should be at least two years old, and if these are put with neus older than themselves, the majority of the progeny will be males. It requires some judgment to choose good breeding birds. Particular attention should be paid to temper and temperament. Some cocks are melancholy and phlegmatic; some fiery and passionate, so much so as to fight with the hen bird, and kill their offspring; others, again, are so ardent in their

love-making, as to teaze and annoy the female while she is sitting, to tear the nest and break the eggs. The hens, too, have their faults; some are impatient, and will not wait long for results of their labours, forsaking their eggs almost as soon as laid, and beginning to build and pair again; some break their eggs or destroy their young through awkwardness; some are careless, and let them die for want of attention; others are spiteful, and bite their young and pull out their feathers. so

that they die miserably; and it sometimes happens that the hens are too weak to bear the exhausting pains and cares of maternity; they lay their eggs with difficulty and at long intervals, and are unable to bestow the requisite attention on family matters, so that everything goes wrong, as our fair readers know it must do when the presiding genius of the house is sick or indolent. All these peculiarities should be carefully watched, and no birds put up for breeding that are thus faulty or weak; or if they are so unknowingly once, no second trial should be made with them; it will only end in disappointment and vexation of spirit; for although many correctives are recommended for these faults and disabilities, their application is so rarely attended with success, and involves so much trouble, that the attempt had better not be made.

In selecting your birds for pairing, take it as an invariable rule that the cock and hen must not both be crested; if they are, you will most likely have the progeny bald, or with some disfigurement about the head, With regard to the matching of colours, let it be observed that the union of opposites produces the most beautiful and harmonious results. All late experience goes to prove this; although some of the older authorities say, put together birds of the same colour; but if you do this, you will have, not increase of beauty but deterioration. The great secret of fancy breeding seems to consist in this-not apposition, but opposition of colours; thus, for instance, a fine, full, richlytinted jonque cock, should be matched with a good mealy or variegated hen, and vice versû. A spangle-marked cock with a mealy hen will produce a more full-toned and regularly spangled back than if both parents had been like the father. Innumerable instances might be cited to show how this principle operates; but enough has been said, we trust, for the guidance of the breeders, whose stock, at first, should consist of about three cocks, carefully selected, and half a dozen hens; these, deducting largely for casualties, will produce twenty or thirty young birds in a season, quite as many as can well be managed with. out extraordinary facilities.

The breeding of canaries, upon what may be called scientific principles, involves a great deal of trouble, which many who like to have these beautiful songsters about them are averse to. By such persons the birds may be left in a room, or aviary, to pair promiscuously, and to manage their affairs in the best way they can; and it is extremely interesting to watch the results. The little creatures will exhibit ardent love, and coldness, and jealousy; and have their quarrels and makings up, just like unfeathered bipeds; their younglings will be fed and taught, and, in due time, sent out of the nest to take care for themselves; and among them there may be some splendid birds, perfect models of symmetry as to shape, Paganinis as to musical powers, and D'Orsays as to cut and colour of their dress. It is, however, rare that " 'a show bird" is produced in this accidental manner; still this mode of breeding has its pleasures, and, as a return for them, all reasonable facilities should be afforded to the little people, whose manners and motions it is so interesting to watch. Let them have plenty of good food placed within reach, such as we shall describe under the proper head; give them pure fresh water, changed daily; furnish them with little wicker nest-bags, hung here and there among the shrubs, or in snug corners on the sides of the building; with, in the latter case, projecting ledges beneath, for the food, and for the young ones to rest on, and also the old birds while feeding them. In each of these bags put loosely some building materials-wool, cow's or other hair, fine dry hay, and the like, which should be previously immersed in boiling water, to make sure that it contains no living insects; let them have also clean sand, and a little powdered chalk, or mortar from an old wall; keep a sharp eye on all outlets and inlets, that no four-footed enemies, such as cats, rats, or mice, injure or frighten them; and remove all quarrelsome and pugnacious birds which may be fellow-lodgers with them in the aviary; see, too, that their resting-places are sheltered from cold draughts and droppings of moisture;-do all this, and if the birds are not comfortable and happy, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you have endeavoured to make them so

In a room it is best to provide them with cages to build in, or good sized boxes suspended to the walls, in which the nest materials can be placed; there should be young fir trees in pots, or tubs, placed in the corners, and plenty of perches projecting from the walls at different heights, and especially about where the seed-boxes are hung; the room should, if possible, have a southern aspect, and a strong wire net fitted to the window, which, as soon as the warm weather sets in, must be left open night and day.

The following more precise directions will be of service to those who breed canaries in cages. When the proper time arrives, place your birds, a cock and one or two hens, together in a breeding-cage, so constructed that you can, if necessary, separate the birds. At one end, near the top, should be hung two nest-bags, or boxes, as far apart as the width of the cage will allow, and behind each of these let there be a square door opening outwards, by which you can at any time watch the progress of affairs without disturbing the sitters. If you find a coldness and disinclination to pair in the birds, place the hen or hens in one division of the cage and the cock in the other, and let them remain so that they can see each other without being able to come together; or else put the cock in a smaller cage, and hang it up near to, without touching, that in which the hens are. In a few days, probably, the male bird will begin to sing with extraordinary loudness and energy, and peck at the bars which confine him; he may then be placed again with the hens, and the desired results will no doubt follow. You will soon see one of the hens, whichever happens to be the favourite, busy in the construction of her nest, and in about a week the first egg will be laid, and each day it will be followed by another, until there are five or six. It sometimes happens that the attentions of the male are bestowed wholly upon one hen; if this is the case, as soon as the favourite begins to lay, shut up the cock with the other hen in the separate division of the cage, and do not open the door until you see symptoms of an amicable understanding between the prisoners, or at all events, until a

reasonable time has elapsed. Sometimes this second pairing does not take place, and the neglected hen has to be sent about her business. It is customary with some breeders to remove the eggs as they are laid, and replace them with ivory imitations, putting the whole back together when the number is completed; but we do not think this a good plan; and the end in view, that of having the young birds all hatched altogether, is of questionable advantage. In these simple operations of nature the birds should be left to themselves as much as possible. Watch them without appearing to do so; and, if all is going on right, by no means interfere with them. You may, when the incubation has gone on for six or eight days, take advantage of the hen's absence from the nest to examine the eggs, and see if any of them are addled. This is easily ascertained by holding them between the eye and a strong light. If clear and transparent, they are worthless; if full of little red lines-blood-vessels-intersecting each other, vitality is progressing, and they may be replaced in the nest. It occasionally happens that the eggs are all bad, and the hen may be released from her close confinement to begin her operations anew. Instances have been known in which the bird, taught by some mysterious instinct that it would be useless to sit longer on them, has herself destroyed such eggs, by turning them out of the nest. If on the thirteenth day of sitting the young birds do not begin to make their appearance, you had better take the eggs very carefully, one at a time, and hold them for a minute or so in lukewarm water, replacing them under the hen directly they come out of the bath. The same operation may be performed on young birds, when, as is sometimes the case in cold seasons, the feathers are not developed so quickly as they should be. Great care, however, should be taken that they do not get a chill. To obviate the danger of this, it has been recommended to syringe the young birds in the nest with warm water, discharged from such a distance that it falls in a gentle spray. When the fledgelings are from twelve to fourteen days old they begin to feed themselves, and the hen commences her preparations for another brood; somewhat recruited in strength by the rest she has