8 C A .VARIES AND CaGE-BiRDS. 



little home demands all her mate's care and attention, and receives it. He spends his entire 

 day in ministering to her wants, and is not more exclusively devoted to her in all his delicate 

 attentions than is she to the precious treasures nestled so closely to her breast. But in the 

 aviary things are different. Althougli preserving many natural instincts almost unimpaired 

 the Canary has had some of them modified, or even materially affected, by generations of 

 domestication. Notwithstanding he may, in the early spring, select some one particular bird, 

 and subsequently matters may be arranged to the entire satisfaction of both, he no sooner sees 

 her comfortably settled down on her nest than he finds — though he does not forsake his mate — ■ 

 the atmosphere in which he lives, with all its surroundings, tends to draw away his attention in 

 fresh directions. This is all very pretty and all very well for those who only wish to study bird- 

 life generally, and to keep the aviary well stocked ; but it is, for obvious reasons, not the fancier's 

 way of going to work. We must, however, say, for the credit of the sex, that such an erratic 

 disposition is not shared in by the hens : as a rule they remain true to their first selection, 

 till a lengthened separation and entire seclusion wean them from their first mate. 



Another exemplification of the tendency towards complete domestication is seen in the 

 fact of all nests becoming common property. The birds seem to want a place in which to 

 lay, and nothing more, and select their favourite nest much in the same way as domestic 

 poultry do. All are at one time or another affected by the desire to set up house for 

 themselves, and go about it very energetically, evidently impressed with the importance of 

 having, according to bird building-society maxims, a roof-tree of their own. This once done, 

 and the instinct satisfied, nothing further seems to be desired. Tliere is no idea of privacy, 

 nor the slightest regard for property rights. Two or three, or as many hens as can possibly 

 find a resting-place, may be seen occupying the same nest and even sitting on each other's 

 backs, anywhere and anyhow, so long as they can only find some means of squeezing in, 

 like hens in a poultry-yard, taking possession of the same eggs, too an.xious to cover them 

 to think of quarrelling. The young even become common property, and we have frequently 

 seen two hens, one on either side of a nest, assisting the cock bird in feeding a family which 

 could certainly be in no way related to one of them, and which she had taken no part in 

 hatching. 



The same misadventures, resulting from attempting to confine nature within fixed bounds, 

 attend the aviary as wait on the cage. The love of animals for their young needs no telling, 

 and the simile of a hen gathering her chickens under her wings has been used through all time 

 as an illustration of devoted affection. But in our attempts to tether nature within a circle of 

 our own inscribing, we meet at all points evidences of our ignorance ; and a quiet " Thus far 

 shalt thou go and no farther" is one of the lessons we have to learn when we try to investigate 

 some of the unhealthy conditions inseparable from confinement. We never in our younger days, 

 when bird-nesting was an institution with us, remember discovering a nest of young birds 

 neglected or forsaken by their parents. From the moment when they leave tlte shell till some 

 time after they leave the nest, wild birds are the constant care of their parents ; but witlr the 

 Canary the case is too often the reverse ; " Died from exposure and insufficient nourishment," or 

 somie such unnatural cause, being the verdict on only too many entire families. These matters 

 will be treated more fully under their proper heading, but are mentioned here incidentally as 

 attaching, generally, to this portion of our subject. 



To those, however, who may still prefer the aviary to the cage, there remains the choice of 

 an out-door or an in-door arrangement. The former we know must be, in many residences, 

 and particularly in large towns, out of the question ; but where facilities for its erection exist, 



