Our  Canaries 
145 
depends  upon  the  weather.  If  we  next  face  the  sober  fact  that  at  the  season 
in  question  absolutely  no  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  continued  fair  weather 
the  wisdom  of  not  taking  a  sporting  risk  is  at  once  evident. 
INFLUENCE  OF  HEAT. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  to  a  certain  extent— more  or  less  according  to 
the  completeness  and  efficiency  of  the  arrangements  for  heating—the  normal 
temperature  outdoors  may  be  counteracted  by  artificial  means,  and  when  this 
is  done  breeding  may  well  commence  a  month  earlier 
than  otherwise  would  be  advisable  with  every  reason- 
able prospect  of  the  first  round  of  eggs  being  quite 
up  to  the  average '  in  fertility.  This,  of  course,  is 
a  very  important  consideration  when  breeding  for  profit, 
or  numbers,  which  is  much  the  same  thing,  is  the 
main  object,  as  it  enables  three  broods  of  young  to 
be  reared  with  little  or  no  further  extension  of  the 
breeding  season  at  the  close  than  is  necessary  for  two 
broods  under  quite  normal  conditions.  Young  birds 
may  also  be  had  in  a  better  developed  condition  for 
the  first  feather  shows.  But  it  is  probably  in  the 
breeding  of  songsters  pure  and  simple  where  the 
method  scores  best  on  the  profitable  side  of  the 
hobby,  as  the  early  youngsters  thus  obtained  will  be 
able  to  get  a  larger  amount  of  training  in  song,  before 
and  after  moulting,  than  later  bred  birds,  and  are  therefore  a  marketable 
commodity  earlier  in  the  season  before  the  demand  for  songsters  has  been  so 
fully  supplied  by  imported  birds.  This  is  an  element  in  the  hobby  which  the 
British  breeder  who  goes  in  for  the  profitable  breeding  of  songsters  on  a 
business-like  scale  cannot  afford  to  ignore. 
WHAT  SHALL  THE  HARVEST  BE  ? 
As  with  the  question  of  heat  or  no  heat,  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  lay  down 
a  definite  rule  as  to  the  number  of  nests  each  hen  should  be  allowed  to  have  in 
a  season.  In  this  connection  not  only  the  prevailing  circumstances  but  also  the 
health  and  temperament  of  the  individual  hen  must  be  taken  into  account.  It 
may  be  taken  as  a  general  rule  that  two  broods  of  an  average  Jiumber  are  quite 
sufficient  to  take  each  season  from  highly-bred  fancy  varieties,  whilst  hardier  and 
more  robust  varieties  may  be  allowed  a  third  brood  if  they  desire  it,  providing 
the  season  is  not  so  far  advanced  that  the  young  of  such  a  brood  would  still  be 
in  the  nest  at  what  ought  properly  to  be  the  moulting  season. 
There  are  exceptions  which  may  safely  be  made  to  this  rule.  A  high  class 
hen,  for  example,  may  have  started  nesting  early,  and  produced  a  clutch  of 
unfertile  eggs,  or  a  small  clutch  which  has  been  transferred  to  a  foster  parent. 
A  simple  wire  appli- 
ance   for    the  safe 
handling  of  eggs. 
