54 



Canaries and Cage-Birds. 



proceedings would almost support the theory that her nature has been modified by circumstances 

 to an extent we are loth to acknowledge. From not being allowed to lose sight of her nest and 

 eggs, she has every inducement to sit, and will frequently become really broody and begin to sit 

 with the first egg. The chances of her wishing to do so are increased on the appearance of the 

 second, and if she should really begin to sit in earnest, the result is simply that the young ones are 

 hatched at intervals instead of simultaneously, the elder rapidly outgrow the younger and literally 

 smother and starve them, because the rule of feeding in the nest is that the largest hatchway secures 

 most cargo. We are aware that some breeders who never interfere with the eggs assert that it 

 makes no difference in the time of hatching. This we do not admit, and are perfectly satisfied that 

 where such may have been the case it has resulted from the hen not having begun to sit as was 

 supposed. We do not call sitting for an hour, or two hours, and then coming off the nest for as 

 long a time, sitting, any more than playing with building-stuff is building; and it is only when this 

 fast-and-loose, on-and-off sort of sitting has been indulged in and has been mistaken for genuine 

 business that the hatching has been simultaneous, and the possible evil results have been averred 

 to be a myth. No one who practises the let-alone system can say that simultaneous hatching is 



FIG 29. — TRAY FOR STORING EGGS 



the general rule ; and that is just our point. We fully admit that it may, and does sometimes 

 occur, under the conditions and circumstances we have described ; but it ought always to happen, 

 and that can only be ensured by removing the eggs, and then setting the hen as we would a 

 broody fowl. 



Our mode of procedure is this : we number or letter all our cages, and have a shallow tray 

 divided into compartments, like a seedman's box, lettered in a corresponding way and filled with 

 bran, hair, rabbit's down, or any similar material. As the eggs are laid we transfer them to the 

 tray, and indicate the fact by a chalk-mark on the front of the cage. We keep a stock-book as 

 well, but we post it from our chalk-marks, in which we believe most devoutly. The stock-book 

 is for detailed items, but the chalk-marks show the whole state of affairs at once in a thoroughly 

 practical way which we will explain. We will suppose the fancier going into his room between 

 eight and nine o'clock in the morning, by which time his hens will all have laid. If he have any 

 method in him, he will begin at the beginning and go steadily through. The information given 

 by the marks on a few cages will suffice to explain what we wish. Here is a cage without a mark. 

 The hen was expected to lay this morning, and has done so; we put the egg in its place in the tray 

 and chalk the cage. Here is one with a single mark, or two marks, as the case may be; that means 

 we may look for more eggs, which we do, and add a mark to those already on the cage. We pass 

 on to a third, the chalks, bear in mind, telling us at a glance, without any reference to a book or 

 comparison between it and the tray, just where we have to look, and what we may expect to find 



