Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-07-09
TEE GAZE OF cAnARIEs.

The greatest favorite among birds ap-
pears to be the canary. The best singing
Varieties-which is a member of the finch
family-are imported from Germany, prin.
cipally from the Hartz mountains, where
they are bred by the peasantry by the hun
dreds of Thousands yearly, and from there
are shipped to this country, England.
France, and even to Australia. This bird
had its Origin in the Canary Islands, where
It's color is Of greenish gray. It was first
introduced into Europe in the sixteenth
century. where their notes, particularly in
Germany, we're greatly improved by rails
ing them in rooms where other birds
such as nightingales, WOODLANDS, skylarks.
and the like-were commonly kept. They
would take some notes from each bird, and
by mixing these notes the canary has at
tanned the beautiful and varied song trans-
mitted to its descendants. When the CON-
posed song of the canary was thought COM
pleted the use of other birds was not
deemed requisite, as the young ones learned
from their parents.
Instead of a succession of noisy notes,
the bird should know how, with silvery
sonorous voice, to descend regularly
through all the tones of the octave, and
the whole song should consists of about
twenty notes, the most admired of which
are the bow-trill, the bell note and wood.
lark note. To raise such birds the breeder
must be good judge himself, and must
not put together birds having unpleasant
notes. He should also keep one or two of
his very best singers in separate cages near
the breeding-room or cage, which will be
the teachers of the young.
From the lst of June, 1882, to the end
of May this year, 1000 canaries were i'm
ported into New York, of which one firm
bought S. 900.
The two varieties most priced by anna
teurs are the Jonquil and the Neatly, COM
bining the greatest beauty in color and
excellence in song. The long breed, or
French canary, is row almost out of favor,
and but few OF the kind are to be seen in
this country, although they bring much
higher price, owing to the difficulty in
breeding them. This leads many people
to believe that they must consequently be
much better singers, but such is not the
fact, for the song is much inferior to the
other The price of male canaries varies
according to the size, age and song-from
81 80 up to S25 each-and for females from
70 cents to 81.
The canary, IS domesticated bird, is
the easiest Of all to take care Of The
treatment they require is the most simple
and certainly the best known, but there
are many persons whose ideas on this SUBJ
iect are very limited, and, what is worse,
very erroneous. As to their food, the more
simple and natural it is the better and
more conducive to good health and cheer
fulness. Mixtures such as rape, millet,
hemp, canary, poppy, lettuce, oatmeal,
oats, sugar, sweet cake, biscuit and such
like, so far from being wholesome, as some
people think, are very unwholesome it
spoils their taste for their natural food,
weakens the stomach, renders them feeble,
sickly and incapable of bearing moulting,
under which they frequently die. The
beat food is mixture of rape aud canary
and little green etutf, such as chick
weed lettuce, or cabbage in season, or
sweet apple in winter, The main point,
however, is to obtain pure and fresh seed.
Rape seed, when old or kept too long in q
damp place, becomes musty, gets bitter
taste, and does not agree with the birds.
The best sort is the German summer rape,
which has a nut-like flavor in distinction
from the English, which tastes something
Ike mustard. The canary seed should be
clean and have glossy hue, free from
musty smell and have sweet taste.
The cage should be daily supplied with
fresh water, both for bathing and drink
ing, and the csge-bottom be cleaned cut at
least once a week and be covered over
with dry gravel, which the birds freely
pick, and which helps digestion. The
perches should be kept clean. The birds
feet should be occasionally examined. and
if they are found dirty the bird should be
taken carefully out of the cage and the
dirt washed off by soaking in lukewarm
water. The claws, if too long, should be
cut with pair of sharp scissors, care be-
ing taken not to draw blood the same
with an overgrown bill.
Canaries, if kept for singing alone,
should be placed in cages of about foot
in diameter, either round or square, as in
larger cages they do not sing SO we'll or SO
constantly, having too much room to fly
about and amuse themselves, which takes
away their attention from singing. 1t is
not necessary to keep these birds in very
warm room in winter, as they can endure
great deal of cold without injury, but
they should not be removed from cold
room to warm one, or vice versa, but be
kept in as equal a temperature as possible
and free from draught. In the summer it
is well TO keep the bird in the fresh air,
but shaded from the sun and rain.-[N. Y.
World.