SPEAKING CANARIES. 



103 



completely. Such as are not fully developed at the end of 

 December, will then but rarely become good singers. It is 

 understood, however, that in the course of time the song 

 will become more perfect. 



Examination. — Buyers, dealers, and fanciers in the 

 proper sense of the word, " examine " the young canaries, 

 i.e., they listen to their song and, amidst the singing of 

 hundreds of birds, they will accurately distinguish the value 

 of each individual songster — a task which requires, not alone 

 great practice, knowledge, unerring judgment, and an 

 accurate musical ear, but for which taste, above all, is 

 necessary. 



Nocturnal Singers.— The bird in its cage is, during 

 the day, placed into a dark room, or his cage may be 

 darkened by means of a dense cloth or of card-board, and he 

 will be kept without either food or water. If he is subse- 

 quently taken into a well-lit room, and food and drink is 

 supplied to him, he will sing as though it were broad day- 

 light. This process must be continued for several days, and 

 care must be taken to feed the bird sufficiently in the even- 

 ing so that he may not be assailed by the pangs of hunger 

 during the night ; moreover, most male canaries will, in the 

 evening, begin to sing of their own accord if placed in 

 dwelling-rooms or other localities where anything lively is 

 going on, and a bird which has once contracted this habit, 

 will also always sing anywhere, as soon as darkness is re- 

 placed by artificial light. 



Speaking Canaries. — Of late, the canary has shown 

 himself to his patrons in a new and peculiar capacity, dis- 

 playing a gift which was scarcely expected to be found 

 among his attributes, i.e., as a Speaking bird. The gift of 

 being able to imitate human words has been hitherto con- 

 fined to parrots, crows, ravens, or starlings, but now it is 



