Our  Canaries 
wide,  some  are  slightly  smaller.  Double  cages  take  up  too  much  room.  Some 
of  my  cages  I  made  sixteen  years  ago.  I  clean  them  every  year,  and  like 
whitening,  as  I  fancy  lime  affects  the  birds'  eyes.  I  use  nursery  cages  for  the 
young,  and  fix  a  piece  of  cardboard  across  the  front,  so  that  the  old  birds  can 
feed  them  over  the  top  but  cannot  reach  them  to  pull  out  their  feathers.  I 
use  white  pottery  nest  pans,  and  fix  a  screw  through  the  bottom  of  pan  into 
a  flat  piece  of  wood,  4in.  or  5in.  long,  and  i^in.  wide,  then  nail  on  another 
piece  at  right  angles  to  one  end,  and  bore  a  hole  to  hang  it  by. 
"  For  feeding  I  give  only  Spanish  canary  seed  as  staple  during  the  winter, 
with  a  little  German  rape  at  week-ends.  To  prepare  them  for  breeding,  in 
addition  to  this  I  mix  together  i4lbs.  Spanish  canary,  lib.  each  of  hemp, 
German  rape,   and  millet,  and  ^ib.  each  of  linseed  and  maw,  and  use  this 
twice  a  week.  I  never  give  green  food  until  the 
young  are  hatched.  I  prefer  lettuce  or  chick- 
weed.  Dandelion  I  do  not  care  for,  as  I  find 
it  brings  the  hen  on  too  fast,  and  they  want  to 
nest  again  before  the  young  are  able  to  leave 
the  nest.  For  rearing  young  I  grind  a  good 
slice  of  bread  and  the  yolk  of  an  egg  in  an 
egg  mill,  scrape  cuttlefish  bone  over  it,  add  a 
tablespoonful   of  maw  seed,  and  mix  all  well 
Mr.  A.  Thomas'  system  of  fixing  together.    I  use  only  the  yolk  of  egg." 
the  nest  pan. 
FOR  THE  YOUNG  BIRDS. 
"  I  grind  up  all  the  egg  shells  I  can  get  into  powder  and  mix  with  the 
egg  food,  and  crack  their  seeds  in  a  coffee  mill  to  get  them  on  to  seeds.  I 
never  stop  the  egg  food  until  they  get  through  the  moult,  as  I  find  that  is 
the  time  they  go  wrong— stopping  the  egg  food.  I  give  them  less  egg  and 
more  bread;  then  egg  with  colour  food.  I  stop  all  green  foods  after  they 
leave  the  old  birds.  I  use  flight  cages  about  5ft.  long  for  the  young  birds. 
I  think  the  birds  grow  better  in  that  way.  I  darken  the  cages  with  a  blind, 
as  young  birds  sometimes  pull  feathers  out  of  each  other  and  make  their  wings 
and  tails  bleed.  When  I  see  a  bird  with  blood  on  its  wings  I  take  it  out 
of  the  flight  and  cage  it  separately  until  well.  I  colour  feed  all  my  birds, 
and  find  I  can  sometimes  get  them  a  better  colour  by  keeping  a  number 
together.  Medicines  I  rarely  use — I  generally  give  my  birds  Scott's  Emulsion, 
and  find  it  brings  them  into  condition  as  quickly  as  any  medicine  that  I  have 
tried,  and  brings  them  round  if  they  go  thick." 
VARIETIES  KEPT  AND  RESULTS. 
"  I  breed  cinnamon-marked,  green-marked,  and  clear  Yorkshires,  and  also 
crosses  with  these  and  the  Lancashire,  Belgian,  and  sometimes  with  a  long- 
