HARVARD UNIVERSITY ‘ | Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology _ Cassects Canaries & CAGE BIRDS Vincent. Brooks, Day &Son Lith RE D-WEA DIED! EO W Ee (BaliReb: GRASS PARAKEET. MADAGASCAR LOVE BIRD. THE MEIC SIRE Ie ID WOON Ove CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. BIRT Sal AUNID IEOUKSSIMGIN, Wo Ay IBIIKSITOIN, WW SAVES IEYAUNIID), PO GW SA, aE VWs NER Ee ZS: GNSSELE. PERTER. GALPIN «& €o- LONDON, PARIS & NEW YVORK. PIS 18 Js AG 8, SSeS No apology need be made for presenting to the public a work profusely illustrated by coloured plates, concerning so attractive a subject as Cage-Birds. The subject itself will interest thousands, while none is better adapted for pictorial treatment ; and it is the sincere wish of all who have contributed the text, that what they have written may be the means not only of increasing the popularity of the fascinating creatures described, but of contributing to their health and comfort. Each main division of the work has been committed to authority peculiarly qualified to deal with it. Mr. W. A. Blakston’s knowledge of Canaries is well known, and will be found fully attested by the pages from his pen. Mr. W. Swaysland has long been recognised as an authority upon British Cage-Birds, and his concise directions for their treatment will be found to embody all that is practically necessary. And concerning the attractive section of Foreign Birds, the publishers have been peculiarly fortunate in obtaining the aid of a gentleman—Mr. August F. Wiener—one of the highest authorities in all Europe as regards length and variety of experience, combined with sound scientific knowledge. The full list of synonyms in this section will, it is hoped, give greater facility than has yet been offered in English works for the ready identification of varieties, and thus advance the popularity of many attractive birds as yet very little known. The selection of subjects for illustration in the latter portion of the work, it need hardly be said, has been a task of peculiar difficulty; and the publishers owe many acknowledgments, not only to the talented artist who for a considerable period devoted his whole time to the task, but to the owners who so kindly placed valuable specimens before his pencil. Besides those mentioned in this way in the text, special acknowledgments are due to Mr. Joseph F. Hills and Mr. W. Swaysland, for the loan of many British birds CONTENTS: CANARIES. CHAP. PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY AND HISTORICAL . : 9 . : 3 : 2 9 ° : 0 - ° I. 11. THE OUT-DOOR AVIARY 0 : : 0 0 0 ° ‘ 0 5 6 9 0 5 7 Ill. THE IN-DOOR AVIARY . 3 3 . : 6 : . : ° 0 7 0 0 . 0 lu Iv. THE BREEDING-ROOM . : 5 d : 0 . 3 0 0 : 0 : : conly7, v. CAGES AND CAGE-MAKING . : . 6 0 0 . A 0 ees c 5 56 Dh vi. NEST-BOXES AND OTHER APPLIANCES . . 5 0 : : : 0 9 6 ; 0 o | SS VII. PAIRING AND SITTING . é 9 3 . 0 : . 0 0 0 : : . 0 - 49 VII. HATCHING AND REARING. : : : é 0 0 . : 0 9 : 5 co 688 Ix. MOULTING. THE CANARY’S PLUMAGE. . o : 5 6 6 : : 6 5 0 3 Ul xX. MOULTING ON CAYENNE. ee eta nMmere a toh led esis wteuil. Sten) Tuscan Wien O XI. THE NORWICH CANARY é 0 9 F 0 6 0 : 6 0 0 Q 9 Of XII. THE CRESTED NORWICH 6 0 ; . 0 0 0 2 . 0 0 . 0 . . 102 XII. BREEDING NORWICH CANARIES . ; . : 0 3 0 r 0 : 6 0 a . 109 BREE DINGUNUARIGHD EN OR WICH ngs ane, Uy ine (ein) au eae Od We ah Relay om.) Ge THO RUB REEDING! CRESTED NORWICH Re) ch ou git sa ae bso alc sm ws ea pe, 19 XVI. THE CINNAMON CANARY. 5 : . 0 5 . 5 0 . 0 . 0 5 - 139 XVII. BREEDING CINNAMON CANARIES . . 9 ‘ 0 ° 0 6 6 . : 0 - 146 XVUI. THE LIZARD CANARY . 4 plas c , 5 6 0 . 6 ° ° 5 a hy “XIX. BREEDING LIZARD CANARIES 0 : 0 0 eee 0 5 fl 0 0 0 . - 165 xx. THE LONDON FANCY CANARY 0 : 0 : 0 5 0 7 6 2 5 0 a 27/5 XXI. BREEDING LONDON FANCY CANARIES. ; Sepa toe te oils O 9 0 0 6 . I8f XXII. THE BELGIAN CANARY. . Sees Raa ita ed he amecay ab Rute ane . 188 XXIII, CANARY SOCIETIES IN BELGIUM . : 9 3 0 0 . 5 0 9 0 0 : 203) XXIV. BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF BELGIAN CANARIES . 0 6 0 6 ; ; o - 208 xxv. THE SCOTCH FANCY CANARY is : 9 : : : 0 : 5 9 . . . e223) XXVI. BREEDING AND EXHIBITING SCOTCH FANCY CANARIES . . 0 a° 6 5 0 0 5 Ait XXVIII. THE YORKSHIRE CANARY .. : F 0 ( 0 : 0 . . ° 0 Seu this - 238 XXVIII. THE LANCASHIRE COPPY . : 0 : . ° 9 : 0 . 0 : ¢ 3 - 250 XXIX. GOLDFINCH-AND-CANARY MULES. 0 0 . 0 0 0 5 5 0 0 0 250 XXX. MULE-BREEDING . 9 ° : ° Payiits . ° . : S08 . : . -_ 265 XXXI. WASHING AND EXHIBITING CANARIES AND MULES . 0 . 0 : 4 0 0 9 270) XXXII. THE DISEASES OF CANARIES 0 . 0 . 0 c 6 c 0 : 0 6 . » 285 XXXII. THE SONG CANARY . : 0 . 0 9 - 0 . . 0 . 0 0 . + 292 vi CHAF, XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI. XXXVI. XXXVIII. XXXIX. XL. XLI. XLII. XLIII. XLIV. XLV. XLVI. XLVII. XLVIII. XLIX. L. CONTENTS. BRITISH THE THRUSH TRIBE BRITISH WARBLERS : LARKS, PIPITS, AND WAGTAILS BRITISH FINCHES .* . TITMICE, WOODPECKERS, AND BUNTINGS . Crows, HAWKS, AND OWLS . . 5 5 MISCELLANEOUS BRITISH BIRDS . . FOREIGN GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF FOREIGN BIRDS SOFT-FOOD FOREIGN BIRDS . BULBULS. . TANAGERS DWARF OR FANCY FINCHES . 3 ; O THICK-BILLED FINCHES 6 5 ; THE WEAVER-BIRDS . 6 a 6 0 TRUE FINCHES 5 6 , 5 : 0 STARLINGS ; 0 ' , 0 PARROTS AND PARRAKEETS Titi aij BIRDS. BIRDS. ILEUS IP Oye WALOSINR AIO UNS» COLOURED PLATES. TO FACE PAGE RED-HEADED, LOVE-BIRD, MADAGASCAR LOVE-BIRD, Grass PARRAKEET OR BUDGERIGAR Norwicu CANARIES—CLEAR YELLOWS (FED AND Non- FED) AND EVENLY-MARKED BUFF NoRWICH CANARIES—CLEAR BUFF, VARIEGATED, AND EVENLY-MARKED YELLOW ... 506 oda 000 CRESTED NORWICH—EVENLY-MARKED YELLOW AND BuFF, AND GREY-CRESTED BUFF ... _ CRESTED NorwIcH—DaRK-CRESTED BUFF, AND VARIE- GATED BUFF AND YELLOW ... 600 CINNAMON CANARIES, NORWICH TYPE ... CINNAMON CANARIES, MARKED AND CRESTED TYPES LIZARD CANARIES, GOLD AND SILVER ... a we LonpDON FANCY CANARIES.>. BELGIAN CANARIES ... 000 000 ScotcH FANCY CANARIES, CLEAR ScotcH FANCY CANARIES, PIZBALD ae YORKSHIRE CANARIES, CLEAR AND GREEN... ~ YORKSHIRE CANARIES, EVENLYeMARKED AND CAYENNE- FED 208 500 Kes aco S00 LANCASHIRE COPPIES—YELLOW COCK AND BUFF PLAIN- HEAD HEN _ ... Sot 600 LANCASHIRE COPPIES—YELLOW PLAINHEAD COCK AND Burr Corry HEN be 000 000 p00 B60 GOLDFINCH AND CANARY MULES, DARK was GOLDFINCH AND CANARY MULES, MARKED AND VARIE- GATED ... LINNET AND CANARY MULES GREENFINCH-LINNET, BULL-GOLDFINCH, GOLDFINCH- LINNET MULES ... THRUSH, BLACKBIRD FIELDFARE, REDWING, STARLING... BLAcKCAP, WHITETHROAT, NIGHTINGALE Rosin, WREN, REDSTART, WHEATEAR ... SKYLARK, WOODLARK, TREE PIPIT O00 GOLDFINCH, LINNET, BULLFINCH... GREENFINCH, MOUNTAIN FINCH, HAWFINCH, CHAF- FINCH ... a ae 000 400 SISKIN, REDPOLL, WAXWING, CROSSBILL 005 TITMICE 000 ado a 000 ... Frontispiece gt Iol 107 127 139 147 155 175 189 223 229 239 243 251 255 259 263 273 275 299. 301 305 311 321 325 327 329 33 * TO FACE BUNTINGS oCo 000 000 600 000 o0 JACKDAW, MAGPIE ... 200 Jay, WooDPECKER, NUTHATCH ... KINGFISHER, WAGTAILS ... BLuE Ropin, NONPAREIL, PEKIN NIGHTINGALE, IN- DIGO-BIRD ire 008 Parrot FINCH, BICHENO’s FINCH, AUSTRALIAN CRIM- SON FINCH, CHESTNUT-BREASTED FINCH ... AMADUVADES, AUSTRALIAN ZEBRA FINCHES, AFRICAN ZEBRA WAXBILLS, THREE-COLOURED-NUN... WAXBILLS, SAFFRON FINCH, AFRICAN FIRE FINCH ... STEEL FINCH, PIED GRASS FINCH, BRONZE MANAKIN, SILVER-BILL, ST. HELENA WAXBILL, CUT-THROAT PIED MANAKINS, DIAMOND SPARROW, NUTMEG OR SPICE BIRD JAVA SPARROWS, NUNS... tes 500 00 500 WHYDAH-BIRDS— PARADISE, YELLOW-BACKED, SHAFT- TAILED ... 566 900 000 200 ae 060 WEAVER-BIRDS—ORYX, RED-HEADED, NAPOLEON... WEAVERS—ORANGE BISHOP AND MADAGASCAR, YOUNG SAFFRON FINCH 500 doo Boe ae ae CARDINALS, VIRGINIAN NIGHTINGALE ... bod 500 GREEN SINGING FINCH, GREY SINGING FINCH, AUSTRA- LIAN FIRE-TAILED FINCH, BANDED GRAsS FINCH, AUSTRALIAN WAXBILL... GLossy STARLINGS, MALABAR MYNAH ... 300 000 COCKATEELS, ROSEATE COCKATOO, LEADBEATER’S CocKATOO, SCALY-BREASTED PARRAKEET... ROSELLA PARRAKEETS 00 900 600 00 RING-NECKED PARRAKEET, PLUM-HEADED PARRAKEET WHITE-EARED CONURES, MALABAR PARRAKEET, BLUE- BONNEY PARRAKEET ... AMAZON PARROT, GREY PARROT ... TURQUOISINE PARRAKEET, MANY-COLOURED PARRA- KEETS... 006 200 BOURKE’S PARRAKEET, RED-WINGED PARRAKEET, BLOOD- RUMPED PARRAKEETS ... oda = son 660 KinG PARROT, PENNANT’S PARRAKEET ... 000 000 BLUE-STRIPED Lory, BLUE MOUNTAIN Lory ... 000 BEAUTIFUL PARRAKEETS, SWIFT LORIKEET .., PAGE 333 335 337 343 359 369 373 377 385 389 395 401 405 407 413 417 423 427 429 431 433 435 437 439 44t 443 444 Vili Mr. Stephenson’s Out-door Aviary ... In-door Aviary 26 Self-supplying Seed-hopper (Fig, 1) Large Fountain (Fig. 2) Mr. Young’s Breeding-room London Breeding-cage (Fig. 3) Stack of Breeding-cages (Fig. 4) Turn-rail (Fig. 5) Seed and Water Holes (Fig. 6) Wooden Door (Fig. 7) Mode of Wiring (Fig. 8) Canary’s Foot and Perch (Fig. 9) ... Sliding Wire Door (Fig. 10)... Seed-hopper (Fig. 11) Seed-drawer (Fig. 12) Water-tins (Fig. 13) . Glass Water-vessels (Figs. 14, 15, 16) Basket and Manilla Nests (Figs. 17, 18) Norwich Wooden Nest-box (Fig. 19) Tin Nest-boxes (Figs. 20, 21) Felt Lining for Nest (Fig. 22) " Earthenware Nest-box (Fig. 23) Egg-sieve (Fig. 24) Egg-drawer (Fig. 25)... Egg-tin in Place (Fig. 26) Egg-trough (Fig. 27) ... Bath-cages (Fig. 28) ... Tray for Storing Eggs (Fig. 29) Nursery-cage in Position (Fig. 30) ... Cage for Breeding Two Hens (Fig. 31) Messrs. Mackleys’ Moulting-room ... List oF ILLvusTRATIONS. DRAWINGS PAGE 9 12 15 15 22 25 ee 300 27 29 31 32 33 33 34 35 36 ON WOOD. Eye-marks of Norwich Canaries (Figs. 32—36) Wing-marks (Figs. 37, 38) ... ~ Diagram of Technical Terms Various Faults in Crest (Figs. 39—44) Faulty Lizard Caps (Figs. 45—48) ... Lizard Caps (Figs. 49, 50) Spangling of Lizard (Fig. 51) Foul Wing of Lizard (Fig. 52) Lizard Moulting-cage (Fig. 53) Belgian Shape and Position (Fig. 54) Belgian Bronze Model (Fig. 55) Belgian Show-cage (Fig. 56) Belgian Travelling-cage (Fig. 57) Belgian Travelling-bag (Fig. 58) é Belgian Breeding-cage and Nest-box (Figs. 59, 60) Set of Scotch Fancy Cages and Case (Fig. 61) Judging the Scotch Fancy Canary & Washing Canaries (Figs. 62—65) Show-cages (Figs. 66-—69) a6 Coppy or Yorkshire Show-cage (Fig. 70) ... Belgian Show-cage (Fig. 71) Packing Frame for Cages (Fig. 72)... Cage for Thrush (Fig. 73) Cage for Blackbird (Fig. 74) Peregrine Falcon Young Snow Owl Seed-hopper for Aviary (Fig. 75) Travelling-cage (Fig. 76) Nests and Nest-boxes (Figs, 77—82) Tree-nest (Fig. 83) Cocoa-nut Nest (Fig. 84) o 160 DHE IDLUSTRATED: BOOK OF eaoNARIES AND CAGE BIRDS: CisValEMN RS Il INTRODUCTORY AND HISTORICAL. HE longing for something to protect and care for is one of the strongest feelings implanted» within us, and one outcome of it is the desire to keep animals under our control, which in its due place is, undoubtedly, one of our healthiest instincts. From what it arises, other than being a wise gift, we will not stay to inquire; but that the desire does exist, in a greater or less degree, in all of us, and that in many it is a strongly-marked peculiarity, few will venture to deny. It is true that the lower animals are all placed in subjection to man; but the dis- position to which we refer is not one born of any desire to subdue or destroy, being rather the offspring of some tenderer chord in our nature which impels us to make friends of them, to break down some of the barriers which separate us, to study their habits and attend to their wants, subordinating the whole to their and our advantage. We know that man is in a certain degree a predatory animal, and that an element in our character, different from the higher trait to which we have referred, enters into the case of those who indulge in what, for want of a better word, is known as sport; but even in the field something very like an intimate friendship and intelligent confidence is cemented between us and animals which are made to subserve the pursuit of what is, possibly, a legitimate end, though sensitive minds may question its morality. A feeling akin to this predatory disposition may be seen in the eagerness with which some village urchin expends his energies in the construction of snares, or the primitive brick-trap—that most picturesque of all traps—or steals stealthily along through copse or by hedgerow, armed with crossbow or other clumsy contrivance of home manufacture, knowing no fatigue and despising every obstacle, happy if only by the exercise of patience and skill he can compass the death or capture of even one small bird. To him, the advent of winter, with its frost and snow and long dark nights, means the arrival of his sporting season, when, impelled by hunger, his “game” leaves its usual haunts and seeks the homestead by day, or affords him by night all the excitement and glories of netting the sheltered sides of stacks, the 1 to CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. overhanging eaves of barns, and the still richer preserves of ivy-clad walls. But the lad has a warm corner in his heart for all that. The friendly robin, enticed by crumbs, takes its morning meal at his window, and is allowed to come and go, hopping in and out from under the treacherous stable-sieve, delicately poised over the baited spot to which he wishes to lure other birds, and is a privileged visitor. The half-frozen thrush, captured in the snow on one of the lad’s hunting expeditions, or some wounded sufferer with broken wing, appeals to his sympathies, is cared for, tenderly nursed, and, though a captive, becomes a pet. The young rabbits, taken from their downy bed—a short burrow in some fallow—find a home in his hutch, and when grown—well, the lad has not the heart to kill them, and so sets them at liberty, himself scarcely less happy than they. The nest of young birds, long marked down and daily visited with furtive steps lest other watchful eyes should discover them, carefully carried home in his cap, become objects of extreme solicitude, and are, possibly, actually killed with kindness. A strange medley is the lad—a compound of thought and thoughtlessness, but good at the core. Nothing which appeals trustingly to his better nature appeals in vain; and so it is, we believe, that this desire to have something to love and care for overcomes the other and lower tendency. It grows with our growth and strengthens with our strength, and when satisfied, teaches many a lesson of abnegation of self. The love of pets insensibly leads us to the study of Nature— “ An effect Whose cause is God ”— even though very partially and without turning up the ground to any great depth. The volume lies open before us replete with interest, and the study is alike absorbing whether the subject be our own wonderful anatomy or the structure of a mollusc; the oak which has seen the summers and winters of a century or the fungus which springs up in a few hours. Cage-birds are on our particular leaf of this inexhaustible volume, and we propose to look at them from a homely point of view—homely in every sense of the word. ‘This will not be an abstruse work, but one in which the every-day life and management of the most popular