82 



CANARY BIRDS. 



nails of the claws are too long, they must be cut ; the claw is 

 held up to the light, and, with sharp scissors, the nail is cut 

 away in such a manner that the transparent quick be not 

 touched ; by this process the birds will be prevented from 

 tearing filmy materials, and with them, the eggs and young 

 birds, out of the nest. 



Selection for the Breeding of Colour-birds 



(" Thorough " Breeding). — Experienced breeders have estab- 

 lished the fact that, for colour-breeding, the choice of the 

 male is decisive, while the female must be of a uniform colour; 

 so, for instance, in order to breed bright-yellow birds with 

 a green crest, one takes a male of that colour and mark, 

 and pairs it with a green and smooth-headed female. The 

 more purely such birds have been bred " thorough," i.e., the 

 more generations they have been bred thorough in purity, 

 the purer will the after-breed be. A yellow pair, no 

 matter of what descent, whether of green or grey, will raise 

 young among which there will be one yellow male ; this 

 male will, in the following year, if paired with a yellow 

 female in a separate cage, again raise a brood among which 

 a yellow young will likewise be found ; this last yellow bird, 

 paired with a yellow female, w T hich has also been purely 

 bred through two generations, will never produce any other 

 young than such as are of a pure yellow colour. If three or four 

 such couples have been collected and placed into a movable 

 hatch, it need not be feared that birds of a different colour 

 will ever be bred ; but, in order to be sure of this, it will be 

 necessary to raise the ancestors of such a colony in the 

 strict seclusion of a separate cage. The same holds good 

 where birds of one colour are concerned, that is, for bright 

 yellow, straw-coloured, white, green, grey, and dun-coloured, 

 but not for " marked " birds. These latter are more sub- 

 ject to accident, and one may be glad if, among four or five 

 broods, one can obtain a " specimen," that is, a very finely 



