CANARY AND CAGEBIRD NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 16, 16 December 1937, Page 15

CANARY AND CAGEBIRD NOTES.

JOYS OF CANARY BREEDING

(By “Unfliglited.”)

If a questionnaire were to be sent to a hundred breeders of canaries asking them to answer the question, “How 1 came to take up the hobby,” the resulting replies would be most illuminating and instructive. A large proportion would probably say that “they grew up with birds” because their parents or friends were bird keepers. Others, perhaps, would remark that a casual visit to, a cage bird show prompted them to take up the hobby, and quite a few would attribute their

entry to the game to a gift or the purchase of a single pet bird. All, however, will ngree on one point—that there is no hobby available to all classes of people, rich and poor, which can compare with canary breeding. Man has a natural and inborn instinct to keep a pet, and there is no more pleasant manner in which this human craving can be satisfied than by the keeping of canaries. * Although there are no reliable statistics upon which to base an opinion, I think it can be safely admitted that the majority of people who are attracted to small bird breeding are persons of mature age. Perhaps the reason is that the average youthful animal lover graduates from tadpoles to frogs, guinea pigs to rabbits and dogs, and, at long last, comes to love birds. I know that before I settled down to canary breeding I passed through all these stages. The definite advantages of keeping and breeding canaries is that they need but a small space, that the work entailed in feeding and cleaning is light, and that the capital outlay need only amount to a few shillings. Most people hare a small garden in which to construct a 6mall aviary. But even flat dwellers can indulge in the delights of Our hobby by setting aside a corner or recess in one of the living-rooms sufficient to house a pair or two. The fact that the hobby pays for itself is an important one to many people who cannot afford expensive pastimes or pleasures. There are few hobbies Which can be said to be paying propositions, but this can certainly be claimed of canary breeding. One section of bird keepers are content with the simple joy of bird keeping, whereas another section requires the added excitement of the show bench. A first prize on a cage is the “high spot” which keeps the owner at fever neat throughout the breeding season. That keenness to win is reflected in the high prices they are prepared to pay for the choicer specimens, and ait average person is quite naturally astounded to learn that a mere canary can change hands at £lO, £2O, or even £3O, and he marvels that these birds can be worth such fabulous sums.

Actually, of course, the birds may not be worth these high prices, but the keenness of the competitions overrides all other considerations.

The approximate price which one should pay for the initial stock will depend upon the object in view and the means of the buyer. If the interest lies in the possession of a garden aviary, where the birds can fly and breed indiscriminately on the colony system, the whole stock could be bought for the same amount as another breeder Would have to pay for one pair of exhibition birds. Ardent exhibitors are apt to forget that the exhibition side of the hobby is but a fraction of the whole, and that a very large number of canary breeders only keep birds for the unadulterated pleasure which they derive from tending them. It is the small breeder of, song birds who causes those flutterings in the breasts of passers-by. He it is who attracts large numbers of new fanciers to the hobby. To ihe exhibitor of canaries the song of his birds is merely an indication of health, but to the majority of the public the crowning glory of a canary is its song, and, therefore, every‘'encouragement should be given by clubs or societies to the small breeder of song birds. He is “one of us” and we welcome him into our birdy circle with open arms. In conclusion, I have much pleasure in wishing all my readers and bird fanciers a particularly happy Christmas and a bright New Year.