Our Belgians. 47 



has had any experience in the matter, will hear me out 

 when I say, that of all the various breeds as yet in- 

 troduced into our country, the Belgian is by far the 

 most tender of any. Indeed it requires no great know- 

 ledge of physical anatomy to understand that such, from 

 the conformation of the bird, must necessarily be the 

 case. The extreme narrowness of their chest abso- 

 lutely precludes them from being otherwise than very 

 delicate, for to be healthy and strong, we all know, a 

 wide expansion of chest is absolutely requisite in bird, 

 beast, and man. In this there can be neither exception 

 nor qualification ; to talk therefore of their being either 

 <f strong " or " healthy " is simply ridiculous, and 

 betrays not only great ignorance, but almost makes us 

 doubt whether a man so talking could ever have seen 

 one in his life. My own experience has already con- 

 firmed what reason and information had already told 

 me was the case, and I repeat again that of all the 

 various breeds of the canary hitherto known in this 

 country, that of the Belgian is the most tender and 

 delicate to manage of any. 



Well, a splendid show of these remarkable birds had 

 just been imported direct by our bird merchant, who 

 goes himself periodically to make their selection. Where 

 all is beautiful it is difficult to make a choice, and this 

 time Agnes and I felt very much like the ass between 

 two bundles of hay recorded in the fable ; our choice, 

 however, was not so extensive as it seemed, for, besides 

 the beauty of the birds their price also had to be con- 

 sidered, and this had a considerable influence in guiding 

 us to a choice. Indeed, this was the greatest obstacle 



