CAGE-BIRD TRAFFIC OP THE UNITED STATES. 173 



on the other hand, which are purchased mainly for breeding purposes, 

 may be had as low as $6 a dozen at wholesale. 



As previously stated, singing canaries are bred in the Harz Moun- 

 tains of Germany. Large numbers are raised by the cottagers of this 

 region and are bought directly from them by buyers for the wholesale 

 establishments of Germany and England and the German branches of 

 American establishments. How much the industry means to the peas- 

 ants near St. Andreas burg, the Brocken, and other localities in the 

 Harz Mountains may be gathered from the fact that thirty years ago 

 it was estimated that the trade amounted to $300,000 a year. 



Some canaries sing much more freely than others, and immediately 

 after the arrival of a consignment at the store of the importer the inter- 

 esting process of testing the singing qualifications of the diiferent 

 individuals is begun. Cages are piled one deep in a tier containing 40 

 or 50 rows. In front of this large, somewhat semicircular pile, each 

 cage containing a single occupant, sits the tester, watching and listen- 

 ing (see PI. VIII, fig. 4). Many notes are to be heard, but it is diflicult 

 to determine from which of the many scores of throats they proceed. 

 This is the duty assigned the tester, and when he is certain that any 

 particular bird is singing, he places a chalk mark on the cage contain- 

 ing it. Marked cages are subsequenth' removed and their occupants are 

 sold as guaranteed singers. Testing canaries is difficult and requires 

 both patience and training, yet on a clear, sunny day, when the birds 

 sing more freely and can be more clearly seen, an expert will some- 

 times mark 500 cages. 



In the breeding of canaries song has lot been the only desideratum, 

 but has shared consideration with shape and color. The potency of 

 artificial selection is as well shown in this pursuit as in the rearing of 

 fancy pigeons, and some quite as distorted shapes are produced. Thus 

 Belgium has succeeded in giving to the world a big canary with broad 

 shoulders abnormally raised above the small head. And Scotland has 

 produced a type — the Scotch fancy canary — that is bent like a bow, so 

 that when the bird is at rest on a perch a line drawn from bill to tip 

 of tail would pass well in front of the feet. Other abnormal products 

 of breeders' ingenuity are the Yorkshire canary, very long and very 

 slim, and the Lancashire or Manchester coppy, well proportioned, but 

 a very giant among canaries. 



Still other fancy varieties are the Norwich canary, at present a 

 popular favorite, the London fancy canary, the border fancy canary, 

 and the lizard canary, a dark bird with gold or silver spangles and 

 yellow crown. All these are further subdivided by breeders and 

 fanciers. Norwich canaries and Manchester coppies are frequently 

 ornamented with crests. Endowing with a crest a bird that has none 

 naturally is striking evidence of the possibilities of artificial selection. 