and attractive cage-birds will be exhaustively treated. It is not intended for the naturalist or the ornithologist proper, though even they may, perhaps, dip into its pages and learn something—for we are ever learning—of , the domestic habits and economy of some feathered favourite; but it is intended as a practical guide, a vade mecum for all who take an interest in rearing and tending cage-birds, whether native, or coming to us from far-off climes with stories of tropical splendours. One of our specialities is the Canary, the home-bird of England, and one more: generally met with than any other. Other song-birds, each with its own peculiar attraction, are found in many homes; but the Canary, most probably from his attractive appearance and friendly ways, is the bird of the people. .Still, among popular favourites, there is the linnet in his tiny cage, hanging outside the attic casement of some toiling artisan who sees but little blue sky except over tiled roofs and smoky chimney-tops, ever on the move and singing the day through of breezy hill-sides and blooming whin bushes ; or the skylark on his fresh sod, bought with hard-earned penny, carolling of green fields, new-mown hay, and skies all sun; the blackbird or thrush, in quaint wicker cage, chanting rich bursts of delicious music, walkening echoes of bygone days and carrying the listener back to some low-roofed, thatched cottage, with porch overgrown with woodbine, reminding him of early hopes and loves, and ambitions now tempered by stern necessities and manhood’s cares, every gush of melody flooding his heart like refrains of angels’ songs, and whispering perhaps of loved ones left behind sleeping peacefully under a little green mound in a far-off village churchyard. But these birds are not every one’s property. Early associations and early surroundings ATTRACTIONS OF THE CANARY. B have a great deal to do with developing a liking in any direction. Born in a woodland district, native woodland songsters are the early friends and companions of one; while others, and they are by far the greater number, unacquainted with these rustic beauties, make friends with the bird within reach of all, and instal the Canary as favourite at home. And well he adapts himself to any circumstances. It matters not whether he be in a gilded cage in a drawing-room, tended by gentle hands, singing finished melodies acquired under expensive masters, or rolling out his own noisy, rollicking, untutored ditty in a cottage; he is equally at home. Cheerful and sprightly, companionable and docile, varied and beautiful in plumage, easily kept and easily bred, it is not to be wondered at that he is such a favourite; not the least of his many virtues being his strongly-marked social disposition and domestic proclivities. The way in which a pair of Canaries set up housekeeping and order their household, is enough in itself to give the bird a strong claim on our sympathies. Other birds will, under favourable conditions, occasionally breed in confinement; but the hero of the first portion of our volume has, for generations, established himself in our families as one of us, and regardless of prying eyes or inquisitive curiosity, builds his little homestead and treats us to all the interesting details of bird-life which can be seen nowhere else but in his little establishment. There is a strange fascination in a bird’s nest, and few there are who cannot recollect with what emotions of delight and wonder they made their first discovery of the family chimney-corner of even the humble hedge-sparrow with its treasure of little blue eggs, carefully concealed in a quiet nook in the garden; and who that has them has not lifted his children, one by one, to peer quietly through the gently-parted leaves, and take stealthy glances at the little freehold? Who will say they were not wiser and better for each visit? If there be living poetry in songs without words, where look for tenderer sentiment, purer rhythm, or sweeter cadence? It is not often that with all our care and watching we are able to observe the whole of the daily routine of such a little household, or to learn how, without design or copy and without ever having seen a model, a bird constructs its nest after an unvarying pattern peculiar to its kind. It is one of the mysteries of creation ; and creation is full of these, though some are of such every-day occurrence that we cease to regard them as such. But our friend the Canary brings much of this home to us, and shows us, with scarcely any reserve, how the thing is done, busying about all day long, doing and undoing in a perpetual bustle yet with wonderful method, till the work is turned out in inimitable style, A breeding-cage is an ornament to any house, and almost any room in it. It is not astonishing, then, that the demand for these birds is immense, the breeding and rearing of them forming no inconsiderable item in the minor industries of the country. The number of amateur breeders who adopt one or more of the many varieties of the Canary as their speciality, and make the development of its beauties their study, is very large, as the index of the catalogue of any public exhibition can attest; but the number produced in this way is but small compared with the continuous stream poured into the London market by those who make a business of it. The city of Norwich, with the surrounding villages and hamlets, counts its breeders by the thousand; while in Coventry, Derby, Northampton, Notting- ham, and other towns in the midland district where labour is of a sedentary character, as well as in many towns in Yorkshire and Lancashire, the Canary is the poor man’s savings- bank; the family pig where sanitary laws forbid the erection of a stye. In almost every house where the click of the shuttle is heard, the music of the sewing-machine or other adjunct to home industry, there, above all other sounds, rises the cheerful but noisy music of the bird-room; for small though the cottage be, the birds must have their share of it. 4 CANARIES AND CaGE-BIRDS. The young ones, as soon as they can take care of themselves, are sold by the score indis- criminately, or by the pair; the proceeds materially helping to fill the stocking-foot which provides for a rain-day or the claims of Christmas. There are no breeding establishments in this country where the work is carried on largely as a business pure and simple. It is one of those things which, perhaps, presents no better balance-sheet than does a small poultry establishment maintained expressly for a supply of eggs. Half the profit consists in the pleasure; and the other half from money which might go in more questionable ways being saved in small sums, by every investment in seed or other necessary, and returned in the lump just at a time when it is useful. The occasional self-denial called into operation to minister to the wants of creatures not able to provide for themselves, and the lessons of kindness thus taught, must also be written down on the credit side of the account. Few hobbies pay, except in the hands of larger capitalists than the breeder of Canaries for the London market, but it is from these cottage homes that the main supply of song-birds is drawn. The higher class birds among the more valuable varieties hardly come under this category, our remarks applying, generally, to the Canary vzgarts. Of comparatively recent admission into the ranks of domesticated birds, the Canary has, under man’s care and skill, within little more than a couple of centuries branched off into a number of distinct varieties, differing in colour and form so widely from the original stock, that it is difficult to realise the fact that they proceed, one and all, from the same origin, and are simply divergences from one common type. The majority of them have existed for many years, but how they arose we know not. It is easy to guess at the mode in which some of them have been obtained, but when one comes to experiment in the way of crossing, it will be found that the results are generally very far from what was anticipated ; and the tendency to fly back, as it were, to the early forms is manifested so strongly, especially in those breeds which are the farthest from the original type, that the hopes and wishes of the breeder to produce some fresh intermediate form are generally set at nought. As an illustration of this may be instanced the fact that the variety known as the London Fancy, one of the oldest and purest branches of the family tree, when crossed with other Canaries, loses immediately its characteristic markings ; and at present there is nothing whatever to show a tendency in any variety to retain permanently its peculiar characteristics without careful supervision. Our bird, then, has a history, and one of ancient date too. There is a charm in its antiquity which smacks strongly of respectability. There is probabiy little doubt that the species came originally from the islands whose name it bears: at the present day, however, it is found in a wild state in other localities, the majority of the wild Canaries which come to England being captured in the island of St. Helena; it is found also in Madeira, and, we believe, also in parts of Africa. We have not had any opportunities of comparing specimens from these different localities, so that we cannot speak positively as to their being identical; but the bird is so easily acclimatised in any temperate or sub-tropical region, and has been so largely captured and exported from the islands in which it is now found, that we doubt not it is thriving in many other spots to which it has been introduced. Its first appearance in Europe seems to have been about the beginning of the sixteenth century, in consequence of the loss of a vessel containing numbers of these little birds as merchandise near the island of Elba, where they were set at liberty. After a time, however, they were recaptured, and in this way were introduced as song-birds into Italy. The Germans then appear to have soon taken them up, bred them largely in confinement, and exported them to other countries. The story is simple enough and quite within the bounds of probability, though, FTisTOoRY OF THE CANARY. 5 unfortunately, we have no corroborative testimony in the published results of any Board of Trade inquiry of the day; and the name of the vessel, with other important particulars, lies buried in the Mediterranean. But we accept it as true, and as affording an easy solution of a question more or less shrouded in mist. Great changes can be brought about in a century, and still greater in two centuries; and things must have progressed very favourably in the Canary way in the early history of the bird, for we find in “The Gentleman's Recreation,” an old work on “ Hunting, Hawking, Fowling, and Fishing,” published in 1677, that at that date the Canaries in England were generally imported from Germany and were of a green colour. There were also Germans living in London who made a business of breeding Canaries, as-was practised in their own country. It appears, however, that it was subsequent to this time that the different and distinct varieties of the bird arose, though doubtless the foundation-stone of many a structure was already laid ; for within fifty years after, we hear again of there being numerous varieties cultivated in Paris, comprising many distinct colours, though most of these so-called varieties can only have been pied birds differently marked. We are obliged to take giant strides over wide areas, since, unfortunately, the links are wanting which might serve to connect the chain in anything like continuity; and travelling onwards we find that about a century ago at least one fixed and distinct variety had its home in London, with its established Society of breeders governed by well-digested laws. That end of the cable we can moor ourselves to confidently ; and assuming that the other end is lost at the bottom of the sea in the neighbourhood of Elba, we are content to allow it to remain there in the face of the difficulties which attend our endeavours to pick it up and identify it. But what do we find the bird to-day? We have variations in shape and plumage as marked as anything existing in the poultry or pigeon world, to each of which sections of the feathered creation the same general principles of development we have briefly referred to apply. It is this variation, with its endless ramifications, which renders the Canary an object of attraction to those who merge its naturally engaging ways in other considerations, and makes it an object worthy the attention of the naturalist as well as the fancier. Radiating from one common centre, the castaways at Elba, are not less than ten separate and distinct varieties, each having strongly- marked and fixed characteristics. These are the Norwich, the Cinnamon, the London Fancy, the Lizard, the Belgian, the Scotch Fancy, the Yorkshire, the Crested, the Green, and the German; and each of these varzetzes is subdivided into many classes. It is a desire to produce each in its kind in perfection that has led to the present extensive system of scientific breeding, and our object is to assist by an intelligent enunciation of simple principles, and detailed account of actual practice. As time has sped on, so has the desire for obtaining information, even of matters respecting which it might at one day have been thought all knowledge could be enclosed in a nut-shell; and the stream of intelligent appreciation of many apparent trifles has worked out for itself a channel broad and deep. We say apparent trifles; but the smallest work of creative power is not a trifle, nor are they triflers who give a careful attention to the many seeming insignificant works of nature with which we are surrounded. He is not a trifler who makes the “short-lived insect of a day” a life-long study, nor he who can find food for thought in contemplation of the lowest form of animal organism; any more than he who makes the study of the higher works of creation his constant occupation. Nor is he a trifler who can read a page of the world’s history in a fragment of rock cropping up by the roadside, speaking to him with a tongue that cannot lie of that long ago beginning when this planet of ours was created; any more than he who extracts from the bowels of the earth the treasures warehoused there for ages. Nor is he a trifler who carefully 6 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. gathers the wild flowers in the hedgerow or the grasses of our fields, or notes forms of vegetable existence where the uneducated eye can detect nothing; any more than he who cultivates broad acres, or who brings the flowers and fruits of the tropics under control in our latitudes. Neither is he a trifler who, from among the endless resources at the command of any thinker who goes through the world with his eyes open, selects for his special study the feathered portion of creation ; nor when, among other marvels of instinctive work, he finds his attention arrested by a simple little bird’s