Preparations for Breeding, fyc. D 1 * 



succeed in getting young birds hatched by the begin- 

 ning or middle of March, they are invariably delicate 

 and tender, and difficult to rear. Moreover, should the 

 weather change and become cold and frosty, as it not 

 unfrequently does about this time, not only are the 

 young birds almost sure to perish from want of the 

 necessary warmth of the sun, but the old birds are 

 unduly weakened by their exertions, and much loss of 

 time and disappointment are the result. In the choice 

 of time for pairing young birds, much, of course, must 

 depend upon circumstances. If the weather is very 

 fine and your birds strong and in good condition, the 

 latter end of March or beginning of April may be se- 

 lected if you are very anxious to begin ; but as a general 

 rule if you wait till the middle of the latter month, it 

 will be quite early enough. Young birds require great 

 warmth, and, it must be remembered, warmth of the sun, 

 too, in order to develop their feathers properly, which 

 fact alone, if borne in mind, will tell you when is the 

 most proper time to begin. Any how, we may dismiss 

 the popular tradition of St. Valentine's day as a popular 

 fallacy, more honoured in the breach than in the ob- 

 servance. It may be all very well for poets to sing 

 about this festive day, and explicitly declare, as lago 

 does, how thereon 



" The tuneful choir, in amorous strains, 



Accost their feathered loves ; 

 While each fond mate, with equal pains, 

 The tender suit approves." 



but it will scarcely do for practical men in this matter- 

 of-fact age, to heed their strain. In such a case, I 



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