THE CANARY. 25 



of the heads of groundsel, every morning, 

 in order to bring him forward for breeding: 

 the hen, however, must be kept on plain 

 seed only, as when she is fed up, it often 

 happens that she lays her eggs at the bot- 

 tom of the cage. 



About the beginning of May, put them 

 in the breeding cage, and feed them on 

 bread and egg, with a little hemp seed 

 bruised, giving them some nesting to build 

 with ; when you find that the canary has 

 finished building, you must be very careful 

 to watch her off the nest, in order to take 

 away the eggs, and substitute false ones, 

 lest the goldfinch break them, which he is 

 very apt to do, the moment he gets sight of 

 them : the eggs must be kept in bran, as I 

 have before mentioned. When the canary 

 has laid her complement of eggs, I should 

 recommend that they be set under another 

 hen canary, and let her bring up the young 

 mules, at the same time keeping the canary 

 that is with the goldfinch sitting on the 

 false eggs for about a week, when they may 

 be taken away, and she will soon begin to 

 c 