nest, is he any more a trifler than the men whose constructive genius designed the temples of old Egypt, who built the hoary Pyramids, who carved the solid mountains of the Nile into edifices of colossal proportions, or those who raised, brick by brick from their foundations, the more florid but less imposing structures of modern times. There is a time for everything, even for trifles, if such there be. Our trifle is the Canary of to-day—the fancier’s Canary—and we propose to deal with him by describing minutely his distinctive features; showing how to breed him, feed him, moult him, develop his beauties, improve his shape and feather, wash him, dry him, send him to the show; how to get him there, what to do with him when he is there, and how to get him home again; how to bear success, how to use defeat, how to help each other, and so help ourselves. CHAPTER II. THE OUT-DOOR AVIARY. THERE are two methods of breeding Canaries, either of which has its own peculiar merits, though the objects desired by each are as widely different as are the results. The one is the aviary plan, and the other by isolation of varieties and classes in separate cages. The former may be said to be most suitable for general purposes, and the latter, it is obvious, is that from which special results are to be gained; and the two must be considered from different points of view. The aviary method is best adapted for those who have no definite purpose, other than the pleasure derivable from general observation—a pleasure of the highest order, though confined, in a considerable degree, to the simple lover of Nature who takes her as she is, regarding all her manifestations with a delight into which no question of how or why intrudes. To such, the aviary opens up a new world of interest, peopled with forms whose outer adornment is of less moment than the beauties of their inner life. These equally charm the fancier, who nevertheless is more exacting in his demands in other respects. His admiration of the general economy of the aviary is not lessened if to it he unites other aims, and seeks to clothe its tenants in higher forms of beauty. It may be, and probably is the case, that any one ruling passion has a tendency to crowd out others; but there is no reason why one healthy feeling should absorb more than its due share of attention, and we fail to discover any reason why the true naturalist and the genuine fancier should not be merged into one in following up two branches of the same stream. We have said that each of the methods of breeding indicated has its advantages and disadvantages. We may sum up the advantages of the aviary system briefly, by saying that it involves only a small amount of care and attention, the birds being left pretty much to take care of themselves, to choose their own mates, and make their little world inside the wires as much as possible like that outside. This putting the reins of power into their own hands removes all the responsibility from the observer, who has nothing to do but to watch the goings on of the little republic; which will develop, among much that is beautiful, certain forms of government and divers communist principles which the conservative fancier considers subversive of all order. Among these disadvantages is indiscriminate pairing, rendering it impossible to breed any dis- tinct variety, though this may not be a disadvantage to those who, so long as they breed something and have the pleasure of seeing it reared, don’t care what that something may be. It would perhaps be scarcely fair to charge the Canary with habitually pairing with more than one mate; indeed, the idea is foreign to the natural habits and instincts of the Finch family in a wild state. Half the poetry attaching to the mere name of nest seems to consist in the halo of quiet and purity which surrounds it, hidden with such care from the world. Still there are now and then evidences of a contrary state of things even among wild birds, and no doubt the commotion which some- times takes place in the ivy is nothing more than a noisy public meeting to take into consideration the desirability of turning out of the community some ill-conducted member. The occasional capture of a hybrid, too, is evidence of an alliance having taken place between members of different families. These, however, are manifestly exceptions. The wild bird in her beautiful 8 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. little home demands all her mate’s care and attention, and receives it. He spends his entire day in ministering to her wants, and is not more exclusively devoted to her in all his delicate attentions than is she to the precious treasures nestled so closely to her breast. But in the aviary things are different. Although preserving many natural instincts almost unimpaired, the Canary has had some of them modified, or even materially affected, by generations of domestication. Notwithstanding he may, in the early spring, select some one particular bird, and subsequently matters may be arranged to the entire satisfaction of both, he no sooner sees her comfortably settled down on her nest than he finds—though he does not forsake his mate— the atmosphere in which he lives, with all its surroundings, tends to draw away his attention in fresh directions. This is all very pretty and all very well for those who only wish to study bird- life generally, and to keep the aviary well stocked ; but it is, for obvious reasons, not the fancier’s way of going to work. We must, however, say, for the credit of the sex, that such an erratic disposition is not shared in by the hens: as a rule they remain true to their first selection, till a lengthened separation and entire seclusion wean them from their first mate. Another exemplification of the tendency towards complete domestication is seen in the fact of all nests becoming common property. The birds seem to want a lace in which to lay, and nothing more, and select their favourite nest much in the same way as domestic poultry do. All are at one time or another affected by the desire to set up house for themselves, and go about it very energetically, evidently impressed with the importance of having, according to bird building-society maxims, a roof-tree of their own. This once done, and the instinct satisfied, nothing further seems to be desired. There is no idea of privacy, nor the slightest regard for property rights) Two or three, or as many hens as can possibly find a resting-place, may be seen occupying the same nest and even sitting on each other's backs, anywhere and anyhow, so long as they can only find some means of squeezing in, like hens in a poultry-yard, taking possession of the same eggs, too anxious to cover them to think of quarrelling. The young even become common property, and we have frequently seen two hens, one on either side of a nest, assisting the cock bird in feeding a family which could certainly be in no way related to ‘one of them, and which she had taken no part in hatching. The same misadventures, resulting from attempting to confine nature within fixed bounds, attend the aviary as wait on the cage. The love of animals for their young needs no telling, and the smile of a hen gathering her chickens under her wings has been used through all time as an illustration of devoted affection. But in our attempts to tether nature within a circle of our own inscribing, we meet at all points evidences of our ignorance; and a quiet “Thus far shalt thou go and no farther” is one of the lessons we have to learn when we try to investigate some of the unhealthy conditions inseparable from confinement. We never in our younger days, when bird-nesting was an institution with us, remember discovering a nest of young birds neglected or forsaken by their parents. From the moment when they leave the shell till some time after they leave the nest, wild birds are the constant care of their parents; but with the Canary the case is too often the reverse; “ Died from exposure and insufficient nourishment,” or some such unnatural cause, being the verdict on only too many entire families. These matters will be treated more fully under their proper heading, but are mentioned here incidentally as attaching, generally, to this portion of our subject. To those, however, who may still prefer the aviary to the cage, there remains the choice of an out-door or an in-door arrangement. The former we know must be, in many residences, and particularly in large towns, out of the question; but where facilities for its erection exist, Mr. STEPHENSON’S OUT-DOOR AVIARY. 9 an out-door aviary is, we think, for general purposes the more desirable of the two. As to whether the Canary can, under reasonable conditions, stand or withstand extremes of temperature, there is not the slightest doubt. He is one of the most easily acclimatised birds we have, and there is no difficulty in housing him so that he shall care nothing for either winter or summer. 4 TS il i [ TT a j Ti THUTTTPATT — ] fl Be Fase == Ree ie = OA = ! PP UAPRMELU CET CUZERLL HE PONT GARDE AIVIIEN é = . sk eke = || Saeco ToT ELEY ETN) | OARS 5) Bien = aS Ss | Wie i TCM ae 7 Z : e Se Pees Z te S \\ Se q : MR. STEPHENSON’S OQUT-DOOR AVIARY. We will not undertake to say what might or might not be accomplished in this way very far north, or in situations exposed to long-prevailing east winds ; but we repeat that, under reasonable conditions, or even under circumstances which might, until tried, be thought too adverse, the question of being able to establish an out-door aviary and keep Canaries in it throughout the year, need not cause the slightest apprehension as to its perfect practicability. Indeed, we are of opinion that it is ze method of keeping any number together indiscriminately, and that birds once acclimatised are as proof against the attacks of the weather as our native tribes. And 2 10 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. when we say out-door we mean out-door—an exposed structure, with no covering but a roof sufficient to keep out the rain, and with any sort of contrivance to fasten up on the weather side during the storms of winter, when birds at liberty would betake themselves to some such shelter. — An aviary of this kind may be seen in the grounds of Mr. John George Stephenson, at Bishop’s Cleeve, near Cheltenham, of which we give an illustration, kindly furnished by his own pencil. It is simply a large cage, with the ordinary perch arrangements, and nothing more, in the interior. One of the: sides, if we remember rightly, is boarded, inasmuch as it includes the door, but the rest are wired. It has. a thatched roof, and, being intended to be ornamental as well as useful, has a little rustic finish about it which, bear in mind, in no way affects the principle involved in its construction. The only natural shelter it has is a high hedge of box, but on the side from which the severest storms in winter may be expected, it is protected with matting or some similar covering, more for the purpose of preventing the snow drifting in and covering the food on the ground than for any other reason; for, the roof being conical and furnished with perches, the Canaries naturally retreat to its shelter in stormy weather. During severe frosts the ice in the drinking vessels has to be broken repeatedly. Here live some score or two of Canaries in the most robust health, setting at defiance the heats of summer and the snows of winter, innocent of asthma and pulmonary phthisis, and other complaints to which the Canary is heir. We have seen them in this home in the height of the breeding season busily engaged in domestic duties; not omitting, among other peculiarities, to sit three-deep on a nest; and we have seen them on a frosty December morning, when we left our footprints in the rime on the lawn as we made our way towards them attracted by their song. Never did they at any time appear to suffer more inconvenience from the cold than their friends at liberty outside ; indeed, we question much if they were not better off. Wild birds do frequently suffer greatly, both from cold and deprivation, during a severe winter, and present a huddled-up appearance with their feathers all the wrong way. They sit about in a listless, apathetic sort of way, and early in the afternoon betake themselves to the shelter of thick hedges or the lee side of stacks, and many situations in which, under other circumstances, they would not be found. Occasionally they die from cold and hunger combined; but the Canary in his shelter, well provisioned, rides out the gale, welcoming every gleam of sunshine with a burst of song, and chanting Christmas carols while our native songsters, half frozen, are engaged in begging crumbs at our windows, and the cage-birds in-doors, unused to extremes, are silent and moping. To all who desire an all-the-year-round pleasure, and have the facility of carrying it out, we say, set up an out-door aviary, and stock it mainly with Canaries, whatever other suitable tenants you may choose to add. (CUMING JUL, THE IN-DOOR AVIARY. THE in-door aviary, though intended for a similar purpose to that described in the last chapter, is from the nature of things of a somewhat different description. Its occupants are, by force of circumstances, not so robust and hardy as those more exposed, and require just so much the more consideration as regards their comfort and well-being. We will suppose an empty room or small conservatory to be devoted to the purpose. To begin with, it should have a warm aspect and be well protected from draughts, and, if a conservatory or similar glass erection, must be well shaded from the strong sunlight, avoiding as far as possible all extremes, remembering that under a more pampered system the birds will lead a more artificial existence and be more liable to feel the injurious effects of external influences. The most important consideration of all is to effect a thorough ventilation with a complete exclusion of draughts, which cause the deaths of more Canaries than many people imagine. Too much attention cannot be paid to this, and our instructions on this point are most emphatic. A bird which can be acclimatised to almost any extent can be killed in twenty-four hours in a draughty room. Having selected a suitable room, proceed to furnish it by placing in it a number of “ Christmas trees’”—small firs of various sizes—which, if obtained at a nursery, can be lifted in the autumn, and will, if carefully raised and well potted, live the year through, by which time they will be about done for; as apart from the unfavourable circumstances in which they are placed, so far from their making any growth, the birds will make sad havoc with them. In selecting them, choose substantial plants with flat, spreading branches, and arrange them tastefully on such stands as can be extemporised for the purpose, singly or in clumps, filling up corners— - arranging them, in fact, in any way and every way—in doing which there is scope for the exercise of much taste. Avoid, however, placing them so that any part