72 



CANARY BIRD. 



The dispositions of Canaries are as various as their colours ; some are 

 gay, sportive, and delight in mirth and revelry, while others are sullen, 

 intractable, and lazy, Some cocks are most assiduous in assisting the 

 hen to build her nest, and even to hatch the eggs, while others will 

 destroy the eggs, or tear the young from the nest, and kill them in their 

 rage : the grey ones will never build, and the person who superintends 

 these must make a nest for them. 



Mr. Syme informs us that he possessed a jonquil cock that used to 

 nibble at its cage till he opened it, and then escaping from its prison- 

 house, it would fly to the mantel-piece, where it would place itself on a 

 china ornament, flutter as if in the act of washing, and continue to do 

 so till water was brought. The same bird was so docile as to come, 

 when called, to the hand, and hide trifling articles in the corner of its 

 cage, stopping and looking round as if for encouragement and applause. 

 But one of his favourite amusements was to perch upon the branches of 

 a tall myrtle in a window where the cage frequently hung ; and he even 

 became so bold, as to dart upon the ephemeral insects that rose from 

 a stream close by, and which seemed to afford him a delicious banquet. 

 Poor Dickie was, however, doomed to suffer for this indulgence, and 

 one morning was found dead in his cage, having been killed by a young 

 pointer, a privileged vagrant like himself. 



At a public exhibition of birds we are informed that one of these 

 docile creatures acted the part of a deserter, and ran away, while two 

 others pursued and caught him. A lighted match being given to one of 

 these, he fired a small cannon, and the little deserter fell on his side, as 

 if dead ; another bird then appeared with a small wheel-barrow, for the 

 purpose of carrying off the dead, but at its approach the little deserter 

 started to his feet. 



Syme seSms to think that these birds might be naturalized to our 

 climate, having seen a pair flying about at liberty, probably an experi- 

 ment to try if they would breed : and he thinks they had built a nest, 

 from their being repeatedly observed flying in and out at one spot on 

 the precipitous bank at St. Bernard's well, near Edinburgh. 



A small breeding cage is all that is required for rearing these birds ; 

 but where a room can be allotted to the purpose, it ought to have 

 shrubs for them to roost and build, with plenty of water to drink 

 and bathe in, that being indispensable for all birds. The light should be 

 admitted into the room from the east, for the benefit of the morning 

 sun, and the windows should have wire cloth, that they may enjoy the 

 fresh air. The floor of the apartment ought to be strewed with sand or 

 white gravel, and on that should be thrown groundsel, chickweed, or 

 scalded rapeseed ; but when breeding, they should have nothing except 



