THE CANARY BIRD. 
31 
PAIRING- AND LAYING. 
In order to obtain birds of a brilliant plumage, it is requisite 
to pair together such as are of similar markings, and the colors 
of which are regular and distinct. This is best effected in 
separate breeding cages. Variegated and checkered ones are 
often produced in aviaries where the birds pair together indis¬ 
criminately. Those of a greenish and brownish color, paired 
with bright-yellow ones, often produce beautiful dusky-white, 
or other favorite colors. A requisite precaution to be ob¬ 
served is, that a tufted and a smooth-headed bird should be 
paired together; for, if two crested ones be placed with 
one another, a part of the head of their progeny will be bald, 
or otherwise deformed. 
Some males are always dejected, sing but little, are indiffer¬ 
ent to their mates, and consequently unfit for breeding; others 
are too choleric, incessantly snap at, and chase about, the 
females, and indeed, often kill them and their young; others, 
again, are too ardent, persecute the female while she is sitting, 
tear the nest, throw out the eggs, or continually excite her to 
pair, until she quits her eggs or neglects her young; others, in 
breeding time, sing so incessantly, and so powerfully, that 
they rupture the small vessels of the lungs, and suddenly drop 
dead in the midst of their song. 
The females have also their defects. Some merely lay, and 
immediately quit their eggs as soon as laid; others feed their 
young badly, bite them, or pluck out their feathers; others lay 
with much exertion and labor, and when they should hatch 
become sickly, or lay again after a long interval. 
Those birds which are to be paired for the first time, should 
be placed together in a small cage or an open room for a 
week or ten days, to be wonted to one another. If two females 
are to be paired with one male, they must previously be ac¬ 
customed to each other’s society by being also kept together 
in a small cage; and the breeding cage should have two 
compartments, separated by a board, in which a sliding door 
