inspection of the singers which are 

 destined to carry song and delight into 

 so many homes. Most of them are 

 trained birds and they whistle and 

 sing to perfection, and all that their 

 German attendant has to do is to feed 

 and water them properly. If disease 

 breaks out among them, he is supposed 

 to know just what to do, and in most 

 instances he does prove an expert bird 

 doctor. 



In the mating and breeding season, 

 however, young birds appear in the 

 great aviary which must be taught to 

 sing and whistle accurately. Most 

 people imagine that all the perfection 

 of song cage-birds is inherited, and 

 they would be surprised to learn the 

 amount of labor bestowed upon them 

 in order to make their tunes accurate. 

 The young birds that have the proper 

 voices for great artists are trained in 

 the most careful manner. In the 

 Hartz Mountains, where Canary train- 

 ing reaches its highest development, 

 the throat and voice of each young 

 Canary are tested, and those selected 

 for the highest training are set apart 

 by themselves. They are sent to a 

 school of instruction that is unique in 

 its methods. At the head of this 

 school is probably a Canary of the St. 

 Andreasberg type, which strikes the 

 right note for all the youngsters to 

 imitate. The young birds are taken 

 into the room in their cages, with 

 cloth draped over them to shut out the 

 light until the proper time has come 

 for singing. Then the light is ad- 

 mitted and the teacher begins her 

 warbling. The young birds, which 

 have probably never yet attempted to 

 pipe, leave off their feeding and listen 

 to the marvelous outburst of pure song. 

 They become uneasy and enraptured, 

 and in a short time they try to imitate 

 the song ; but they make miserable 

 failures for many days. Eventually 



some of them strike the right note, 

 and at the end of the week the most 

 promising ones are separated from the 

 rest and placed in rooms with the best 

 singers. In this way their voices are 

 gradually cultivated, and new songs 

 are taught them. 



There are several such schools for 

 canaries in New York, but they are 

 devoted entirely to the comparatively 

 few Canaries raised for the trade in 

 this country. Most of those imported 

 have already been trained to sing 

 accurately, although after their long 

 sea voyage they need a little extra 

 training to bring their voices to per- 

 fection. The best trained Canaries are 

 the St. Andreasberg Canaries, whose 

 notes are considered the finest «f any 

 in existence. Originally these notes 

 were obtained by placing a Nightin- 

 gale in the breeding room of the young 

 Canaries, and the natural, clear-toned 

 voices quickly blended the song in 

 with their natural notes. In time, by 

 careful breeding and selection, the 

 present type of the St. Andreasberg 

 Canary was produced, but the pure, 

 bracing air of the Hartz Mountains is 

 considered necessary for the proper 

 development of one of these superb 

 singers. A true St. Andreasberg 

 singer cannot, it is believed by bird 

 trainers, be reared outside of the Hartz 

 Mountains, and it is claimed that only 

 about ten per cent of those raised in 

 their native place ever pass the critical 

 examination of the judges. They are 

 sold according to the perfection of their 

 song power, the best imported bring- 

 ing as much as ^25 to $50 apiece, and 

 ordinary ones as little as $4. to $5. 

 As a rule they are very small and in- 

 significant looking birds, and not until 

 they have opened their little throats 

 to sing, does one comprehend their 

 mission in life. 



79 



