Teaching Canaries 
to Sing. 
(171) THE BIRD WORLD. 
Teaching Canaries to 
Sing. 
A Profitable Industry. 
“ Hartz Canaries are quite a staple 
trade in the towns and villages around 
the Hartz Mountains. Many trained 
Canary birds are now “ made in Ger¬ 
many/’ and most of them are called 
Hartz birds. Some of the best singers 
are produced (a Consular report says) 
at Magdeburg, but St. Andreasburg 
alone breeds every year fifty thousand 
of these birds for export. In fact, the 
trade now represents many thousands of 
pounds every year. The price of a good 
singer varies from ten to forty shillings, 
and an exceptionally good singer and 
breeder will fetch as much as fifteen 
pounds. A good “ Vorsaenger,” a bird 
used to teach the young Canaries to 
sing by example, costs about five 
pounds. 
How the Birds are Trained. 
“ Absolute quiet”—this industry 
would not suit London—“ and undis¬ 
turbed intimate relations exist between 
the breeder and his birds,” we read. 
The training to sing is a laborious pro¬ 
cess. The young birds, learning by 
imitation mainly, are apt to acquire the 
art of bad singing as well as good. The 
breeders try to confine their hearing to 
the good singing of the “ Vorsaenger,” 
yet some of the birds naturally chirp 
and whistle in an unpleasant manner, 
and care must be taken that these are 
removed before the other birds have 
acquired the same bad habits and are 
rendered unsaleable. The art of the 
breeder lies in his being able to discover 
the slumbering talent in the bird at an 
early age, and developing it to the 
highest point of perfection in its par¬ 
ticular line. Some birds show an 
especial talent for trilling, while others 
are remarkable for the beauty and variety 
of their song. 
Singing Classes. 
The birds are divided into classes and 
kept in separate rooms, those having 
harsh and sharp voices being often 
placed in covered cages, where, instead 
of singing themselves, they are forced 
to listen to other good singers, through 
which their faults are often overcome. 
The better singers, after passing a cer¬ 
tain stage where their habits are estab¬ 
lished and they do not require the close 
daily watching of the breeder, are taken 
into a room reserved for the best singers. 
The elementary training for the singer 
is generally finished by the end of 
November, and the singing is at its best 
at the beginning of January, and again 
after the mating time. 
Canaries Catch Cold. 
A word to people who keep Canaries. 
They must remember that the Canary is 
essentially a house bird. Some good 
folk, to give the bird a little fresh air, 
makes a serious mistake by hanging 
the cage out of the window on the 
first warm spring day. The bird is 
not used to the outside air, as he 
and his ancestors have been raised 
for centuries in the house, and the only 
result of this well-intended kindness is 
a cold which results in partial, if not 
entire, loss of the voice. Canaries are 
very sensitive to draughts, and some 
singers, the results of years of careful 
breeding and training, have been ruined 
by a few moments’ exposure by an open 
window. 
