54 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
GREAT FAMINE IN CANARIES. 
STARTLING DANGER TO THE CANARY 
INDUSTRY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
MORE CANARIES MUST BE BRED IN 
THOUSANDS. 
MAGNIFICENT OPENING 
FOR ENTERPRISING BREEDERS 
From "Cage Birds," 21st October. 
There is a famine — an appalling shortage in 
the Canary market. Less Canaries are being 
bred. The demand for Canaries was never 
greater. Is the Canary industry of Great Britain 
to hold its own, or must it be replaced by the efforts 
of other, countries? For the last two years the 
drain on our resources in Canaries has been tre- 
mendous. Dealers have advertised right and left 
for stock. Millions of birds have left our shores, 
and the damage to the trade has been tremendous. 
Are you breeding Canaries? If not, start at: once. 
There is money in it. Big money. The demand 
for birds will be this year bigger than ever. Prices 
will be higher. We shall soon see the time when 
even ordinary songsters will fetch a guinea a 
head. Thousands of birds will change hands this 
next season for fifteen shillings a piece. The Can- 
ary breeders of Great Britain must grasp their 
opportunity. The time is now. They must con- 
serve the breeding stock, not imperil their future 
supply by parting with their own birds. The 
British bred Canary must replace all those hither- 
to supplied by Germany. It is a patriotic duty to 
grow Canaries, not merely by the score, but by 
the thousand. We want Canary farms, not Can- 
ary attics. It is the duty of breeders also to insist 
that birds they sell are not sent out of the country. 
It is true such birds bring in American dollars to 
the dealer, and that sometimes these dollars come 
from German-Americans of the hyphenated! order. 
But by selling their birds abroad in such large 
quantities they are putting in the hands of foreign 
competitors the means of supplying the enormous 
demand that has arisen abroad as well as at home. 
British bred Canaries for British people, that must 
be the cry for after the war,. The British Canary 
is the best and healthiest and brightest in the 
world. When next spring comes along, with so 
many convalescent wounded soldiers about, the 
demand for songsters, gay and musical little crea- 
tures, will very far exceed the supply. So breeders 
be wise in time. "Cage Birds" will help> you. It 
will give you free advice. It will put you in touch 
with other breeders. The future of Canary breed- 
ing in Britain will be a wonderful one. See that 
you take your part in making it so, and you will 
reap a rich reward, in profit to your pocket, and 
pleasure to your mind. 
THE EDITOR. 
The above article is of national importance. 
Hand it on to someone who can breed Canaries 
and isn't! doing so at the present time. It is your 
duty to do so*, and to see that others in their turn 
pass the word on again. Let the good work go 
on. Breed more and more Canaries, and keep 
the home fires burning-. , 
"Cage Birds," October 28th:— 
THE FAMINE IN CANARIES. 
THE TRADE IS DEAD, PRO TEM. 
Sir, 
I am rather surprised at your note, "Great 
Famine in Canaries." 
Long before "Cage Birds" was ever thought 
of. the American dealers were buying yearly im- 
mense quantities of Norwich and Porkshires, with 
others. 
Forty years ago I remember the Americans 
visiting London twice yearly to pick up their 
consignments from Norwich and Bradford. They 
have continued to do so down to the present time. 
Genuine American dealers. The English breeders 
have greatly benefited by the many thousands of 
pounds spent by these American dealers. 
Without their custom the Canary trade would 
be absolutely nil. Then why advise the breeders 
to- spoil themselves? Advise them to breed every 
possible Canary for exportation, to supply the 
world as usual. I state without fear of contra- 
diction that there is no trade at home here for 
Canaries, or even foreign birds of any sort. The 
birds trade is dead pro tern, in Great Britain. 
There only remains the old export trade. 
JOHN D. HAMLYN. 
AN INTERVIEW WITH A NORWICH 
BREEDER. 
To get at the bottom of the facts relating to 
the supply of and demand for English Canaries, 
we have had an interview with Mr. Arthur 
Howard, of Howard and Son, London and Nor- 
wich, breeders, exhibitors, and dealers in Nor- 
wich Canaries especially. 
Mr. Howard agrees that the demand for the 
past two years has exceeded the supply, but he 
says this is putting the case mildly. The demand, 
he told us, has always exceeded the supply, not 
only during the past two years, but for all the 
years his father and he have known anything about 
the trade. The demand is practically illimitable. 
All that is necessary is to breed the young birds. 
They will all be wanted, and more; more will be 
wanted than can possibly be produced. 
Before the war, Mr. Howard told us, more 
birds went to Germany annually than to any other 
country in the world. One German buyer nlone 