of the room cannot be got at if desired; for old birds as well as young are apt to flutter away into inaccessible corners, and make no effort to release themselves from positions not dangerous in themselves, but from which they seem to think escape hopeless. For instance, if a bird, wher. frightened, should happen to flutter about and scramble between, say, a box containing a tree and the wall, the chances are that it would remain there and die without ever trying to get free again; and this sort of contingency must be guarded against as far as possible. These are simple matters, but the result of experience shows them to be important. Nothing jars more unpleasantly on a sensitive mind than to find that any creature under our care has suffered from circumstances which we might have prevented by the exercise of a little forethought ; and one such death in the little household is quite enough to leave behind it unpleasant memories which detract greatly from our pleasures. One would think that, to use a common expression, birds would “have more sense” than to behave so foolishly ; but it is not exactly the want of what we call sense which induces such mis- fortunes. The bird from some cause or other becomes frightened, or perhaps it leaves its nest before it is able to take care of itself, and naturally betakes itself to the quietest corner it can find, where, removed from observation, it remains till the little heart ceases to beat. The most unaccountable 12 CANARIES AND C4AGE-BIRDS. accidents from the most improbable causes will happen at the best of times, and it certainly behoves us to use every precaution against them. There is no excuse for leaving water-jugs and similar traps standing about. The bird has no intention of committing suicide, yet it finds its way into the jug and cannot find its way out. These and many other misadventures have happened in our experience, and we are anxious to save others the pain and vexation we have felt. WMG HIGHEST TYPE OF IN-DOOR AVIARY, In addition to the trees or shrubs, a few fantastically-shaped branches (from which all loose bark must be removed, for reasons which will hereafter appear) may be arranged in rustic fashion, and any old gnarled stumps or roots may be utilised in a similar way. The branches are not intended for nesting-places, but only as perches. Nothing is more out of character in a room such as we are describing than long, straight perches; but a substitute must be provided. Canaries are not always on the wing, but will not often visit the floor, except to feed or on other matters of business. The trees themselves are not suitable for perching on, unless any should have fairly substantial branches, and therefore some comfortable resting-places must be provided. The birds will soon find these out for themselves, and the object of using the branches we refer to is that the whole MANAGEMENT OF AN AVIARY. 13 may look as natural and attractive as possible. If, in place of such an arrangement, one or more long perches be used, the result will be that the birds will generally be seen sitting in a row, in not very picturesque fashion, on the topmost bar, to which they will also immediately retreat when any one enters the room. To obviate this, all natural ledges, such as the tops of architraves over doors and windows, must be rendered untenable, and more tempting places offered. The birds will most certainly please themselves in their selection of favourite resting-places, and the thing is to make their choice comfortable for them and pleasing to our own taste. It takes a great many birds to fill a small room, and a place may appear tenantless while a score or two of birds are perched up aloft somewhere out of sight. Virgin cork, in various shapes, may also be used, but a strict watch must be kept for insects, and, upon their appearance, the pieces infested should be immersed in boiling water in the wash-house copper. Should any of these smaller arrangements be taken up for nesting purposes and be found to harbour insects, give them a touch of oil on the places affected. The danger of harbouring parasites is the only objection to the use of cork and similar material, though the risk is exceedingly small in a room where there is good ventilation. Ordinary nesting- boxes are out of piace in a well-furnished aviary, though they might be cast in a rustic mould. The birds will select their own nesting-places in which to build, and not a little amusement will be derived from noticing the impossible corners some will fix on. The slightest projection will suffice for one, and it will spend a great amount of time and labour in constructing its nest - under circumstances of self-imposed difficulty. Not unfrequently, some place will be chosen on which it may seem almost impossible a nest could rest; but you will find that the Canary is not a bad architect, and generally turns out to be the best judge of a site. Domestication, however, has impaired this wonderful instinctive faculty, and it will be scen that some will make attempts which turn out perfectly futile, while others will commence to build on a foundation manifestly sandy, in which case it may be well to supply a nest-box, if the bird has shown a determination to settle in that spot and no other. Constant ministration to its daily wants seems to have affected the bird’s self-reliance ; and though it is well to leave well alone, it is equally well to maintain a careful watch. Draw a line between watchfulness and inquisitive interference, and there will be little fear for the results. Furnish a good supply of nesting material, such as fibrous roots, where they can be obtained ; long, fine, dry grass from the hedge-side; hay; plenty of moss, and, if it can be had, the coarser kind of lichen; also soft cow-hair, which can be had from any tan-yard, and is always kept in stock at the better class of bird-shops: a supply of soft feathers will also be appreciated, as will, also, some rabbit-down. The hair and these latter materials are best packed in small nets, and suspended in positions where the birds can get a good pull at them; if allowed to lie about, the finer stuff will nearly all be wasted. These are the materials which ought to be supplied, but there are some which ought zof to be admitted on any account—such as cotton, wool, or other long, tough stuff, which can become entangled in the feet. Wool becomes twisted round the feet in a most dangerous way, and, as it cannot be so readily perceived in a room as in a small cage, a bird may suffer exceedingly, and even lose its toes, before the cause of the misfortune be discovered. To complete the furnishing we might add a small rustic chair, placed in the most retired corner, in which the observer can sit quietly and watch the busy world at work around him, to do which, the only requirement really necessary is that you do sit quietly, when it matters not if you have a nest within a foot of your elbow, or even built on the back of your chair; things will go on just as unconcernedly in your presence as in your absence. On one branch may be noticed two 14 CANARIES AND CAGE-Brrps. birds going through a few preliminary evolutions, advancing, retiring, chattering, and finishing up with a quarrel on the zv@ amantium principle. Observe, also, what a complete master of his art is this descendant of the shipwrecked unfortunates at Elba. He has in his veins the same hot blood, and has no equal at “delutherin’,” unless it may be the goldfinch on the other side, bowing and scraping and spreading out his coat-tails like the dandy he is, while he talks treason to that demure little hen, which we have reason to think is already affianced to one of her own race. Under cover of the bush in the corner sit another couple, whispering the most affectionate soft-nothings, and talking over the eligibility of one or two building sites at their disposal. Immediately above them another pair is hard at work putting the finishing touches to a cottage ornée of which the foundations were laid only yesterday, and which must be completed without delay: it is a case of emergency, and will be required in the morning. Within reach of the hand sits a hen on five eggs, “due” in the course of a few hours; and while we watch her bright eye and admire the constancy with which she has attended to the first part of her matronly duties, her mate flies up to make anxious inquiries and give her a mouthful of food. Perched ona piece of root, in a position from which it seems as if a breath would dislodge the entire fabric, is another nest, above the top of which are just visible half a dozen gaping mouths which the attentive parents are filling with dainty morsels prior to their being tucked in for an hour's nap. And here are four more which, though hatched only three weeks ago, are almost as large as their parents, and fit into their warm bed like the pieces in a Chinese puzzle. Look which way we will, we continually find some- thing fresh to attract the attention and interest the mind, and the aviary is voted the best room in the house. A few items, all important in their way, have to be included in our inventory. The floor should be strewed with clean sand, and a supply of old lime rubbish will be found conducive to the general health of the birds, as well as furnishing a necessary element in the formation of egg-shell. This need not be crushed so small as to become dust; that will accumulate quickly enough without any assistance; but if pieces of a crumbly nature are accessible by the birds, they will not fail to avail themselves of it, and with beneficial results. This should be renewed at very short intervals ; indeed, every morning is not too often. When the birds have picked it over and it begins to get soiled, it may still serve as covering for the floor, but nothing more, being virtually dirt. In sweeping it up there is no occasion to flourish a long-handled brush and create as much terror as possible, but do it gently and quietly, and the birds will take no notice of either brush or sweeper ; it will soon be seen that the morning’s supply of sand will. be as eagerly looked for as a supply of fresh food, and every bird in the room will be down on the floor in a moment to turn over the fresh stuff and take in a supply with which to assist his little mill to grind its seed. In country places, where they can easily be obtained, thin sods will be a great acquisition, and almost every part of them will be turned to some good purpose. All work and no play does not suit a Canary any more than the youth in the legendary poem, who is reported to have been made very dull by the process; and birds are as fond of amusing themselves as other animals. Nothing entertains them more than giving them something of this kind to pick and pull to pieces, which they will do with many a resolute tug; and it is this attention to /z¢é/e wants, which may not perhaps be absolute necessaries, that goes to make up the sum of their happiness. The subject of feeding will afford matter for special consideration. It is no part of the fitting-up of an aviary, though the receptacles for food and water, we think, have to do with it. We do not advise scattering much seed on the floor, as a great portion of it would by that means be wasted: Canaries don’t scratch and search for their food like the ga//ina, or feast till the dish is empty and then pick the bones. Throw a handful of corn to poultry among loose gravel, and not Surety oF Foop and WATER. “a5 a single grain will be allowed to hide itself; but the natural habits and instincts of the Canary don’t lead it to search in this way, and unless the quantity of seed thrown down be very trifling, it will only be trodden in and hidden under the sand, to be swept up next morning. And remember, the value of a fresh sprinkling of new, sweet stuff is much greater than the saving effected by allowing it to remain till any seed it may contain is eaten up. All other seed must be FIG. I.—SELF-SUPPLYING HOPPER. given in self-supplying hoppers, by which plan there will always be food at command, and the waste reduced toa minimum. What is scattered from the hopper falls in one place, and may be collected and sifted without so much probability of its being crushed and trodden into the floor. All our sweepings go to the poultry; but the fact of having poultry to pick over waste food is no reason why food should be wasted. We give a handy form of self-supplying seed-hopper in Fig. 1.. The top part of the front is of glass, so that the state of the supply can always be seen. FIG. 2.—LARGE FOUNTAIN. Water, plenty of it, fresh and clear, is best supplied from a large fountain, a drawing of which appears in Fig. 2. It is simply a glass glabe with a long neck inverted in an earthenware pot open at the top, and furnished near the bottom with apertures, the lower edges of which are slightly higher than the bottom of the glass neck. Smaller editions may be placed on suitable brackets, the only thing required being that there shall be some kind of perch or other resting- place, from which the birds can have free access to the water-holes. And let it be borne in mind that though a bird’s instinct leads it to build its nest, to look for food and water, and to be in 16 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. many respects a very inquisitive character, it has no intuition which teaches it that water exists for it, not in brooks or pools, but in a glass globe inverted in an earthenware pot which may look to the bird as much like an engine of war as anything else. Many Canaries, when changed from one cage to another and required to put their heads through a hole into a formidable-looking covered-in vessel in search of what they had been accustomed to find in an open trough, have never found their water, and have died before the matter could be remedied. It is therefore necessary, in using covered-in vessels in the aviary, to see that young birds and new-comers find their way to them: a “ general management” hint, but not out of place. A bath is the last requisite, and nothing is more suitable for the purpose than a large shallow dish, which should be introduced every day for an hour or two, If this be done before sweeping- up time, there will not be much dust. There is no danger in leaving a bath in the room constantly, provided the water be not more than one or two inches deep; but not much is gained by it, because unless nearly all the birds bathe at the same time, those which are not in the humour to do so while the water is clean will not bathe after it has become dirtied. Familiarity with the bath also seems to do away with the desire to use it; whereas, if it be introduced only for ’ a short time during the day, the birds splash into it “head over ears” almost before it can be o, clear-starching g, g, and ironing occupying them a full placed on the ground, the washing, dryin hour or more. The in-door aviary may be carried out to the utmost extent of elegance and elaboration. What it may be made is suggested by the sketch on page 12. But even in