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CANARY BIRDS. 



nesting is in process, especially if such strangers are wearing 

 clothes of a striking pattern or colour, or furs, etc., the sight 

 of which may cause excitement among the birds. It is believed 

 that through the influence of thunderstorms, shooting, slam- 

 ming of doors, hammering, etc., the young birds in the eggs will 

 die, and yet canaries will thrive in the shops of carpenters 

 and other mechanics amid the most violent hammering and 

 other noises. If the young die in the eggs or while yet 

 quite small, neglect on the part of the females will in- 

 variably be found to be the cause. During violent thunder- 

 storms, especially at night, the females, scared by the light- 

 ning, will fly away from the nest and thus chill the eggs and 

 their young, or will sometimes crush them by the force and 

 rapidity with which they take flight. This may be pre- 

 vented by carefully lowering or shutting the window-blinds 

 or shutters, where such are provided in the bird-rooms. If 

 a nocturnal thunderstorm is apprehended, the thunder does 

 not disquiet the birds ; further, a brightly burning lamp has, 

 in such cases, been placed into the bird-room, in order to 

 calm the birds and to facilitate their finding the way back 

 again to their nests, but it would then be necessary that 

 they were already accustomed to such a light. 



Artifices. — Some fanciers do not give any building 

 materials to birds nesting in baskets quilted with linen, be- 

 cause the females are prone to tear them out, and thus 

 to endanger the eggs. By such interference with the 

 natural course of nesting, however, as well as by a number 

 of singular artifices, the birds are either scared and rendered 

 distrustful, or they are caused to be indifferent and neglect- 

 ful as regards their brood. In every kind of bird-breeding, 

 I consider it best to give, as much as possible, free play to 

 the natural propensities of the birds ; therefore, it is super- 

 fluous, to say the least of it, to remove and preserve the eggs 

 after each laying, and to substitute for them eggs made of 



