CANARY BREEDING. 
BELGIAN CANARY. 
at tins moment at my elbow a rakish-looking runt-tailed little 
vagabond singing away fit to stun one. I bought him in St. 
Andrew’s Street, Bloomsbury, and I 
gave four shillings for him. For my 
part, I would no more think of 
slighting a songster because of its 
disrespectable plumage, than I would 
think of despising Jenny Lind, be- 
cause she happened to have a pimple 
on her nose ; or Sims Beeves, should 
his hair not happen to curl. 
It is no easy matter for an amateur « 
to distinguish a cock from a hen 
canary; still you are not likely to 
fall into error if you carefully observe 
the following rules. The cock canary 
has a larger, a squarer, and altogether 
a harder looking head than the hen. 
The body of the cock-bird is slimmer 
than that of the hen. Bound about the eyes of the cock-bird 
the colour is brighter than any other part of him. “ Mealy,” 
or whitish-yellow, birds are the weakest, while those of a 
greenish-yellow are the most robust. After all, however, the 
best advice I can give you is, before you purchase a bird, hear 
him sing. Be sure, too, that he ^ 
does sing, — hen-birds utter a sweet 
twittering which may possibly de- 
ceive the inexperienced. 
It is a common dodge with fanciers 
to point to the lightness of a bird’s 
plumage as proof of its tender age. 
Bear in mind that exactly the con- 
trary is the case. From the first 
time of a bird’s moulting, his ground 
colour becomes lighter and lighter. 
An old bird may always be known 
by the rough, scaly appearance of 
his legs, and the crookedness and 
length of his claws. As regards 
plumage, a canary is in its prime 
from seven to ten months old. 
On Canary Breeding. — The breeding of canaries requires 
considerable care and attention, but he who meditates the 
-y- 145 
LONDON CANARY. 
