212. Caa'akies and Cage-Birds. 



this arises out of the desire to get as many eggs as possible from one pair of birds, but nevertheless 

 it is always the custom here to have other hens (Saxons), small German Canaries, put up at the 

 same time, to which the eggs of the Belgians are given. Five years' careful trial of that system 

 convinces me, so far as my management goes, that it is decidedly unprofitable. Of course, more 

 eggs are obtained, hut fertility and not number is the point, not to mention the health of the hen, 

 which is surely of some value, and especially for the second year. I would go no further than to 

 recommend breeders to have a few common hens, in case the parent Belgian should refuse to do as 

 she should. There is no real reason why this variety should not be treated precisely the same 

 as any other of the family confined for life in a prison a dozen inches more or less cube. Without 

 one exception in all my birds, the cock has never neglected his duty to his wife and family, while 

 one old fellow, a great favourite, attended to his business so assiduously that he starved himself to 

 death. I dissected him, so I am positive about it. 



" Then how comes the notion in England that the breeding of this bird is so difficult ? That 

 there is such a notion, I know by letters from various correspondents, who agree in this, however 

 much they differ in anything else. I have already said that all show-birds are not the best breeding- 

 birds, and one cause of want of success arises from the conditions accompanying an order usually 

 being something after this kind — that the bird shall have good shoulders, good neck, good this and 

 good that, but seldom that it shall be such as can be recommended for breeding purposes. It 

 is desired to make something out of the bird, perhaps, by showing — a perfectly legitimate object 

 in its way ; but no discount is allowed for the exhaustion, the wear and tear, and the loss of vigour 

 and condition consequent on travelling the English circuit for a long show-season — a line of life 

 our Belgian birds are not accustomed to, and which their highly-sensitive nervous organisation 

 renders them unfitted for when carried to such an extreme as it is with you. There is a limit 

 to showing in its effect upon the health of a bird, and I am satisfied that over-showing is a 

 fruitful source of injury to the constitution of even the most robust specimens. There is such 

 a thing as burning both ends of the candle. 



" Over-pairing, also, is another evil which is not always estimated at its proper value. The 

 great value of the birds leads to this ; but the proverb says that ' much would have more, and 

 reaped nothing.' Mr. £ s. d. is not satisfied with enough, so, if he possess a good Belgian, while 

 his hen is between nests, Mr. Beige must be the father of a few ' improved ' Yorkshires ; or the 

 Coppies or Plainheads want ' improving,' or a little length and style are wanted elsewhere ; and the 

 bird, instead of being kept in clover and maintained In the highest possible condition of vigour, 

 pays a morning and evening visit to half-a-dozen cages, or, at the very least, must have two or 

 even three wives of his own class, and this, mark you, not under carefully-arranged and well- 

 sustained healthy conditions, but after he has spent some months alternating between the 

 excitement of long days in the show-room, and dreary, comfortless nights in the guard's van, jolted 

 about till position and life have both been nearly shaken out of him, while other less valuable birds 

 have been taking their ease and storing up the strength snd vigour which lead their unthinking 

 owners to jump to the conclusion that ' common ' birds are the best breeders. Well may they be." 

 Another wrinkle. Verb. sap. 



Our friends description of a Continental breeding room is short and to the point : — "A breed- 

 ing-room in Belgium is usually a cock-loft, or rather a corner of the loft, kept under lock and 

 key, where mystifications are concocted, or .supposed to be, such as flighting and tailing, &c.; and 

 much as I am afraid I shall upset some preconceived idea you may have respecting these halls of 

 mystery, I must in strict regard to truth say that cleanliness is not the most prominent feature, 

 and that the olfactory nerves are apt to assert that th^re are odours attending Canaries other 



