s f\e dailies' Sterol i Bti£inet anti ^Pictorial Home lie 
Hijiamon. 
123 
If ante jrf$ + 
CANARIES. 
<> A little bird with the blackest eyes 
Sits on a perch and nods to me; 
Very merry he seeinsto be, 
And wise. 
■'1 wish I knew what the fellow thinks, 
Saacily shaking his cunning head - 
Whether it cannot be said 
By winks.” 
When the first golden gleam of the sun brightens 
the eastern sky, then our sweet-voiced songster awakes 
from his night’s repose and welcomes us and the morn¬ 
ing with his joyous notes. To the dwellers of the 
city’s “crowded mart” the canary’s sweet warbling 
song is welcome indeed. He speaks to them ol bright 
fields, green meadows and the sparkling brook, with 
its sylvan nooks and bowers. He tells them, too, ol 
the beauteous isles from whence be caine, fanned by 
old ocean’s breath and garlanded with the enchanting 
beauty of the tropics. Yes, the little prisoner is, in¬ 
deed, a royal fellow, carrying his kingdom of song and 
life and beauty with him wherever he goes, and he de¬ 
serves the treatment of a king. And perhaps, to 
some of your many readers, a few hints on the needs 
and wishes of our little favorites may he welcome. 
Like other pets, they require close attention and regu¬ 
lar care. And yet a few moments of each day will 
provide for their simple wants. 
NESTING. 
When the warm weather comes, and the birds begin 
to peck at everything, and carry things about in their 
bills, give them a nest. Fasten the basket, or in lieu 
of this a collar-box, near the top of the cage, leaving- 
convenient room for the birds to go in and out. Ar¬ 
range the perches suitably around the nest. Put into 
it, loosely, hay, wool, cotton ravellings of thread, 
feathers, &c. The hair curried from a cow seems to 
please them best of all. Many prepare the nest, and 
then sew a cloth over the top to prevent the birds from 
carrying the contents about the cage. But if they are 
ready they will use the material you have given them, 
and it seems a pity to deprive them of the pleasure of 
building their own nest. Fasten a piece of paper on 
the outside of the cage, around the box, to make be¬ 
lieve it is hidden. This done, they take possession 
with much twittering and rejoicing. In two or three 
days thereafter you will see a little greenish-blue egg, 
nicely mottled with brown, and each succeeding day 
another and another, until from three to five are laid. 
The female sits on the nest from the laying of the first 
egg, and during this time the cage should be disturbed 
as little as possible, especially by strangers. In four¬ 
teen days the first egg hatches, and generally one 
every day thereafter; or sometimes one in the morn¬ 
ing and another towards night. During these two 
weeks the male is very attentive to his mate, feeding 
her, and when she leaves the nest for exercise taking 
her place. 
CARE OP THE YOUNG BIRDS. 
If any eggs are left, remove them carefully, so as 
not to injure the little ones. And if any should die, 
as often they do during tiie first day, take them out 
also. They need now the closest attention. Give 
them half a hard-boiled egg, leaving the shell on; 
soda cracker broken up and softened in water, either 
cabbage- or wild tongue' grass, plenty of fresh water, 
cuttle hone and mixed, hemp and canary, half 
and half. The parent birds generally go around the 
t cage, taking hits of everything, with which they feed 
| the young. Everything should he kept scrupulously 
i clean, and no food suffered to remain longer thah one 
day, as nothing is more injurious to the little birds than 
I soured food. At two weeks old they begin to feather 
out—a beautifying sadly needed, for at first they re- 
! semble a piece of mouldy beef more than anything 
; else. The color of these spots of down shows the 
times infest them. Open the door of the cage, set it 
on the floor of the room, and the birds will go in of 
themselves. If this is done two or three times a year 
your birds will he healthy, and reward you with their 
merry songs. 
WILE IT PAY ? 
Yes, it will pay to have canaries in your home, just 
as it does to have flowers and hooks and pictures. 
color the birds will he. Unlike chickens, they are nine You will grow to love them by and bye, and the little, 
days before they open their eyes. By the time they , cheerful, busy pets will afford more pleasure for the 
are three weeks old they will he out ot the nest fre- ! outlay of time and trouble than can elsewhere be 
quently during the day, and peck at the food under found. They are not unmindful of care, and will 
the tuition of their parents. Should the old birds , brighten and twitter at your coming, hut shrink in fear 
show signs of nesting, lower the old nest to the middle ! at the voice of a stranger. When the cold, bleak 
of the cage, and place a new nest over it, leaving room j winter storms have driven away all the feathery tribe, 
for them to go in and out. The parent birds will take he will remain to gladden us with his presence and 
the new nest and build it, while they still feed the 
young. It is not best to deprive the little oh.es of then- 
even 
The home that points to its birds and flowers 
may not be a paradise, hut there you will find a higher 
cultivation and appreciation of the beautiful in nature 
than in the gilded palace, with its tinsel and gold. 