such an ornitho- logical paradise, the essential matters to be attended to will be just the same and no more, than such as have already been mentioned. Such we take to be the leading features of the aviary system ; which, it will be manifest, can never become the fancier’s modus operandi so much as a means of general interest and source of pleasure, derivable from general observation rather than the carrying out of any specific system of breeding with the object of bringing about definite results. It has been our aim to present it in this light, as being its true sphere; feeling assured that those who make it their world will discover in it many beauties we have failed to point out, and will find it insensibly becoming peopled with creations of which they once knew nothing, with which they can hold converse and enter into companionship, and find their own world of observation considerably enlarged by taking even this small peep into one portion of the vast domain open to the inquirer who, at every step, recognises the evidences of a Wisdom “ past finding out.” 17 CEUAPAVE Re DV, THE BREEDING-ROOM, A FANCIER’S Canary-room should be selected with some amount of care. Any room will not do, though too frequently any room “as to do, on the “ Hobson’s choice” principle. The birds have to spend their lives in it, and it is only a question of common sense to insist that the con- ditions under which they live shall be as favourable as possible. We say “as possible,” because a fancier cannot always have everything exactly as he may wish, but is obliged to make the best of things as he finds them; not a bad plan in other matters besides the selection of a Canary-room. It is not every house in which there is a spare room, or in which the spare room is the most suitable for the purpose; but endeavour to secure one which has the full benefit of the morning sun, without, however, being exposed to the mid-day heat, which renders the atmosphere of any bird-room very uncomfortable. No one ever questions the fact that it is the early bird that catches the worm; though, in inculcating the moral lessons deducible from this particular phase of animal life, the unhappy fate of the worm has been held up as a warning to early risers. Birds are, however, the most practical exponents of the “early to bed and early to rise” principle we know of, and it is therefore not well to place them under circumstances which, to a great extent, subvert this order of things. The first streak of daylight sees them on the move, and long before the close of day their heads are tucked under their wings. Their day is not our day, but we are very apt to forget it. The value of the early sunshine to them is incalculable, enabling them to begin work at a time in accordance with their natural instincts, not the least important part of which is to attend to the wants of their young, who fully enter into the spirit of the early worm theory. Canaries will also make a longer season in a room where they are not done up by the heat, which seems to fag them out and throw them into moult before the proper season. With muling stock—ze, hens kept exclusively for breeding Goldfinch and other hybrids—this is a matter of the utmost importance, as their season does not begin till the Canary season is half spent, and the value of late nests will be sufficiently apparent. A cool room virtually prolongs a season, and the difference between losing a nest and gaining an extra one amounts to two, which is a valuable consideration. Avoid a room abutting on to the house, in the way so many of the kitchens, with a room over- head, are built in the yards of small tenements now-a-days. These rooms have generally very thin walls, and have at least two sides exposed, making them miserably cold in winter and as hot in summer. The temperature out-of-doors is much more equable than in a place of this kind, and, as we have shown, birds can stand that without inconvenience; but sudden alternations are most injurious, and to these they are sure to be subject in a room such as we have referred to. We have more than one such in mind while penning these lines, and have not known a really good season’s work to have been carried out in any of them; and knowing how sensitive the Canary is to sudden and frequent changes of temperature, we attribute the want of success as much to this cause as to any other. It is a cause, too, which affects the bird most at a time when it is least able to bear up against it; and that is during the breeding season, when the hens, at least, are not in a normal condition as regards health, but are more or less affected by the state of body natural to the 3 18 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. period of incubation. Recollect that each pair of birds is boxed up in a house of about eighteen inches frontage and not a foot in depth, and that some cages are placed where the occupants seldom get a gleam of sunshine, while others have no protection from the scorching rays of a summer’s sun. They have to make the best of their position, and have not the opportunities for exercise which aviary tenants have—they cannot plume themselves in a warm corner nor retreat into the shade, but are entirely dependent upon the care and forethought of others for their comfort as well as for the necessaries of their mere existence. Attention to these things constitutes the difference between a well-ordered room and one which, from floor to ceiling, shows at all points indications of a want of thought. This question of aspect and general suitability is one on which we feel perfectly satisfied more depends than many imagine, and is probably the key to the solution of the question of varying success. It takes so little to throw the entire machinery out of gear, that he acts wisely who makes the most searching inquiry into the simple business of why and because, for the because never exists without the why. The most careful calculations are, however, frequently upset in a way that is most puzzling, and which seems to set all rule and method at defiance, while the most complete success sometimes waits on the most unlikely efforts. But exceptional cases of either kind afford no reason why any departure should be made from the simple sanitary laws which rule equally in the bird-room as in any other department of the homestead. All we have previously advanced on the subject of draughts and ventilation applies to the breeding-room ; and we may here indicate some arrangements which will be found useful. Some- thing will depend on the room itself. If it be an attic with an ordinary lift-up skylight, bear in mind that few of these windows shut close, even if well made; they are constructed to exclude rain, but are very draughty contrivances, and the ledge on which the frame rests ought to be covered with thin felt, or some such yielding substance, to ensure a close fit; and more especially during the blustering winter months. The aperture should be covered with wirework, through which the lever used to raise the window can act, and it can then be elevated or depressed at pleasure, while the wired frame can present an effectual bar to the escape of any birds which may find their way out of their cages through a door being left open (which w2/7 happen sometimes), and also prove equally effective in preventing the ingress of any marauding cat that may be making a voyage of discovery on the tiles. For a similar reason, if there be a fire-place in the room—one of the best ventilators—it should also be wired over; for where the chimney-pots are of primitive construction, or where there are none at all, cats not unfrequently gain access by the chimney. It is not to be supposed that birds make a practice of escaping from their cages, or that cats always select the chimney as the most convenient entrance ; but either has only to happen once in the face of an open window or an open fire-place to entail serious loss. In the case of an ordinary window a wire covering is still indispensable, and a perforated zinc contrivance, six or eight inches deep, may be adapted to the top for use when the state of the weather might render it unadvisable to allow it to be opened without some protection. A similar contrivance in the door or in the wall above it, and as near the ceiling as possible, will assist in keeping up a supply of fresh air, and any trouble or expense incurred in doing the work thoroughly will repay itself in the health and comfort of the stock. Being so near the roof, it might be imagined that an attic would be either uncomfortably warm or correspondingly cold; but the best breeding-room we ever had was what Johnson defines to be “the ‘opmost room of the house,” although he gives the meaning of cock-loft to be ‘the room above the garret:” perhaps the current of air in the cock-loft acts as a gulf stream to the attic—a sort of atmospheric fly-wheel. FLEATING APPARATUS. 19 No breeding-room can be said to be complete without some kind of heating apparatus. To this it is probable some may demur, but we can only say in reply that those are fortunate who can do without it. Such a variety of circumstances combine to make the usage of one district different from that of another, that the “custom of the port,” with its statistical results, must not be accepted as a standard rule calculated to produce the like elsewhere. Difference in latitude and variation in other physical relations make just all the difference between the natural productions of any two places, and a certain amount of artificial treatment must be resorted to in order to bring them on a par. We do not say that Canaries would feel the rigour of an ordinary English winter more in one part of the country than in another, but the critical time is when Nature begins to wake up from her winter’s sleep. In some places she seems to slumber with one eye open, and in others to relapse into a state of such insensibility as if there would be no awakening. In the one instance she is quick in answering to the call, and balmy airs soon arouse her from temporary inactivity : in the other, pulse is almost dead and circulation is induced only by long and gradual effort. So with occupants of our bird-rooms, who are soon affected by external influcnces; their awakening in-doors is simultaneous with that out-of-doors, and every swelling bud or early spring flower is but the indicator of a corresponding spring-time in bird-life. Where the one is late in being roused into life, so is the other; and we hear in some places of pairing, nesting, breeding, and all the excitement attending it, weeks, aye, almost months before those in a less favoured district dare even think of making any preparations for the campaign, lest too much haste might result in disaster. To obviate the evils arising from this, prudence would suggest that where a reasonably early start is contemplated, something should be done to assist in maintaining an equable temperature, so that breeding operations may be followed out independently of the weather. The way in which Canaries are affected by climatic alternations will be pointed out in our chapters on general management; our object here is to explain a simple way of warming the breeding-room, by which means the dangers attendant on early nests may be averted, and other disagreeables which wait on a late spring considerably ameliorated. This last is the true object of artificial heating ; not to force birds out of season, but to make the most of them in season —to combat adverse circumstances by means the most nearly approximating to those employed by Nature. Years have passed since we first drew attention to a simple little gas-stove in use in our own breeding-room, which did its work so well and so cheaply that we thought we could recommend nothing more suitable for the purpose; and we still think it as handy and effective a contrivance as more expensive and complicated apparatus. But gas is not at command every- where, though the march of civilisation has made the conventional lamp-post almost as necessary a part of an English landscape as a row of telegraph-posts, or the martial helmet and awe-inspiring buttons of the member of the county force who turns up in the most secluded and romantic spots. Our Transatlantic cousins, however, have supplied us with a new source of light and heat, which has been applied in ways once never dreamt of; and the paraffin oil pump is almost as common an ornament in the village grocer’s store as the beer-engine with its array of bulbous porcelain handles in the bar of the public-house. The simple contrivance we are about to describe is worked almost as effectively with the aid of a small paraffin lamp as with gas. Small stoves, in which paraffin, or petroleum, or shale oil in some form is the combustible employed, are to be purchased in endless variety, and will doubtless perform all asserted of them; but we have not tried any of them. Our own apparatus we have tested thoroughly, and can confidently recommend. It consists simply of a cylinder of ordinary sheet iron, about eighteen inches in height and eight in diameter, enclosed 29 CANARIES AND CAGE-BirDs5. at the top, and notched round the bottom with a few deep scallops affording ingress for a supply of air. Stand this machine on end, like an inverted overgrown saucepan, on a plate of iron or even on the bare floor in any convenient corner of the room, and underneath it place the lamp, or convey through one of the apertures an ordinary bat’s-wing gas-burner. In the side, an inch or two from the top, insert a pipe of the same material or of zinc or tin, which, in carrying off the heated air and the deleterious products of combustion, plays a most important part in the heating economy of this most unpretentious-looking affair. The only condition absolutely necessary for the effective working of the stove is that the chimney be conveyed into some vacant space entirely free from draught, as any downward puff will extinguish the flame. In the case of a lamp, this will be accompanied by no other incon- venience than the failure of the heat; but if with gas, consequences will be more serious. The possibility of such a mishap can easily be averted, and the whole thing be made to work without a hitch of any kind. It may require a little trouble and a little contrivance at first to arrange the chimney so that zothing affects it; but the after-results are so satisfactory that to ensure them no trouble can be considered as such. It must not be merely half done, for although the chimney may be so placed that the nearest approach to extinguishing the flame is an occasional downward puff which disturbs it momentarily, yet this puff forces out into the room a portion of foul air which ought to travel another road and which becomes objectionable. When freedom from annoyance of this kind has once been secured, not the slightest apprehension need be felt on the score of injurious effects upon the birds. We say this advisedly, and as the result of years of experience and years of observation in the breeding-rooms