12 



or " Mansard," with such aspect as to allow only the rising- or the 

 setting sun's rays to enter, is chosen, and got ready by April; the 

 southern aspect is avoided as much as possible, as the summer heat 

 in a shaded room is quite trying enough to old and young without 

 adding to their suffering by Sol's direct darts ; the window is 

 furnished with a large outside wire cage, and is scarcely ever shut. 

 Nesting boxes are hung indiscriminately all around the room at 

 varying altitudes ; not one is placed in the cage outside the window, 

 as the majority of the hens would want such an one and no other. 

 Besides seed, egg-food, and a liberal supply of gravel, a corner with 

 garden mould and lime is never forgotten, and, if possible, a self- 

 acting fountain is provided, to ensure without trouble a constant 

 supply of fresh clean water. The other accessories consist of rustic 

 perches or dead branches of trees well whitened over with limewash ; 

 a live conifer or similar shrub, if added, will be tolerably certain to be 

 taken possession of by one or two of the hens, who will build in it as 

 cleverly as would field birds. 



A room thus equipped forms a pretty, and at the same time, a 

 practical breeding place, and if the saving of labor effected by its 

 adoption is productive of certain disadvantages, the breeder can keep 

 them in check by sitting down at convenient times in a suitable 

 corner and watching his birds. Among such a number of inmates 

 there may be some mischievous individuals, male or female, of egg- 

 eating propensities, some who may prove spiteful to their young, and, 

 worse than all, from the German point of view, some who in their 

 excitement will utter sounds which would mean ruin in the trained 

 song of any Canary destined for future competition. 



Canary nature, in one respect at least, resembles human nature. 

 The young are more apt to acquire objectionable practices than 

 desirable ones, and early impressions in the wrong direction are pretty 

 sure to assert themselves in adult life. It is therefore important 

 to watch for evil-doers, and to remove them upon the first discovered 

 offence. 



In a large space occupied by so many inhabitants with wings, the 

 discovery as well as the removal of a particular transgressor offers 

 difficulties which do not present themselves when breeding from 

 single pairs, but by familiarizing the birds with their daily visitDrs 



