The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-09-20
THE GERMAN CANARY
STRONGER AND MORE MELODlOUS
THAN ANY OTHER VARIETY.

HCuAAy ~ "AAAAOA "a TIC n1rOS STCu
In the Harz Mountains Every Year.
Almost All Classes of People There
Are In the Business.
Nearly all the canaries imported into
America are from Germany. A Green
witch street bird dealer of New York
imports from 10000 to 10000 canaries
year, and estimates the total Ameri-
can importations Of the melodious lit
tie creatures at about 100000 annually.
Everything considered the German
canary birds are more satisfactory to
most people than those bred anywhere
else. They are not so hardy in this
country, perhaps, as the American
bred; they are not 50 large and good
looking as the English or Scotch va
rieties, nor so freakily snowy as those
raised in Belgium. But of all canaries
the German bred sing most satisfacto-
rly, and as ninety-nine in a hundred
buyers Of birds want them for their
songs, the bulk of the business is in
German birds.
The canary was first found wild in
whether the islands were named from
the bird or the bird from the islands
nobody knows. Today, though canary
birds still fly about in freedom among
the tree branches of the Canary and
the Madeira islands, many thousands
more are bred in Germany than any
where, probably than everywhere, else.
And for some reason most German
canaries are bred in that part Of Ger
many known as the Harz mountains.
Perhaps there is a climatic reason for
Harz mountain birds to be stronger
and more melodious than others; per-
haps the breeders there learned the
business better than other breeders
25O years ago when the birds were
first taken to Europe; perhaps it just
happened so. At all events, there are
not only more Harz mountain ca
naries than any others, but they are
the best in everything but size, color
and freakishness; st. Andreasberg,
whence came the famous full roller
songsters, is in the Harz mountains.
Inasmuch as the Harz mountain
breeders have to supply the demand
for canaries in all parts of Germany
and some other European countries as
we'll as the chief part Of the American
demand, it is probable that nearly a
million birds are bred there every
year. Oddly enough, while the raising
Of canaries is one of the leading indus
tries of the region, no one is under
stood to be devoted exclusively to
canary breeding. Nearly all classes Of
people breed canaries-the butcher, the
baker and the candlestick maker; the
farmer, the blacksmith, the miller and
all. The most extensive breeder
known to the Greenwich street i'm
porter breeds only 700 or 800 year.
while many breed only a few each, so
there must be thousands and thou
sands of breeders.
The German canaries begin to reach
this country early in August, and the
shipments continue all through the fall
and winter, the heaviest of them COM
ing in November and December, just
in time for the birds to be useful as
holiday presents. Importation stops in
March for the year.
The birds reach this country at ages
ranging from few months to a year
The younger ones have not been taught
to sing Of course, and really are not
wanted by American dealers as a rule,
for teaching them to sing is a tedious
operation No importer likes to refuse q
consignment Of young birds with the
demand as great as it is, however, for
fear some other dealer will get them.
AS practically every bird breeder in
the Harz mountains has some other
way of making living besides hatch
ing, rearing and selling canaries,
which are thus a byproduct, they are
generally bred just under the roofs, in
the attics, and there kept till they have
learned to sing. Different breeders
adopt different methods of teaching the
BIRDS
Many a breeder keeps in his posses
sion as long as it lives one especially
good singing bird; the young birds hear
his song and initiate it. Others prefer
the canary organ, a queer whistling
~~A0SA OAASAS "Ao0O uoC4FC pOWCI IS u
stream of water from a pipe acting
on little water wheel. This mechan-
ical melody producer is kept going con-
tinuously when birds are being taught
to sing, and the fact that it never gets
tired or falls asleep gives it one value
not possessed by the living bird.
Some breeders use both the living
bird and the canary organ, only run
ming the latter when the former refuses
to sing.
Canaries are bred in every country of
Europe, but mostly for domestic con-
sumption. English canaries are much
larger than the German birds, one rich
orange colored cayenne pepper fed
English canary being twice or thrice
the size Of the average little st. An
dreasberg roller. Not only do English
bred canaries, for some unexplained
reason, tend to grow larger than the
German breed, but, and for an equally
little understood reason, their song,
though loud and vociferous enough, is
not nearly so melodious as the German