of others where this little machine is considered a great boon; for in this, as in other vital questions, we wish it to be understood that the expression of our opinion is based as far as possible on our own experience, and as little as possible on hearsay, however reliable. The entire cost of our own stove, with several feet of chimney and short lead from nearest -gas-pipe, burner, and fixing, was considerably under a sovereign. This was ten years ago, and it is doing duty yet. We repeat, because it is important and the key to success, that the one condition necessary is positive immunity from down-draughts. We first set it up in an attic, carrying the chimney across the room horizontally, and then at right angles through the ceiling into the roof; but we found that during some winds this arrangement entailed on us the necessity of creeping up-stairs at all hours of the night, in a costume more light and airy than was consistent with comfort, to peep through the keyhole in order to ascertain if all was going on right. But our roof was none of the best, and the east winds making a practice of getting in to play practical jokes with our chimney, our constant visits threatened to land us in a state of chronic rheumatism. A smoky chimney and another domestic calamity we won't mention are proverbial; and though the one helped to produce the other, we ultimately came off master of the situation by inserting the end of the chimney in an inverted box. The wind couldn’t get in, but the hot air managed to get out, and we slept undisturbed. The length of the chimney is immaterial, but the longer the pipe the greater will be the surface from which the heat is distributed. It will be a matter of astonishment to observe how much heat can be generated by a very small flame: it will seldom be found necessary to turn on the full power even during the day, when the pressure on the mains in large towns is always reduced and the supply is proportionately feeble. It is well to place a basin of water on the top to counteract by evaporation any dryness in the air. Such is our idea of the things to be borne in mind in selecting a good breeding-room, and we have but one more precautionary measure to refer to, and that is with reference to the exclusion of Mice in THE BreEDING-Room 21 mice, which can make themselves troublesome in various ways if they once gain access to the room. There is no such effective mouse-trap as a cat, but the cat is not wanted in the very place where the mice are; if it clears the lower part of the house it does its duty very well, but it would never do to have it hunting about in the neighbourhood of the bird-room. The most effectual way of excluding mice is to nail strips of tin, bent at a right angle, on the floor and against the skirting-board. Perseverance and good teeth will find a road through anything else, and it requires but a small hole to admit a regiment in single file. See that the bottom of the door is protected by a similar contrivance. Should there be no skirting-board, as is sometimes the case in old rooms, a stout strip of wood must be nailed to the floor close to the wall, and a sharp look-out kept for holes that they may be stopped up at once with Paris plaster or cement. Any holes in the floor itself must be covered with tin, or a pair of sharp eyes will shortly pop up and take stock of the premises, and a colony of eyes quickly follow. If, however, from one cause or another, such as gaining an entrance by some means not suspected, mice do fairly take possession of the room, summary ejection of the whole fraternity is better and more easy of accomplishment than tedious eperations with traps. Poisoning can be done without any risk of unpleasant results from the mice dying in their holes, for if one or two should do so their bodies are only very small. If the floor be well swept for two or three nights in succession and baited with a small heap of oatmeal, which must ultimately be mixed with some vermin poison, the entire colony can be cleared out without any trouble in one or two nights, when mice and poison should be buried. But if poisoning be objected to, examine the room for holes and stop up all but one. On going into the room at night with a light, the mice will at once make for this one loophole of escape, which can be closed before even one has time to reach it; for unless the cages are so placed that the mice cannot by any possible means get into them, they will be found banqueting in the seed-hoppers in numbers far exceeding what might be anticipated. If a large box have been previously placed on the vacant side of the room, about an inch from the wall, every marauder will run behind it. There need be no hurry to bring about the déxowement, and every long tail must be beaten out of cover; not one will attempt to leave the shelter of the box. A gentle squeeze, and that batch can be swept up, the box replaced, the hole unstopped, and the operation repeated in an hour. There will soon be no mice to squeeze. It is wholesale slaughter, but death is instantaneous and merciful. Dirty cages, filthy little tracks in their frequented runs, soiled seed, and perhaps a dead bird or two, are sufficient incentives to a massacre which need never occur again if the proper precautions are then taken to prevent the ingress of these pests, whose instincts naturally lead them to such a haven of plenty in the way of seed and other delicacies, for which the mus domesticus has a strong predilection. We have referred to the cat as an effective mouse-trap. Some persons succeed in training their cats in such a way that they are allowed free access to the bird-room, and never seem to dream of meddling with the birds; indeed, not a few turn puss into the room every night to mount guard and protect the cages from the inroads of mice ; and where the cat has been brought up to the work from kittenhood, it is astonishing how faithfully it will discharge its trust under great temptation to do wrong. We cannot but think the practice is fraught with great danger, and do not consider that a breeding-room containing valuable stock is the right place in which to commence “ happy family” experiments. We say so in justice to the claims of the birds, which have no right to be exposed to such a risk. We know many very reliable animals of this kind; but our experience of cats is that they are cats, and that, under favourable conditions, the cat nature will assert itself. It only has to do so once to entail disastrous consequences, and we think that the chance of that once should not be allowed. Granted that puss sits down to watch 22 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. her favourite hole from which she has bagged many a mouse, and watches it as only a cat can; but a slight flutter in one of the cages breaks the stillness of the room, and she is there in a moment, and that unfortunate bird is either “killed fatally dead” or frightened to death, and the cat's appetite being whetted, she makes a complete job of the work before she tires of the amusement of putting her velvet paws through the wires. We have known it to be the case in more than one instance, and think that shutting a cat in a room among birds is like smoking a pipe beside a keg of gunpowder with the head out: but one single spark is wanted to do all the mischief. “A place ‘ i, “ffl Hi MR. YOUNG'S BREEDING-ROOM. for everything, and everything in its place,” is the motto of a well-ordered room; and the place for the cat is on the outside of the door. We have spoken of mice only, as they are the most common deprcdators, and are certain to be attracted to a bird-room. But in country districts, where other kinds of vermin not unfre- quently visit the homestead, the greatest care should be taken to exclude those known to be of a most cruel and bloodthirsty disposition. Visitors of this description are unknown in towns, but in the country, in old buildings in which the walls are none of the soundest, a weasel or stoat may easily secrete himself and play havoc. These gentlemen can squeeze through an opening some- thing smaller than a crack ; indeed, the how, when, and where of their ingress is often a mystery, and where such are known to exist they must be guarded against with extreme watchfulness. We Mr. Youne’s Breevinc-Room. 23 need only refer to a disastrous loss sustained by Mr. J. Yallop, of Cossey, near Norwich, when a stoat which obtained admission to his bird-room destroyed between sixty and seventy valuable birds, to show the necessity of vigilance in this direction. The lessons of such a catastrophe should not be lost upon thoughtful fanciers, who should ever study to reduce the posstbility of an accident within the narrowest limits. We give a sketch of a breeding-room in which we have spent many a pleasant hour, and which some of our readers at least will not fail to recognise. It is from the hand of an artist better up in Canary-breeding than in the laws of perspective or of light and shadow, and we regret that our “B” pencil is not sufficiently versed in figure-drawing to place in the vacant chair the worthy owner of the establishment, Mr. John Young, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland. It will be seen there is but one chair, the orthodox seats in a bird-room being inverted show-cages or -packing- boxes, one of which stands under the window. The closet at the right hand is a moulting-place, which in the winter season also does duty as a large flight, in which breeding stock of all kinds is turned loose during the quiet period of the year when they have nothing to do but to lay up strength for the next season’s campaign. The cage is a large thirty-two couple castle in two sections, and is very complete in every respect. In the centre of the room is the gas-stove, before described, with basin of water on top, and chimney carried in a horizontal direction into the chimney of the fire-place. When we say that a single bat’s-wing burner in this stove is amply sufficient to keep up a “comfortable” temperature, we need add nothing further as to its efficiency. At the end of the room opposite the fire are other cages, and a general repository for necessaries; but as we don’t know how to sketch things standing behind our back, we are unable to give them or the ventilator in the ceiling, without which sanitary arrangement no room can be said to be complete. 24 CHVAR AVE REA. CAGES AND CAGE-MAKING. IT is quite possible to go to an extreme; to build with such strict regard to the line and plummet and to conduct our little establishment with such painful order and regularity, as seriously to interfere with the comfort of the objects under our charge. We have a wholesome aversion to the whole family of anti-macassars, and they are a large tribe. Yet we do not wish to be understood as objecting to a well-ordered breeding-room—anything but that; it is only French polish and a sort of clock-work mechanism which admits of no deviation from a set line that we object to when they obtrude themselves to the exclusion of the comfort and well-being of the birds, “ Anything will do for a cage.” No, anything will zo¢ do for a cage. The anything-will-do system is bad from end to end, and is born of a careless slovenliness which goes about with holes in its stockings. There is a fitness in things, and a harmony which satisfies the judgment and - pleases the eye as much as Dutch gold and stucco are repellant to it. If there be one place more than another in which we like to see handsome cages, it is in a working-man’s cottage. They help to cover his walls and represent something, amply repaying the pains bestowed in making them and in keeping them clean. A canny wife, a few bonny bairns, a clean hearth, a four-post bed, a chest of drawers, an eight-day clock, a muling hen or two, a dog and a cat, and what more can a working-man want in this vale of tears? In fitting up a breeding-room with cages, space can sometimes be economised by utilising recesses. We refer to this as belonging to the sphere of “contrivances;” and we are told that a good contriver is better than he that hath a large appetite. Recesses are also sometimes available in rooms other than those set apart for birds, and may even be the only available space at command. They are easily adapted to, or rather converted into cages, with little trouble and not much expense. We must assume that there is no paper on the wall; if there be, it can readily be removed by wetting it, and the plaster laid bare. No better natural sides and back for a breeding-cage can be devised than a dry wall. Set off with a square the exact places to be occupied by the shelving, which should be eighteen inches apart and made of half-inch ordinary yellow pine, the freer from coarse knots the better. If the recess be reasonably square, the shelves can be fitted in tightly without injuring the wall in any way beyond the driving in of a few nails to support them or to fix small ledges on which the ends may rest. Each shelf must, in any case, be bevelled off to the exact angle of the particular niche into which it is intended it should slide, and must be flush with the wall all round, and especially at the back. Any spaces which occur between the shelf and the wall, be they ever so small, must be filled in with thin plaster of Paris, for the same reason that cage-bottoms must be made flush with the back and sides of the cage—viz., to prevent dry sand from running through, and also to prevent insects from harbouring in them. This is, perhaps, the most difficult part of the business, but it is of the utmost importance that it should be attended to. However deep the recess may be, it is not advisable that the shelving be more than about twelve inches from back to front; but if it be not very deep, and it is wished to bring the cage fronts out in the same line as the jamb of the THE Lonpon CAGE. 25 chimney which usually forms the recess, an inch or two is not of so much consequence as disturbing the uniformity desired ; but we do not advocate deep cages. If there be width enough, the space at command may be divided into two or three compartments by permanent partitions or by slides, and the whole will then represent a large cage without fronts; and here we will leave it, to enter on the subject of cage-making proper. Different towns and different schools of fanciers affect different breeding appliances. Custom and long usage determine many fashions, quite irrespective of their suitability. The ancient, heavy, cumbersome, two-wheeled, four-horse plough still reigns in many parts of Kent, and probably elsewhere ; while in the north a light, effective machine, which a man might almost swing over his shoulder, is used. . Each has its merits and demerits, and nobody will dispute either. In Scotland—and thousands of Canaries are bred beyond the Tweed—open-wire cages are used ; while a few miles south of the old Roman wall such a thing is unknown. The “London” cage, the ordinary sale article of wire-workers and cage-makers, of which we give an illustration, is a useful S—— in il | | MI MINI I FIG. 3.