212 BIRDS 



front is wired, and furnished with a door and apertures 

 for food and water receptacles. Twenty to twenty- four 

 inches long, by ten deep and fifteen high, are good average 

 dimensions. Each cage should be furnished with a slide 

 bottom, which should be kept covered with clean sand or 

 gravel. Such cages may be placed in " stack " form, on 

 shelves about the walls of a room, and a great many pairs of 

 breeding canaries accommodated with a small floor space. 

 Uniform cages, well made and finished, can be so arranged as 

 to give the breeding room a neat and attractive appearance. 



The perches should be so placed as to give easy access to 

 the food and water dishes. These last are obtainable in 

 many shapes, the only essential features being that they 

 allow the birds to feed readily, and are themselves easily 

 cleaned. It must be remembered that the birds naturally 

 require more food when rearing young and the food holder 

 must be large enough to contain an abundant supply. 



In England, the little wooden nest boxes once generally 

 used have been largely replaced by others of tin and earthen- 

 ware. Canaries will use almost any receptacle that strikes 

 their fancy, but metal or earthenware pans do not offer the 

 hiding-places for insects that wooden ones do. Breeders 

 in this country commonly use round baskets of wirework, 

 which are furnished with an attachment for fastening them 

 to the cage. These nests are obtainable from all dealers. 

 They are usually lined with soft cloth, to make a founda- 

 tion for the nest, and placed at the back of the cage, near 

 the top. Hair nesting material can be had from all bird 

 stores. This, with bits of cotton, soft grass, etc., should 

 be placed in the cage, and with it the birds will construct 

 a nest to please themselves. 



Healthy canaries will begin to think of pairing shortly 

 after the first of the year, but it is best to hold them back 

 until late February, or even March. A bad start may result 



