74 CANARIES 



canary. The shaft grows out of the quill running up the 

 centre of the feather, and to the shaft is the web attached 

 The feather derives the nourishment from which it grows 

 directly from the blood through a small opening at the 

 bottom of the quill, and through this opening it draws 

 sustenance during the whole time of its growth. This 

 small tube or opening, in time, becomes choked or blocked 

 with chemical secretions, and no longer nourishes and 

 strengthens the feather, which hke the leaf then falls 

 away, because its veins no longer have life. 



The moulting process at one time used always to be 

 spoken, and written, of as the moulting sickness, but such 

 was a misnomer. How can a natural periodical function 

 making for the well-being of the canary be called a 

 sickness ? I grant that the moult is a season of anxiety 

 to most canary breeders, but that anxiety is in many 

 cases brought about entirely by themselves, by their own 

 neglect, foolishness, or ignorance. During the moult the 

 future of many a promising bird is made or marred. 

 The moult it is which finds out the weak spots in a bird's 

 constitution, and the moult it is which causes it to develop 

 faults not seen in its first feather. On the other hand it 

 must also be stated that during the moult many a Canary 

 improves out of all knowledge, and every season a number 

 of birds that were little thought of in their first feather 

 blossom out into winners of cups and specials, due in 

 great measure to the care bestowed upon them by their 

 owners, and by the fact that during the moult nothing 

 occurred to mar its regular and satisfactory development. 



A Marvellous Process is The Moult. 



When one comes to think seriously about the moult 

 it is borne upon one's mind what a really marvellous 

 process it is. During the moult the Canary, in common 

 with all other feathered birds, produces from its own 

 body the forces which cast off the old coat, and at the 

 same time bring forth in all its glory and hving beauty 

 a new one. We are so used to this wonderful act of Nature 

 that we never stop to think about it, or of its miraculous- 

 ness, for miraculous it really is. Did we see a bird cast its 

 old feathers, and the new ones taking the place of the old 

 without any previous knowledge we should look on the 



