

 powers alone, while the song of others is always soft and low 

 except when excited to rivalry by hearing the performance of a 

 neighbor. Another ver}^ important particular to be attended to 

 not only in the case of canaries but of all cage birds, 4s to give 

 them their allotted portion of food every day, for if too much be 

 given them at once they pick out the best at first and leave the 

 rest for another day, which impairs their Vocal powers." 



The canary is a very imitative bird, indeed its song is mainly 

 artificial, being derived from the birds with which it has associ- 

 ated, many of the original stock of the Canary Isles not singing 

 at all. This fact renders its tuition comparatively easy. If 

 several notes are repeated in succession on any instrument, and 

 this is continued perseveringly, the bird will gradually try to 



