BREEDING AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT 41 



soon become friendly, and in a couple of days or so the 

 slide may be removed and they may be allowed to run 

 together. When single breeding cages are used, and the 

 majority of breeders do use such, the cock bird should 

 be placed in the breeding cage and the hen selected as 

 his mate should be placed in a nursery cage, or some other 

 open wire cage, which should be attached to the front 

 of the breeding cage with a wire hook. When the court- 

 ship is satisfactory, and the birds begin feeding each 

 other through the wires and generally show a disposition 

 for each other's society, the hen should be run into the 

 breeding cage. The best time to do this is the 

 evening, just before dusk. 



The reason for this is that sometimes when birds are 

 in separate cages they show much affection for each other, 

 but if introduced fully they begin to quarrel ; should 

 the introduction take place in the morning they may 

 go on squabbling all day, and the more they squabble 

 the worse friends they become, and sometimes from squab- 

 bling they get to fighting and doing each other harm. 

 When the introduction is effected at night there is less 

 chance of trouble. They seem pleased to be with each 

 other, and when they awake in the morning and find 

 they have slept together they seldom quarrel, but proceed 

 to become better sweethearts and more and more enam- 

 oured of each other. 



Introducing the Nest Pan. 



When it is seen that the birds have become sweethearts 

 and have become matrimonially intent, the nest pan 

 should be introduced, and a little nesting material placed 

 between the wires of the cage. For a few days they will 

 possibly play about with the material, carrying it to the 

 nest pan and out again. When you see the hen sitting 

 about in the nest pan, trying to fashion a nest, you can 

 supply more nesting material suf&cient for the proper 

 building of the nest, and it will only be a day or two 

 before you will find a very nicely constructed nest in the 

 pan. 



Here it may be said that the nest pan should be hung 

 on a screw fixed in the back of the cage so as to allow 

 the old birds to reach the nest easily from the perch. 



