272 Kisroav of 



August. Those are said to be the best breeders that are pro- 

 duced between the English and the French, 



Towards the latter end of March, a cock and a hen should be 

 put together in a small cage, where they will peck at each other 

 in the beginning, but will soon become thoroughly reconciled. 

 The room where they are kept to breed should be so situated as 

 to let the birds have the benefit of the morning sun, and the 

 windows should be of wire, not glass, that they may enjoy the 

 benefit of the air. The floor of the room should be kept clean, 

 and sometimes there should be dry gravel or sand sifted upon it. 

 There should also be two windows, one at each end, and several 

 perches at proper distances for the birds to settle on, as they fly 

 backwards and forwards. A tree in the middle of the room 

 would be the most convenient to divert the birds, and sometimes 

 to serve for building their nests upon. 



In Germany they prepare a large room, and build it in the 

 manner of a barn, being much longer than broad, with a square 

 place at each end, and several holes to go into those square 

 places. In those outlets they plant several sorts of trees, in 

 which the birds take great delight to sing and breed. The bot- 

 tom of the place they strew with sand, and upon it c^st rape- 

 seed, chick-weed, and groundsel, which the old birds feed upon 

 while breeding. In the body of the house they put all sorts of 

 stuflf for building the nest, and brooms, one under the other, in 

 all the corners, for the birds to build in. These they separate 

 by partitions from each other, to prevent those above flying down 

 upon, or otherwise incommoding, such as breed below. The 

 light also is excluded, for no bird is fond of having light come to 

 its nest. 



With us the apparatus for breeding is less expensive ; a little 

 breeding-cage sometimes suffices, but seldom any thing more 

 extensive than a small room. While the birds are pairing, it is 

 usual to feed them with soft meat ; that is, bread, maw-seed, a 

 little scalded rape-seed, and near a third part of an egg. The 

 room should be furnished with stufi" for making their nests ; 

 such as fine hay, wool, cotton, and hair. These materials 

 should be thoroughly dry, and then mixed and tied together in 

 such a manner that the birds may readily pull out what they 

 want. This should be bung in a proper part of the room, and 



