Canary Breeding and Management for Amateurs with Twelve Illustrations

By Jerome K Jerome

"Canary Breeding and Management for Amateurs" is a novice-friendly and profusely-illustrated handbook on keeping canaries, with chapters on everything you might need to know from the construction of cages and perches, to common ailments and their treatment. This timeless guide contains a wealth of useful and practical information, making it ideal for existing and prospective canary owners alike. Contents include: "Birds", "Cages", "Perches and Platforms", "Whitewashing Cages", "Small Cages as a Cause of Disease", "Water", "Food", "Sand", "Preparing for Breeding", "The Egg", "Egg-bound", "Taking Eggs Away", "Young Birds Thrown out of Nest", "Putting the Young Under Another Hen", "Plucking the Young Birds", etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality addition complete with the original text and artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Country Books
• Release date: Sep 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781473344259

Jerome K Jerome

Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) was an English writer who grew up in a poverty-stricken family. After multiple bad investments and the untimely deaths of both parents, the clan struggled to make ends meet. The young Jerome was forced to drop out of school and work to support himself. During his downtime, he enjoyed the theatre and joined a local repertory troupe. He branched out and began writing essays, satires and many short stories. One of his earliest successes was Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) but his most famous work is Three Men in a Boat (1889).

Book preview

CANARY BREEDING

AND

MANAGEMENT

FOR AMATEURS.

BY JEROME.

With Twelve Illustrations.

FIFTH EDITION.

YORKSHIRE AND NORWICH CANARIES.

PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION.

THAT in less than four years, three successive Editions (each of 2,500 copies) of this work should have been exhausted, is, I think, practical evidence of its value. Its necessity is obvious to any one who studies the Answers to Queries by its Author, week by week in The Feathered World.

Some verbal alterations have been made in the present edition, advantage has been taken of the type being entirely re-set to slightly alter the position of two articles, and, in order to render the work more useful, three new illustrations have been prepared, and the old ones engraved afresh, with, I think, satisfactory results.

ETHEL COMYNS.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTORY

BIRDS

CAGES

PERCHES AND PLATFORMS

WHITEWASHING CAGES

SMALL CAGES AS A CAUSE OF DISEASE

WATER

FOOD

SAND

PREPARING FOR BREEDING

THE EGG

EGG-BOUND

TAKING EGGS AWAY

YOUNG BIRDS THROWN OUT OF NEST

PUTTING THE YOUNG UNDER ANOTHER HEN

PLUCKING THE YOUNG BIRDS

How TO HAND-FEED YOUNG BIRDS

HENS FEEDING YOUNG

HENS STARVING THE YOUNG

LOOKING AT THE YOUNG

HEN SWEATING HER YOUNG

YOUNG BIRDS DYING IN THE SHELL

TAKING THE HEN AWAY

SEPARATING THE YOUNG FROM THE PARENTS

TEMPERATURE

INSECTS

CAKED FEET

CUTTING CLAWS

SUNLIGHT, GAS, DRAUGHTS

YOUNG BIRDS IN FLIGHT

SKIN DISEASE

FEEDING FOR COLOUR

MOULTING

WASHING BIRDS FOR SHOW BENCH

RUNNING TWO OR THREE HENS WITH ONE COCK

DAMP ROOMS

CRESTED CANARIES

EVENLY MARKED NORWICH

BELGIANS

YORKSHIRES

THE LANCASHIRE COPPY

CINNAMONS

LIZARDS

SCOTCH FANCIES

MULE BREEDING

DISEASES OF CAGE BIRDS

ILLUSTRATIONS.

YORKSHIRE AND NORWICH CANARIES

JEROME’S BREEDING CAGE

CRESTED NORWICH

LANCASHIRE PLAINHEAD

SCOTCH FANCY

EVENLY MARKED NORWICH

BELGIAN CANARY

LANCASHIRE COPPY

YELLOW CINNAMON

SILVER SPANGLED LIZARD

CANARY BULLFINCH MULE

NORWICH CANARY

INDEX

CANARIES.

Introductory.

WHAT! another Book on Canaries, I fancy I hear the reader say, I thought the subject was thrashed to pieces long ago. To a certain extent the reader is right in his conclusion; nevertheless there are many points which up to the present time have not been sufficiently explained in the books that have been published, consequently, Amateur Breeders have been misled, despaired of success, and given up the Fancy" in disgust.

At the urgent request of a number of friends, I have resolved to write this little book in the hope that it may help fanciers generally, especially beginners, in Canary and Mule Breeding. All diffusiveness of language has as far as possible been avoided, the different subjects have been classified under their respective headings, and the index made complete. It is therefore hoped that the book may be found to be one of ready reference in cases of difficulty and doubt.

The suggestions given are not opinions based on theories, but are the result of practical experience extending over many years—experience, too, not only of myself, but of some of the best fanciers in England whom I have had the pleasure of knowing, whose bird-rooms have always been open to me, and whose opinions on all questions relating to breeding and rearing have been freely given.

There is not any subject in Natural History that so readily leads the human mind to admire the wisdom and the omnipotence of the Great Creator as the study of birds. Some can ascend almost to the gates of heaven, as the Lark; others can at will float on and combat the fury of the mighty ocean, as the Seagull and the little Mother Carey’s Chickens; and all are more or less at home on dry land—combined powers not given to any other living creatures. Birds not only delight us with their charming song, but are the most