—THE LONDON CAGE, thing in its way, and, as generally turned out of the maker’s hands, is not an unsuitable ornament to the breakfast-room or study. Our sketch is made from memory, and may not perhaps be quite so elegant as the manufactured article, but the arrangements of the cage are the same. It is an open-wire cage, made in either one or two compartments, and consists of the usual living-room, two nesting-places, and a small nursery, all under one roof. On the shelf of the nesting-place (which can be secluded from the living-room by a falling door, not visible in the sketch) is seen a box, in which the hen constructs her nest. This can be suspended against the back of the little closet if required, and we think it is best so. In place of this box, a basket (Fig. 17) is sometimes let into the shelf like a hand-basin. The doors at the end afford facilities for getting at the interior for examination of nests, cleaning, &c., and the second nesting-place furnishes the hen with another breeding-room in case she should wish to build again before the young ones are old enough to turn out into the nursery below, which is separated from the larger portion of the cage—the living-room —by a wire partition made to slide in and out at pleasure. The nursery may also have a front- door of its own, making it an independent tenement. This we think desirable, and, where such a cage is being made to order, should advise its not being overlooked. It may also be fitted in front with a small drawer of wood or earthenware to contain soft food for the young beaks, and should be liberally supplied with seed and water holes at the end. Two perches running from front to back, about two inches from the wire slide on one side and the wire-holes on the other, will be all 4 26 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. the perching-room required, and will enable the occupants to be fed through the wires or to help themselves through the holes. The cage in the illustration was not drawn to scale, but is intended to represent one about three feet long, of which the nursery division is nine inches, height eighteen inches, and width from back to front not exceeding a foot. It is a handy little affair, but the breeder who puts up many pairs looks on it as a toy. A toy it is, but a complete one; and the beginner who wishes to commence in a modest way with not more than one or two pairs, might do worse than purchase this cage, with which he will be able to master the art of creeping before learning to walk. But the cage we recommend is one with top, back, and sides of wood, the front only being wired, a business-like-looking article, not got up for show, but for work. It can be made in one, two, three, four, or any number of compartments; though we don’t advise an arrangement of odd numbers, for reasons which will shortly appear. A single cage—that is, a cage of one compartment and intended for the use of one pair of birds only—is known as a single-couple cage; one with two compartments is called a two-couple cage, and so on; and in describing cages we shall adopt these terms. A “stack” of cages is simply a multiplication of compartments, built either in one piece or in sections; though when built in one piece it is more generally spoken of as an eight or sixteen- couple cage, as the case may be, according to the number of pairs it is intended to accommodate, and is understood to be one piece of furniture. The advantage of such a cage consists in the economising of material in its construction, the top of one compartment serving as the bottom of another, and the same with the sides; but the disadvantage is the possibility of its becoming like Robinson Crusoe’s boat. We always make our own cages, and on one occasion, in the fulness of our zeal, entered on a twenty-couple arrange- ment, which in the course of time we finished. It is not much to the point, but when we say we don’t intend to make another twenty-couple, it may, perhaps, convey a moral. We did just manage to get it out of the room in which it was built, though how it was got up two pairs of stairs into our bird-room we don’t know, but we soon after received a bill for painting the walls. A year or two afterwards we lent it to a friend who had just built himself a new house, and it was set up in its new home before the hand-rails had been fitted to the staircases. At the close of the season it came home sawn up into sections: he couldn't get it out of the window nor down the stairs, and there was no alternative but to run the saw through it. Since then we have avoided such unwieldy articles. Cages of somewhat smaller dimensions, say not exceeding four compartments, are very handy, and are as easily moved about for the purposes of cleaning or for arranging in order as are two-couple cages. We only propose to describe the latter, leaving it to the fancier to cut his coat according to his cloth in the matter of multiplication. If it be desired to cover the entire side of a room, we should recommend a stack built up of twos or fours; while if it be wished to fill up some corner or limited area, it may be advisable to build a six for the special purpose, or just such a combination of twos as may suit. Or a breeder may wish to begin in a modest way with a limited number of pairs, and have a desire to make his cage in one piece, even if it be a little over the most handy size; then let him make his cage to suit his requirements; but when all is done it resolves itself into our original proposition, that all cages, whether in stacks or one piece, are best made in combinations of twos, separate or united. Why not in threes? Simply because it is not so easy in a combination of odd numbers to place the seed and water vessels so satis- factorily as in an arrangement of twos, one drawback being that unless the water-tin of the centre compartment be hung close to the seed-hopper, giving the whole a lop-sided appearance, it can only be hung on the centre door; and there is, therefore, a possibility, which never ought to arise, PATTERNS OF LREEDING-CAGES. 27 of omitting to replace it on closing the door—an omission which need occur once to bring about a deal of mischief. The simple shutting of the door carries with it the idea of an act completed, and even with the water-tin hanging close by and staring you in the face, the chances are that once in a way it is not replaced. In the case of a centre door working on hinges, the fastening OMNI IM | 7” my ig me i ll iil a a a) ik MAT = = —_— SSS kK I ii l il MI FIG. 4.—BREEDING-CAGES. ought always to be the hooks of the water-tin—the door cannot then be fastened except by replacing the tin. We will now proceed to construct our cage, which, to begin with, is nothing more than a box three feet long, eighteen inches high, and ten inches deep, made of clean yellow pine about three- eighths of an inch thick, neatly and securely put together, every joint fitting as closely as good workmanship can ensure. These dimensions give a square frontage to each compartment, which is, perhaps, not the most pleasing to the eye; but if it be wished to alter it, let it be in the direction of the length, which may be extended an inch or two. This is divided into two 28 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. compartments by a central partition, which can either be the entire height of the cage or only half, the height, the upper half sliding in and out in a groove. The only advantage gained by this is that when the breeding season is over the slide can be withdrawn and the two compartments thrown into one; if an entire partition be used it must have an aperture in the centre, about three inches square, which can be opened or closed at pleasure by means of a door suspended on a screw, and which serves as a mode of communication between the two compartments. In place of this aperture a small slide is sometimes used, the various arrangements being shown in the illustration ; but these and other minor fittings are entirely matters of taste. For our own part we object to sliding partitions as involving so much more work in making the cage, which is a consideration when a man is his own joiner and cabinet-maker. Our liking has always been to have everything as plain as possible, and to have no sort of complications about a cage when a simpler appliance would answer the same purpose. We mention these things, however, at this stage of our work, because these details must be decided on before the front is made. And while the box is still open and in this crude shape, we may as well direct attention to the fact that if a half-partition and large slide be used, the lower groove in which the slide works will have to be gouged out on the top edge of the partition, and the upper groove will have to be made in the same way on the lower edge of a piece of wood nailed to the inside of the cage at the top. But we think this all means extra work, finished with a precision the amateur joiner may not find it easy to acquire all at once. He has to choose, therefore, between an entire partition with a central aperture or small sliding-door, or a half-partition with a large slide. The entire partition, with central aperture, is the easiest to make, and we are inclined to think will be found the simplest and also the best arrangement. In the drawing which we furnish of a breeding-cage, it is divided into three sections, each intended to illustrate one or other of the various modes of construction we have described. The bottom section represents the unfinished cage, with wooden cross-bar and wooden framed door pierced ready for wiring. It also shows a fixed partition with central aperture, on the further side of which is supposed to be the small door hanging on a screw, and turned up out of sight to allow of communication between the two compartments. The method of fixing the door is also shown, though it can be seen more clearly in the larger illustration to be given presently. The middle section shows a wired front, which can either be made a fixture by being inserted in the woodwork, and so becoming part and parcel of the whole, or it can be made in one piece, and attached by small staples. This latter method, however, is almost beyond the scope of amateur wire-working. The doors swing on a stout upright wire. The upper portion of the partition forms a slide which, when withdrawn, turns the cage into a “ flight” or “ fly-cage.” The upper section illustrates a fixed wired front; sliding, self-closing doors; and a movable partition. The precise construction of the door will be more clearly indicated in an enlarged cut. Our box now requires a front, and here again we inculcate the principle that simplicity is the first law in cage-making. There are three kinds of fronts which the cage-maker can choose from: wire fronts, which are best made by practical wire-workers and are the most expensive ; wired wooden frames, which it requires some little skill to turn out neatly; and a front which is really wot a front, but which is formed by wiring the front of the box itself—a thing any amateur can do, and do well, with the exercise of not half the care and skill required in making a wired frame. The only advantage to be gained by the use of a movable front is that it can be entirely removed for the purpose of thorough-cleaning the in.»ide of the cage—an operation that can be performed just as well through a properly-constructed door. The THE FRONT OF THE CAGE, 29 disadvantage of a framed front is that, unless it fits absolutely close all over, it affords a harbour for insects between it and the edges of the box. It will be inferred that we advocate the permanent front. We do decidedly, and set about making it in this way:—Plane up three pieces of clean stuff, free from knots, the precise length of the box from outer edge to outer edge, and of the exact thickness: two of them must be an inch and a half wide, and the other three-eighths, which will make it exactly square. These are for the top cross-piece, the bottom cross-piece, and the middle cross-bar. Fit the top cross-piece immediately under the top of the box, cutting slots in the sides and centre partition to receive it. Be careful not to make the slots too wide or too deep: it is easy to take off a shaving, but not so easy to put one on, and these cross-pieces and bar must fit close and tight, and be flush with the front edge. Fix the bottom piece in the same manner one inch from the bottom of the front. This will leave a space of fourteen inches between the two. Now let in the cross-bar neatly, and exactly square, six inches above the bottom piece, and having ascertained that everything fits just as it should, and that there is nothing which requires altering in any way, take out these three pieces, and having marked off on one of them with a pair of compasses the position of the wire- |) ™ FIC. 5.