LINNET MULES. 
to do but to hang the nestling and his tutor one above the 
other, in a room where there is no other bird. It is quite 
useless attempting to teach an old bird — even a “ brancher ” 
or three months old bird — another song. When once the note 
of the parent bird is learnt, it is never forgotten. 
If you are satisfied with a linnet who sings only his own 
song (you won’t find a prettier), you may save yourself the 
trouble of bringing up nestlings by buying them at a shop 
when they are four or five weeks oid, and able to crack their 
seed. As they are very cheap at this time, you had better 
buy two or three; as, while they are so young, there is a 
difficulty in distinguishing the males from the females. Some 
people prefer buying the birds that are caught in July (they 
are then just able to fly from tree to tree), and there is no 
doubt that this sort generally turns out healthier birds, and, if 
put under an old one with a good song, will soon be as valuable, 
or even more so, than the tutor. 
Linnet Mules. — There is no song-bird so fastidious in 
his choice of a mate of another species as the linnet. You 
may introduce him to three or four ladies of the canary breed 
before he will condescend to make love to one. After all it is 
not to be wondered at. What do we know about the 
“ standard of perfection” among birds P It is very well for us 
to set a hen canary up as a beauty because she is sleek, and 
well-marked, and symmetrical. Is that all ? How many 
people, good reader, do you and I know who are “ sleek and 
S} r mmetrical,” but with whom, for the life of us, we cbuld not 
associate ? How much truth is there in the old rhyme, — 
“ I do not like you, Doctor Fell ; 
The reason why, I cannot tell ; 
But this I know, and know full well, — 
I do not like you, Doctor Fell.” 
Let us then respect the scruples of the linne£, and take care to 
provide him with a pleasing mate. 
There is another consideration : — never breed what the bird- 
fancier terms “ in and in,” that is, never mate birds of the same 
family. If you do, the result is sure to be disappointment ; 
you will have puny nestlings, weak, ill-feathered, and, perhaps, 
blind. This remark does not apply to mule-breeding, but 
to pairing birds of a species. Mules won’t breed together. 
Let your linnet be two years old, and your hen canary twice 
that age, and provide them with a breeding-cage, nest mate- 
rials, &c., exactly as you have already been directed to manage 
213 