Mrs. II. D. Bichardson. 
Evansville, Ind. 
nest too soon, for they like to roost in it at night, 
when out on the perches all day. Having the soft 
fiat surface to sit and rest on, prevents deformity of 
the breast hone. If a new nest is not supplied, the 
old birds sometimes kill the young by driving them 
out too soon, in the endeavor to get the nest for a new 
brood. Keep them in the cage until a new nest full 
is hatched, or they are able to feed themselves well; 
then remove to another cage. The sex of the young 
cannot he told until they are six or eight weeks old, 
when the male tries to sing. But one pair should be 
kept in a cage, and if they nest early they will raise 
three or four broods during the summer. The best, 
singing is obtained, however, by keeping one singer 
by himself. 
POOD. 
The food of canaries should not have any salt, or at 
least no more than is contained in bread, for anything 
salty will kill them. The perches should be round and There are ulful - v S ol(] feh kiUed b y handling. Keep 
smooth, and he kept perfectly clean. If the bottom W 11 ' a c i u:l, 'ium clean so that the water looks as clear 
of the cage is not suitable for covering with sand, ! as el 'y sta h Watch the fish a little, and you v ill find 
keep a cup of it in the cage. A drinking cup and a j out " dien a,e ak 'i§ht. heed them all they will 
bath-tub filled with clean, fresh water every day are | ea ^ and anything they will eat worms, meat,, fish 
essentials. Keep at all times cuttle hone and seed, "afer, or fish spawn. Take great, care that you take 
hemp and canary or rape, mixed half and half, taking 
Gold Fish in Aquariums.— Seth Green replies as 
follows to an inquisitive correspondent: “ In answer 
to your inquiry how to keep gold fish, I answer that I 
am asked the question so many times, it will save me 
many letters through the press if you will insert, the 
following: Use any well, creek, or river water that is 
not impregnated with mineral. Change the water 
when the fish come to the top and stay there, and 
breathe part water and part air. Take out nearly all 
the water, leaving enough for the fish to swim in, and 
fill the vessel with fresh water. Never take the fish 
in your hand. If the aquarium needs cleaning, make 
a net of mosquito netting and take the fish out in it. 
care that the hemp especially is free from must. 
They seem fonder of the home-raised hemp, though it 
cannot he cleaned as well as the bought. Early in the 
spring, for green food, give lettuce ; during the sum¬ 
mer wild tongue grass, and in the winter cabbage or 
apple. The other food may he light bread, com bread, 
tomatoes, watermelon, turnips, uncooked potatoes, 
sweet and Irish; cooked, and, indeed, almost every" 
fruit and vegetable. Sugar and cake, of which they 
are as fond as children, should he given sparingly, for 
j they injure the singing. 
1 It is not necessary to have many kinds of food at 
once, though the canary lilies variety in his eating, 
I and seems to relish fresh dainty hits at all times, being 
in this respect not unlike the noble “ lords of crea¬ 
tion.” During the laying period egg shells may he 
given with advantage. 
DISEASES- _ , . ,_ , , _ , . . 
Pretty Table Ornament. — A correspondent of 
If properly treated the canary is not subject to many The Garden says: “1 was much struck lately with 
diseases. Sore feet are caused by neglecting the j the wonderfully beautiful effect produced by simply 
perches. Should any symptoms, of cholera he noticed, : placing a handful .of heads of wheat in a vase of 
withhold all green food, and for a few days feed noth- water. Each grain sent out a bright green leaflet, 
ing hut seed and water and dry bread. The birds and continued to replenish the fading ones for weeks 
should he changed into another cage, or, better still, together. Some have doubtless seen this pretty table 
all that they do not eat out of the aquarium. Any- 
decayed meat or vegetable in water has the same 
smell to fish that it has to you in air. If your gold 
fish die, it is attributable, as a rule, to one of three 
causes—handling, starvation, or had water.” 
The Minister’s Parrot. —A comic story is told of 
Dean Stanley’s parrot, which was a great pet of the 
whole family. One day Polly managed to open her 
cage and get away, to the consternation of the whole 
household. After a great search some one found Polly 
in the garden on the top of an apple-tree. The wel¬ 
come news was communicated to the Dean, who, with 
the whole of the inmates, rushed out at once, accom¬ 
panied by Dr. Vaughan, who, -with some friends, was 
then on a visit to the Dean. Polly was found swing¬ 
ing herself in a topmost branch, hut when she dis¬ 
covered the large audience below her, she looked 
gravely down at them, and said, “Let us pray.” 
let out in a closed room and their cages washed clean, 
I and held over smoke to destroy the red lice that some- 
ornament, hut to me it was new, and perhaps would 
be so to many others.” 
