THE CANARY; 



ITS 



VARIETIES, MANAGEMENT, AND BREEDING. 



CHAPTER I. 



A PLEA FOR THE CANARY. 



|OST persons," says Mr. Slaney in his interest- 

 ing outline of the smaller British birds, " are 

 acquainted with three birds a sparrow, a 

 robin, and a blackbird. Some beside know a skylark ; 

 as to the rest, they are often confounded under the 

 general and rather degrading name of small birds. We 

 have sometimes," he continues, " asked our fair friends 

 if they knew as many of the smaller birds as they could 

 count on their fingers ! They generally answered con- 

 fidently in the affirmative, but could seldom get much 

 beyond one hand ! " 



The ignorance here complained of is not limited to 

 the wild species only, but it is equally true, we fear, of 

 the tame. Take, for example, the subject of the fol- 

 lowing pages. Everybody supposes that they know a 

 canary when they see it ; but bring their knowledge to 

 a practical test by a few plain questions, or set before 

 them a bird whose plumage in any material degree 



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