THE CANARY. 
occupation should be quite clear on two most essential points. 
Has he sufficient leisure ? Has he sufficient patience ? If | 
he cannot confidently answer these questions, he had better 
at once abandon all thoughts of a pursuit which will certainly 
put him to considerable useless expense, and inflict on two 
harmless canaries much pain and annoyance. If, however, he 
can reply to the momentous queries affirmatively, let him 
study well the following directions. 
Try to obtain sole possession of some odd room, or closet or 
attic, so that your operations may by no chance be disturbed. 
This is important, as it sometimes happens that a sudden noise, 
such as the slamming of a door, will kill the chick while still in 
the egg. 
Let your breeding-cage be eighteen inches long, ten in depth, 
and ten in height. If the cage is to be placed on a stand, let 
its four sides and top be of wire, but if you mean to hang it 
against the wall, let the back of it be of wood, as you may find 
that the little builders will be unscrupulous enough to tear off 
your wall paper to decorate then nests. In one corner, near 
the top of the cage, let there be a box hung, having two holes 
in the front, large enough for a bird to pass through easily. In 
this outer box place two others. The reason for having two 
nest boxes is this. The hen may want to go to nest again 
before her first little family have got their feathers, and if that 
should be the case, she will have no hesitation in turning the 
naked little creatures out of the nest to accommodate the new j 
eggs. In each nest-box should be placed a little finely-picked 
cowhair, mixed with moss and white wool. Morsels of thread 
and paper shavings may be added, and suspended from the 
roof of the cage there should be a net containing a plentiful j 
supply of building material, so that the birds may help them- 
selves. ' 
The space beneath the nesting-boxes should be partitioned j 
from the rest of the cage with a wire fencing, and in this 
compartment, the young birds when fledged should be placed, 
to keep them from accident. Don’t fear that they will be 
neglected. As often as needful you will find a row of open 
beaks poked through the bars, and the old hen gravely stepping 
from one to the other, filling the tiny mouths with carefully 
selected morsels. 
As regards the birds you intend to breed from, let the cock 
be at least two years old, and the hen older , — if as old again it 
does not matter, for it is a singular fact, that when the hen 
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