776 



THE XATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



I'h"l(.KKi|,h hy Willard 

 A CHINESE GENTLEMAN TAKES HIS BIRD EOR AN AIRING 



Attached to the end of a knobby stick, the pet may flutter, preen, or 

 sinR. If street commotion frightens him, he is popped into the dim privacy 

 of the cloth-covered cage in his master's left hand. The dignified stroller's 

 large round "specs" are a sign of learning. Chinese cage birds include Java 

 sparrow.s, titmice, bulbuls, native thrushes, doves, and starlings. 



duced. St. Andreasberg, in the Harz Moun- 

 tains of Germany, has long been the center 

 for breeding roller canaries, though now 

 thev are produced in other countries, too 

 (pages 777, 778, and 780). 



The ordinary roller canary has a reper- 

 toire of from five to ten of the various trills 

 recognized by the e.xpert. A larger number 

 is unusual. 



Although roller canaries are thus care- 

 fully trained in the finer points of their 

 profession, the sweet song of this variety 

 is inherited. That fact has been proved 



by experiments in 

 which young birds 

 were reared in sound- 

 proof cages complete- 

 ly isolated from the 

 songs of other birds. 

 In time the males de- 

 veloped the type of 

 song of the roller 

 canary. 



"COLOR feeding" 



TURNS CANARIES 

 ORANGE 



About seventy years 

 ago lovers of canaries 

 were astonished to see 

 in the hands of a few 

 breeders birds of a 

 beautiful deep-orange 

 color. They were 

 products of a process 

 called "color feeding.'' 

 For years those who 

 had this secret guard- 

 ed it carefully, but 

 finalh' it became 

 known that the inten- 

 sified color was the 

 result of adding red 

 pepper to the diet dur- 

 ing the period of molt. 

 Color feeding is 

 simple. Birds of good 

 natural hue are se- 

 lected and, at the very 

 beginning of the molt, 

 in addition to the reg- 

 ular diet of seed and 

 greens, they are given 

 a food prepared by 

 mixing one part of 

 finely ground sweet 

 red pepper to two 

 parts o f egg food 

 (made from equal parts of hard-boiled egg, 

 chopped fine or grated, and dry bread 

 crumbs, unsalted cracker crumbs, or ground 

 zwieback ) . Some fanciers add to this a 

 drop or two of olive oil and a little sugar. 



A teaspoonful of the color food is fed 

 each day through the entire period of molt 

 until all the body feathers are fully grown, 

 and then it is gradually discontinued. Care 

 is taken to feed only freshly prepared food 

 in which the egg is not stale. 



As the new feathers come in, they are 

 noticeably deeper and richer in color than 



