Canaries and Nestlings. 
139 
birds, even if you are anxious to have crested 
chicks. The more choice you are as to breed, 
however, the more tender your birds will be ; 
indeed, the first-rate prize birds are generally 
reared in very small numbers only, and very great 
care is required for them. It does very well to 
have a bright yellow hen-bird, they make generally 
excellent mothers. And it is a great thing to 
have your birds some time before the building 
season, that they may get well acquainted with 
you and with each other. 
You ought always, for instance, to feed the birds 
yourself if you mean to wait upon them while they 
are building and sitting. If not, let the person 
who is to do so take care of them from the first, 
because thus they will be used to the voice and 
face beforehand. These things seem small but 
they are important, and while people sometimes 
are away at school others must tend their pets. 
If you have for your Canaries a good sized all- 
wired cage, one or two little trees will be a 
supreme delight to them. I have had a large cage 
with quite a fine grove at the back of Firs and Box 
in flower-pots, and also these trees have been 
placed so as to form a thick wood in the centre. 
The birds are then for ever hopping about the 
