106 



CANARY BIRDS. 



been sitting there about an hour, they begin to answer the 

 luring of the old ones. Soon afterwards they come flying 

 to the cage to get fed. A sitting-pole will then be con- 

 structed in front of the cage on which they may sit comfort- 

 ably while being fed • and by the side of the hatching-cage, 

 another cage is placed which has a trap-door and is 

 convenient for capturing birds into this latter cage. Good 

 food is strewed, so that the young birds get accustomed to 

 seek it there, while, gradually, they learn to eat without 

 assistance. In this manner the young birds are allowed to 

 fly to and fro for about eight or ten weeks, and those which 

 are fledged in the meantime, are then added. Towards 

 October, as soon as the nights begin to get cold, the whole 

 colony is captured, and all the young birds are locked up in 

 a spacious room or in a large flying-cage, in which they can 

 move about freely without losing their elasticity of wing. 

 In the next spring, they are placed, in pairs, into hatching- 

 cages which are put into various garret windows, and so 

 contrived as to permit feeding from within, and opening to- 

 wards the outer side. As soon as a female begins to hatch, 

 the door is opened and the male is allowed to fly out, but 

 the feeding takes place inside the cage only. From this 

 time, one need not be anxious concerning the return of the 

 birds, for their experience of the previous summer has 

 accustomed them to flying in and out, and their sojourn in 

 the open air has so strengthened them that they can bear 

 any change of weather. The second and third brood will 

 usually be produced on the trees, and it is ,then doubly 

 pleasant to see them arriving in company with their young 

 in order to feed. In the autumn they are naturally re- 

 captured, and again liberated in the following spring. It is 

 to be deplored that this process is practicable in such 

 localities only where the birds can be protected against all 

 depredators — especially against birds of prey, magpies, 



