282 CLASS AVES. 



There are some, in fine, especially males, which have so 

 great an aversion for their own species, that they cannot en- 

 dure them even in the neighbourhood. If they but hear each 

 other sing, they instantly give symptoms of the most violent 

 rage, and endeavour, by all means, to escape from their 

 respective cages, to tear one another to pieces. If they are 

 not put at a sufficient distance to prevent hearing, they will 

 fall sick, and irretrievably perish. This malady is the more 

 difficult to cure, as its cause is frequently unknown. It is 

 manifested by one canary's replying to another in the neigh- 

 bourhood by clapping his wings, and shewing every symptom 

 of fury. 



The ardour of the male is shewn, as in all other birds, by 

 the extension of the voice. In the female this is not the case. 

 But love appears to be of a more permanent necessity with 

 her, for she will fall sick and die, if deprived of her com- 

 panion. 



Birds, which occasionally evince such a decided antipathy 

 among themselves, could hardly have been expected to sym- 

 pathize with species totally different, such as the goldfinch, 

 linnet, or siskin — still less with the bunting and the chaffinch, 

 which feed in a different manner, and can neither administer 

 food to the female canary, nor assist her in the education of 

 the young. Yet so it is, that all these birds, however dif- 

 ferent, and apparently remote from the canaries, will produce 

 with them, if proper pains be taken. It is always in the males 

 that the most marked antipathy is observable ; accordingly, 

 the experiment is in general most likely to be successful with 

 a male of a strange species and a female canary. Notwith- 

 standing this, if it be possible to couple the male canary with 

 a female goldfinch, linnet, or any other finch, the males will 

 be handsomer, and will sing better, because the male is more 

 predominant in the race than the female. When such alli- 

 ances are projected, the canaries should be separated altoge- 

 ther from any of their own species. If a male be tried, one 