—TURN-RAIL. holes half an inch apart from centre to centre, clamp the three tightly together, and mark them across with a pencil and square, drawing the line through each point with the greatest care, for on this depends the accuracy of the wiring. Nothing looks more unbusiness-like than a badly-wired cage, and the operation is really so simple that there is no excuse for doing it otherwise than with the greatest exactness and regularity. Having set off'the spaces, run a line down the centre from end to end, and prick the wire-holes on the cross-lines at the intersecting points, using for the purpose a bradawl one size smaller than No. 16 or No. 17 galvanised wire, and either shortened to half an inch in length or loaded with pieces of leather till but that portion of the length remains. This ensures the holes being of uniform depth, and they can then be pierced with a single thrust, without any boring or twisting motion of the pricker. Any one can prick a hole, but to bore it perpendicularly is another matter; and it must be remembered that, in pricking the middle cross-piece, the awl must be kept perfectly upright, or the wires will enter the upper surface apparently in the right direction and come out on the lower in another, when it will be found that the more they are coaxed the more they won’t go where they are wanted. But a little care will prevent any irregularity of this kind. In pricking the holes in the bottom cross- piece, it is best not to make any in the middle, on the portion over which the door will stand. It may seem unnecessary to call attention to such a trifling matter, but unnecessary holes are the very places in which insects take up their abode; and in case of the Canary parasite, to which we shall by-and-by have to refer, getting into the cage, these unnecessary holes will all 30 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. be found crammed with them. It is therefore wise to leave no holes to be crammed. The value of this advice will be appreciated by those who know what pests these parasites are. Having bored the cross-pieces, replace them, and fix with one or two inch brads, and the cage is ready for wiring. But the open space of one inch at the bottom—what is to be done with that? Fit into it, on each side of the partition, a piece of wood of the same thickness as the cross-piece ; turn the cage upside down and prick a hole through the bottom, through this piece of wood and into the cross- piece above, about three inches from the end nearest the partition. Run a piece of stout wire right through, and the “turn-rail” will revolve on it, affording an opening through which the cage can be cleaned out by means of a small scraper, made by hammering the end of an iron rod perfectly flat and bending it at right angles; turn the other end into an eye, and let it have its special nail to hang on. Many cages are made without this contrivance, in which case all the dirt has to be lifted out with the hand—not the most desirable nor the most effective way of going to work. In place of this turn-rail, a false bottom or tray is sometimes used; but we are full against | false bottoms, as being cumbersome, very heavy, liable to warp, and of no practical value whatever. If they be ever so well made the birds will always scratch the sand over the edges, in spite of any beading which may be put round, and after the false bottom has been withdrawn a scraper has still to be used to clear underneath, to allow of the tray being put in again. If this be not done, the sand will either gather at the back or the tray will push it before it into a heap, and the consequence is the concern won’t shut up close. The turn-rail obviates all this inconvenience, and has always been a special fancy of ours, as being easily made, in no way interfering with the appearance of the cage, and a most efficient means to a necessary end. It will be seen that the space to be wired is just fourteen inches high, and to make strong work of it each wire should be inserted at least a quarter of an inch into the wood; they must, therefore, be cut not less than from fourteen and a half to fourteen and three-quarters long. It is best to order the number required from a wire-worker, who will cut and straighten them for a mere trifle. The wire is partially straightened when drawn from the coil by passing it between a simple arrangement of iron pegs; but each piece has still a curve, and to make it absolutely straight is an art acquired only by long practice, and is accomplished by pressure between the finger and thumb. To straighten the hundred and fifty wires required for our cage is the work of only a few minutes for the man who has done the same with as many thousands; and when done they ave straight, which is more than we would care to vouch for if manipulated by unskilled fingers. In addition to this small bundle of wires it will be necessary to have a piece of No. 14 thickness for a strengthening cross-wire, a few yards of thin binding wire (technically “lapping” wire), and a pair of cutting pliers. The actual operation of wiring is exceedingly simple. Pass the wire downwards through the middle cross-bar; it ought not to slip through, but should require gently pulling with the pliers, by means of which, being held near the end, it must be inserted in its proper hole and pushed down to the bottom, or till the other end is clear of the lower edge of the top cross-piece : this allows of the wire being inserted in the top hole without bending it, for though it has a certain amount of elasticity, it is best not to have to try it too much in that direction. It will be obvious that this is our reason for directing the holes to be pierced half an inch in depth. The strengthening cross-wire must be run through behind the wires, midway between the cross-bar and the top; but before securing the wires to it we must direct attention to the seed and water holes. We were almost on the point of building our house without any windows—the door will SEED AND Water HOLES. 31 come presently—but it will be as well to say here that in wiring above the door the wires must come through the cross-piece to the under-side, so as to fill up the holes. It might be urged that it would be as well not to pierce through the cross-bar at this particular place; but by carrying the wires through it materially strengthens the work at a weak spot, at the same time the bar need not be pricked gwz¢e through if care be used with the awl. Any little precaution cf this kind could be better carried out in making one cage than in making a set; our usual plan is to plane up a clean piece of stuff, and having measured off as many bars as the width will allow, and set off the ' marks for the holes with a square, to prick the entire piece before cutting it up. We have then ' several lengths all pierced with exactness, and then it matters not where it is cut, or into how many long or short lengths, for the tops and bottoms of doors or other purposes, the holes will always be found to correspond and make true work. The same way with other cross-pieces ; clamp as many together as can be managed, and mark them off for pricking on one scale, and FIG. 6,—SEED AND WATER HOLES. then there is never any risk of top and bottom holes not corresponding, or the wiring getting out of the perpendicular. The wires for the seed and water holes must be cut a few inches longer than the others, and three will be required for each compartment, one for water and two for seed. They are easily twisted into shape by bending round a piece of hard wood; we use a ruler of lignum vite rather less than an inch in diameter. The most approved twist is shown in the illustration. To secure them in their places it is only necessary to hammer out the lower edge of the loop on any smooth solid surface (nothing better than that useful domestic appliance, a fla¢-cro), when it can be made sufficiently sharp to easily bury itself in the soft wood and remain securely fixed. The water-hole wire should be inserted about the third or fourth from the side, and the seed-hole wires should occupy the third and fifth places next the partition, according to the length of the seed-hopper intended to be used, which, as will be presently explained, should cover both sets of seed-holes on either side of the partition. We must delay binding the strengthening cross-wire until our door is hung—and the door is a most important part of a cage. A great deal of work has to be done through the open door, which must be large enough to admit the hand easily, and, if needs be, a jar containing a bunch of chickweed or groundsel, or other green food, without being obliged to turn it so much on one 32 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. side as to spill half the water it may hold. To harmonise with the cage our door must have a wooden frame; indeed, no other description of door would work well under a wooden cross-bar. It is, however, very simple in construction. It cannot be higher than the six inches allowed for it, and the only questicn is as to the width. Assuming the compartment to be eighteen inches wide, it will give us thirty-six wires, according to our plan of spacing out. The third part of that is twelve, so that if we leave the middle twelve holes in the bottom unwired, it will require a door just six inches square to fit exactly. The use of our lengths of pierced cross-bars will now be apparent. We have nothing to do but to cut off two pieces, each containing twelve holes, allowing very nearly the whole half-inch before the first hole and behind the last—that is to say, we must not cut the length off directly through the first hole and through the twelfth, but before and behind them—we want twelve clear holes, and a small piece over at each end. Place these two pieces face to face, and it will be seen the holes correspond exactly—one is the top of the door and the other the bottom. The side-pieces are of the same dimensions with respect to thickness (but, of course, are not cut from pierced lengths), and must be cut of the precise length | = = FIG, 7.—WOODEN DOOR, required. Place one of them fair under the second hole of the top piece, and a single brad driven through the hole will fix it in its place; do the same with the other, placing it under the eleventh or last hole but one; turn it up and put the bottom piece on in the same way, and the door-frame is complete. Wire it, and it only then remains to hang it, which is done by unshipping the twelfth long wire on the right-hand side of the cage, and, after placing the door so that the twelfth hole of the door-frame is under the twelfth hole of the main middle cross-bar, replacing the long wire, on which the door will swing as on a hinge. Notch off the inside of the top and bottom pieces of the door-frame at the other end, so that when it shuts it may catch against the twelfth wire on the left-hand side, and the door when closed will fit flush with the front. The whole thing will take scarcely more time to do than it has taken us to write the details, and when a set of cages is being made of uniform dimensions and uniform scale of wiring, a dozen, twenty, any number of doors can be put together by cutting up the pierced lengths, without any necessity for measurement, and with the certainty of any one door exactly fitting any one cage, whether made specially for it or not. If one should happen to be a shade tight, the slightest tap under the middle cross-piece will give it liberty; or if it should be too slack, a downward tap between the wires will improve matters without putting the bar out of square in a way to offend the eye. There is another description of door which requires still less making. It is shaped like a block letter T, with a foot the same width as the head, and is simply a skeleton-door with an Wiring AND PERCHES. 23 upright in the centre instead of on each side, wired and hung in the same way as that we have been describing. A third is made by cutting the bottom of it out of the bottom cross-piece, thus causing it to open level with the cage-bottom, and doing away with the necessity for a turn-rail or other contrivance to facilitate cleaning out. This is a useful door, but, to make a good job of it, requires to be hung with hinges on a separate frame, which gives it rather a heavy appearance. FRONT VIEW. BACK - VIEW. FIG. 8.—MODE OF WIRING. The fastening of the door comes last. Small buttons or hasps look very neat, but we use no other than a piece of wire run through the bottom of the door-frame and bent downwards at right angles an inch on each side; it requires to be turned up to open the door, but falls of itself, and is entirely self-acting. We might write a chapter on doors, but verbal descriptions of the simplest contrivances are not always very clear. We trust that a glance at the illustrations will render plain anything we may have failed to explain very lucidly. Comfort. Misery FIG. 9.—CANARY’S FOOT AND PERCH. The finishing operation of the whole is binding the wires to the strengthening cross-wire with the thin lapping material before mentioned in our inventory of necessaries. We give an illustration of the orthodox twist which tightens the whole, and makes it impossible to displace any wire or widen the space between them so as to permit the escape of a bird. The perches, instead of being about the diameter of a lead-pencil, as is too frequently the case, should be nearly twice that diameter, oval in section, and placed with the broad side 5 34 CANARIES AND CAGE-Brirps. uppermost. Notice the formation of a Canary’s foot, and the reason will be evident. They should rest on the cross-bar, and project an inch or two, so as to allow of their being drawn out at pleasure for being cleaned, &c.; and if a stock be kept ready, with a brad filed up to a sharp point inserted in one end, they will often be handy to push in here and there in various positions as occasion may require. A perch may also be put lengthways, to enable the birds to get at the seed and water easily. Such is our cage. We have been minute in our description of it, because we think that many may wish to try their hand at cage-making. The lathe and the bench are now-a-days common accessories to a country-house, and we find many seeking recreation in pursuits which entail a large amount of what is neither more nor less than hard work. But the old saying, that what is oné man’s meat is another man’s poison, can be translated in various ways. Sedentary occupations find relief in severe exercise; and the city man, who has been boxed up in his office all day, regards it as a positive treat to turn up his shirt-sleeves and have a turn at his bench, or a spell in his garden for hours after his gardener has pulled off his boots, smoked his nightly churchwarden, and retired to bed thoroughly tired out with precisely the same work. We have FIG, I10.—SLIDING DOOR. not aimed at making this part of our subject a treatise on joinery, and have studiously avoided technicalities in a description we wish to give in terms as plain and homely as possible. To us, half the fun consists in being our own designer, architect, and builder. The appliances for the carrying out of our hobby are few and simple, and when we require any we just turn to and make them; and we wish to show others how to do the same, if their inclination tends in the same direction. Before dismissing the subject of cage-making, we must refer briefly to one other method of wiring, simply because it involves the use of an excellent description of self-closing door, very much in use, both in breeding and exhibition cages. We have before stated that wire fronts, made in the piece, are best left to a practical wire-worker, though there is no reason why a fancier may not unite that art to his other accomplishments, or even wield the soldering iron and become his own plumber. The method of wiring, however, to which we now refer needs no practical hand, and consists in substituting, in place of the wooden cross-bar, a cross piece of stout wire, to which the upright wires must be bound in the manner previously indicated. The door, a pattern of which we show in our illustration, can then be made to slide up and down, and if carefully put together is a most effective self-closing arrangement, which, with its extreme lightness, constitute its chief excellence. Even if it should not slide or fall SUPPLY OF SEED. 5 Bie freely, but have to be pulled down, it has the merit of not being able to swing open; for we have known birds play with the internal fastenings of doors and inadvertently open them. A reference to the cut will show the construction and working better than any verbal description, but it will be seen that after making the eyes to the several wires (which is done with a pair of pointed pliers) and bending them over at right angles, they must be kept in the same straight line while being turned up at the bottom and pinched on to the frame on which the entire fabric works, or the door will not slide at all, or only with difficulty. Success depends entirely on true work. And further, the upper strengthening cross-wire must be placed sufficiently high to admit of the door travelling, or the consequences will be obvious.