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Our  Canaries 
T 
CHAPTER  VIII. 
PAIRING  AND  SITTING. 
THE  COMING  OF  AGE. 
HE  age  which  it  is  advisable  for  Canaries  to  reach  before  undertaking  the 
_  important  task  of  propagating  their  species  must  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. Generally,  when  "the  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  has  come,"  it  is 
believed  that  any  small  bird  hatched  and  reared  in  the  previous  season  is  suffi- 
ciently matured  to  take  up  the  cares  and  duties  of  family  life.  If  Art  had  not 
interfered  with  the  ordinary  course  of  Nature  this  might  be  a  rational  conclusion, 
because  during  the  intervening  winter  Nature,  with  a  cruel  and  relentless  hand, 
has  tested  and  tried  the  stamina  and  robustness  of  old  and  young  alike  and 
decreed  that  only  the  physically  fit  and  sound  shall  survive  to  continue  the  race. 
But  our  Canaries  are  immune  to  these  selective  processes,  and  the  tendency  all 
too  often  is  to  foster  and  "patch  up"  the  weakly  bird  as  long  as  possible,  and 
frequently  with  the  professed  aim  of  getting  young  from  it  before  it  succumbs  in 
spite  of  all  care  and  attention— a  most  suicidal  policy,  as  already  pointed  out. 
It,  therefore,  becomes  necessary  for  the  owner  to  decide  whether  any  given 
bird  is'  sufficiently  mature  and  robust  for  mating.  The  fact  must  not  be  over- 
looked that  all  individuals,  even  of  the  same  species,  do  not  mature  at  the  same 
rate.  There  are  examples  of  precocity  which  to  all  intents  and  purposes  will  be 
as  fully  matured  and  fit  to  breed  at  six  months  old  as  others  are  at  eight  or  nine 
months,  and  it  must  again  be  remembered  that  when,  as  is  sometimes  the  case, 
breeding  operations  are  carried  on  late  in  the  previous  season,  some  of  the  stock 
may  be  barely  six  months  old  at  the  beginning  of  the  season.  The  best  general 
rule  is :  mate  up  young  and  old  together,  putting  a  hen  of  the  previous  season 
with  a  cock  that  is  over  one  year  old,  and  vice  versa.  But  when  one  is  buying  in 
fresh  hens  for  breeding  it  is  good  policy  to  insist  upon  having  young  hens  of  the 
previous  season,  always  giving  preference  to  early  hatched  specimens.  This  plan 
prevents  one's  being  imposed  upon  by  having  hens  given  him  that  have  been  "tried 
and  found  wanting"  in  the  previous  season. 
THE  AGE  OF  DECREPITUDE. 
The  period  of  a  bird's  usefulness  in  the  breeding  depends  not  only  upon  its 
physical  stamina  but  also,  and  very  largely,  upon  care  and  management.  A  period 
of  five  years  probably  closes  the  breeding  career  of  the  vast  majority  of  specimens 
of  both  sexes,  but  there  are  exceptional  cases  where  individuals  will  continue 
productive  for  twice  this  length  of  time,  and  a  well-preserved  and  well-cared-for 
cock  will  not  infrequently  continue  to  fill  eggs  satisfactorily  until  well  advanced 
in  the  teens  of  years. 
Albeit,  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  seasons  must  be  regarded  as  the  prime 
of  the  average  Canary's  life,  and  its  most  productive  period. 
