294 CLASS AVES. 



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There are some females which never lay ; others which have 

 but one brood, and which having laid their first egg, rest, 

 and do not lay the second for two or three days after. There 

 are others which have but three, of three eggs each, laid in 

 uninterrupted succession, i. e. Avithout the interval of a day. 

 A fourth kind, which is the most numerous, has four broods, 

 of from four to five eggs each, but not invariably so ; others, 

 the most fruitful of all, have five and even more, if allowed ; 

 and not unfrequently of six or seven eggs each. When this 

 last kind of canary hatches well, it is a perfect race. 



It is proper to separate the bad eggs from the good ones, 

 but it is impossible to judge with certainty on this point, 

 until the female has sat for eight or nine days. Then each 

 egg must be taken gently by the two ends and examined by 

 day or candle light. If they appear muddy and heavy it is 

 a sign they are good, and that the little ones are forming ; if 

 on the other hand, they are as clear as on the day when the 

 female began to hatch, it is an indication that they are bad. 

 They should then be thrown away, as they can do nothing 

 but uselessly fatigue the bird. By thus rejecting the bad 

 eggs, two broods are easily formed out of three, when you 

 have many canaries hatching at the same time. The female 

 which shall find herself free, will set to work at a second nest- 

 ling. In distributing these eggs from one female to another, 

 care must be taken to observe that they are all good, for 

 some females if they receive clear eggs will not fail to fling 

 them out of the nest themselves, instead of sitting upon them. 

 A greater inconvenience results, if the nest be too deep to 

 allow her to do this. She will not cease to peck at them 

 until they are broken, which hurts the other eggs, infects the 

 nest, and destroys the entire brood. This is the case with 

 the females with that arrangement of feathers which the 

 French call panaches. As for the others, they will sit on 

 clear as well as on full eggs. 



