*t THE CANARY BIRD. 



the birds from flying away. The ground, or floor of 

 these end rooms, they strew with chick-weed, and 

 several kinds of seeds for them to eat. Here the birds 

 take great delight in hopping about among the branch- 

 es and leaves of the trees, and enjoying the air, and 

 the songs of each other. In the middle room they 

 place all sorts of materials of which these little song- 

 sters build their nests, such as fine hay, hair, and 

 cotton. In this room, also, they construct places like 

 pigeon holes, for them to build in, each bird having a 

 separate apartment, in which she rears her young. 

 From this place the light is excluded, as they are fond 

 of a gloomy place while they are setting. 



After the young are hatched, the old ones are fed 

 with soft food, such as cabbage, lettuce, and chick- 

 weed, and on these delicacies they feed their young. 

 When the young birds can feed themselves, they are 

 taken out of the nest, and placed in cages away from 

 the parents, and are here fed on a composition made 

 of the yolks of eggs boiled hard, and mixed with a 

 little scalded rape-seed, and crumbs of bread. This 

 is all beaten up together, and furnished fresh every 

 day. 



In respect to the notes of these birds, there is much 

 difference. Some of them will have very fine notes 

 when taken young and bred up alone. If the song is 

 not fine, they can be educated by being placed with 

 another which is a good singer. They catch the tones 

 of other kindred songsters with considerable facility, 

 and hence among the best singers there is a material 

 difference in the song, depending on the bird with 

 which they have been educated. In some countries 



