2q6 Canar/es and Cage-Birds. 



taken out and hung up for as 'long a time as he will have to sing when competing (without 

 seed and water). When the time has expired, fresh food and water should be again given 

 to him, and he is placed in the cupboard until the next day. In addition to keeping his 

 seed-box well supplied with mixed summer rape and canary seed, he should be fed freely 

 upon the finely-chopped yolk of egg (the white being heavy, and not so easy of digestion), 

 a little crushed butter-biscuit, and maw-seed, all well mixed, and an occasional sprig of water- 

 cress. By following this method you will find the bird will soon begin to sing whilst holding 

 the cage in your hand, and is almost sure to begin as soon as hung up for competition. After 

 the match is over, the bird should be fed upon seed and water, a little watercress, and the cake 

 as given above. In ' quality ' singing, two birds are generally hung up together, a judge having 

 been chosen for each side, and a referee sits between them, who, in case the judges do not agree 

 as to the quality of a bird's song, gives the final decision. The names of the principal notes 

 in Lancashire are peculiar, such as the call, the din, the blubber (or water-bubble), and many 

 others. These notes should be gone through without break, the bird gliding easily from one 

 to the other. Should a bird come off one note to chapping or chain notes he would not score, 

 being no longer considered a ' quality ' bird. 



" Perhaps no kind of Canary is more easily bred than the German. The hens, as a rule, are 

 good mothers, always active and alert to feed their young. The same system should be followed 

 of feeding during breeding-time as given in the preceding pages for Norwich birds ; but when the 

 young are old enough to feed themselves, the cocks should be changed into small single cages, and 

 placed so as not to see each other. Three or four of the very best last season's birds that can be 

 got (called schoolmasters) should be placed in the room to sing, taking care to have no harsh or 

 discordant sounds within hearing of the young birds. The schoolmasters should be covered up at 

 night, to keep them from falling into early moult, and stopping their song at the very time when 

 most needed. By the time the young birds have finished moult, and their voices have broken, it 

 will be found that all sing the same song, or nearly so, as the schoolmasters. Much depends upon 

 the training ; and if the same attention was paid to song in England as in Germany, there would 

 be a marked improvement in our English Canaries' vocal abilities. A very good cross is to pair 

 Norwich hens and German cocks, as they produce fine plumage, a beautiful song, and much hardier 

 birds than the pure German." 



It will be seen that Mr. Evans rather differs from German authority in respect to the food, 

 the German breeders considering sugar very injurious ; but it is very possible a little of such 

 food may be more necessary in our colder climate, and a final judgment on such points can 

 only be formed after wider experience than any one we know in this country can afford. We 

 should also advise the breeder to keep to the German strains rather than cross with the Norwich, 

 which has a note any German fancier would consider unbearably harsh, though the voice of 

 many certainly sounds very fair to English ears. If crossing at all be deemed necessary, 

 we believe the best cross would be that with the wild type of Canary, which can always 

 be obtained with a little trouble, and possesses a vocal organ of great vigour, yet of an 

 agreeable quality. But we have every reason to believe that the German birds would lose their 

 delicacy under a more natural treatment, and there is no difficulty in procuring German hens. The 

 weaker sex is, of course, produced in about equal numbers to the cocks; and it is stated, on German 

 authority, that about a quarter of them are passed off on the dealers as cocks. Every large dealer, 

 almost, will therefore be able to supply hens ; and not improbably the breeder may be able to 

 obtain several cocks which have the same song, and which the marks on their cages prove have 



