20S 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF BELGIAN CANARIES. 



We all know the importance of catching the hare before proceeding to further operations 

 with it, and the hare has to be caught in this case in one of three ways : through an agent 

 on this side, or on the other, or by being your own agent and going across for it yourself. 

 The bird of high character is not so rare here that it cannot be procured ; but it is still, 

 comparatively, so rare that specimens above the average quality always command long prices 

 in private hands, not only on account of their intrinsic worth, but from their value as show- 

 birds. Nearly the whole of the best examples are imported birds, of which a number are 

 every season consigned to English dealers. These consignments contain, like other drafts of 

 live stock from breeding establishments, both good and bad ; but if a purchaser places himself 

 in the hands of a respectable dealer he will get value received. In dealers, as in the stock they 

 deal in, there are classes, but we have no patience with the cry that casts a slur on any calling in 

 life. The consignments we have referred to probably do not contain the best forms : it is not 

 natural they should, because high-class birds are neither bred in numbers nor disposed of 

 wholesale ; but a dealer who understands his business and makes the bird a specialty will always 

 give his agent on the Continent instructions to procure what may be desired. This is, from the 

 nature of things, the ordinary channel through which imported stock is obtained, because it is 

 only under peculiar circumstances, such as when direct communication can be had with the 

 Continent, that the breeder here has the opportunity of availing himself of the means of rapid 

 transit offered by steam communication with ports within easy reach. It is not during the sea 

 passage that there is any risk ; the birds are then in comfortable quarters ; but it is the difficulty 

 attending a long journey to the coast on the other side, and again on this, which renders importing 

 not always free from considerable anxiety. For those who have the time and means at disposal, 

 and whose biliary secretions are not easily disturbed, there is the pleasure of going over to select 

 for themselves, the best time for which is in the fall of the year before the stocks are much 

 thinned, though it is worth remembering that the best are not sold first, and any one who has 

 not a wholesale commission on hand will find at all times ample material to choose from. 

 The age of the birds is not very material, though the custom in Belgium is to pair a year-old 

 bird with a first season, i.e., a maiden hen. The main point is to start with good breeding stock, 

 which is not always the best slioiv stock ; and in this respect, till the English breeder really does 

 become a breeder, there will always be some difficulty unless a reliable agent can be found. 

 There is really not a world of risk in the matter, because like has the same tendency to produce 

 like in a Belgian as in any other Canary ; but the extent of the difficulty and the importance of a 

 good start will be manifest if we at once say that first-class position-birds can no more be bred to 

 pattern in numbers than can first-class Norwich or any other variety. Mediocrity, we have all 

 along shown, is one thing, and exceptional merit, another thing. Touching the question of breeding- 

 stock, our authority before quoted says : — " The majority of show-birds are not breeding-birds. A 

 breeder has a right to e.xpcct that if he pairs a cock having si.K good points with a hen having 



