HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
55 
would buy a thousand pairs from each of four or 
five Norwich dealers, who themselves collected 
the birds from the breeders. 
But the home trade alone in English Canaries 
has always been greater than that with America 
and Germany combined, notwithstanding the fact 
that the birds taken out of our country by the 
German agents were replaced to some extent by 
German-bred singing Canaries. 
Now that the German supply to our markets 
has been definitely stopped, the future for the 
English Canary breeder is rosy in the extreme. 
The opportunity is before him, and it only requires 
grasping. Breed the birds, don't trouble about 
the selling of them, says Mr. Howard, they will 
sell themselves- 
It should not be forgotten that the English 
birds which in pre-war times went to Germany in 
thousands were not for Germany itself. The Ger- 
man agents were only middlemen between the 
English breeder and purchasers all over the world. 
The world's demand will now come to England 
direct, and if the English breeder is not prepared 
to meet it it will be his own loss. 
"Cage Birds," November 4th : — 
THE FAMINE IN CANARIES. 
IS THE HOME TRADE "DEAD PRO TEM."? 
The statement made in a letter in our issue 
of Oct. 28 that the home trade in Canaries is dead 
has provoked a hail of letters. We have com- 
munications from breeders, dealers, private buy- 
ers, and all kinds of people to the effect that the 
home trade is a long way from being dead. There 
are not enough Canaries to meet the demand; that 
is all, and the lesson is obvious. Breed more 
Canaries. They will sell themselves. 
A question has been raised whether breeding 
from one pair of Canaries can be made to pay. 
Of course it 1 can. We know of a lady who bought 
a pair of cheap Canaries last year, and the produce 
realised five times the cost of the original pair. 
And she still has the old ones and one pair of their 
young to pair up to the parent's for next year's 
breeding. 
It is within the power of thousands upon 
thousands of people to put up a few pairs of 
Canaries for breeding. The methods are simple 
and easily learned. If a hobby is to be taken up 
successfully some thought must be given to the 
best way of proceeding, and the hobby of breed- 
ing Canaries is not any exception to this rule. But 
there are no* difficulties so great as to deter any- 
one of ordinary intelligence. 
Some of our most successful breeders of to- 
day began not so many years ago in a small way, 
and now their names are as household words. 
People who began Canary breeding entirely as a 
pleosurable hobby found it a profitable one, and it 
is open to anyone to follow their example. 
The statements of a few of our readers that 
they can only get ridiculous prices for their Can- 
aries only show that in Canary selling, as in every- 
thing else, there are more ways than one of man- 
aging. We know that fair prices are obtainable. 
Over 4,000 Canaries left London this week in one 
lot, bound for New York. Itjs true that many of 
these were Rollers of Continental origin, merely 
passing through the hands of the dealer as part of 
the consignment, but the bulk were English Can- 
aries,, Norwich, Yorkshires, Borders and Lizards, 
and if 10,000 birds had been obtainable they would 
have found as ready a market as the 4,000. 
But why should these birds go out of our 
country at all ? They should be kept here for the 
benefit of Englishmen, not sent to America for the 
profit of American dealers, hyphenated or other- 
wise. Next year the demand will be greater. 
Shall we have the birds ? Anyway, if we have the 
birds we shall be able to sell them, and if we do 
not produce them the lass will be our own. 
Several letters received this week contain 
long details alleging unfair treatment to breeders 
on the part of dealers. These are in the nature of 
complaints, which would have been investigated 
at the time if they had been sent us in accordance 
with our rule, and it would not advance the argu- 
ment to publish statements which may or may 
not have proper foundation. Our deposit system 
exists to safeguard both parties in a deal, and those 
who do not take advantage of that system, but 
prefer to send goods or money on the bare state- 
ment of a stranger, have only themselves to blame 
if the transaction does not end tb their satisfac- 
tion. There are plenty of dealers advertising in 
our columns whose methods of business are en- 
tirely above suspicion, and it should be quite an 
eas matter fyo rthose who have stock for sale to 
discover dealers who will treat them honestly. 
One correspondent, after say'ng that the most 
he ever got from dealers for his surplus stock was 
seven shillings and sixpence a pair, goes on to 
tell a story of some one who broke a window in 
his house and stole ten valuable Canaries. He 
says he has his suspicions, but what the incident 
has to do with the market price of Canaries, we 
quite fail to see. The thief got ten Canaries for 
nothing. 
HOME TRADE STILL BOOMING. 
Sir, 
Mr. Hamlyn states "without fear of contra- 
diction" that there is no home trade in Canaries. 
What does Mr. Hamlyn know of the home trade 
of Canaries? How long has he been in the Canary 
trade? Anyway, he is contradicting his own 
statements, for a few months ago he was booming 
in your valuable columns how many thousands of 
Canaries he had sold in this country in a stated 
time. Now that the authorities have stopped the 
importation of birds, he states that the trade is 
