The propagation of canaries is attended with many difficulties and disappointments, which have not been diminished by the many expedients to obviate them. For pairing, young males, of from two to five years old, are usually selected; and experience shows, that if such breed with females older than themselves, the majority of the brood will consist of males. Old birds may be recognised by the projecting blackish scales of the legs, and by their strong claws. Good breeding birds are rare and costly. Both males and females have their faults of temper or constitution, and it is best for the amateur to get rid of faulty birds, and to supply their places with others, for none of the corrections proposed are entirely effectual.

To procure handsome young ones, the best method is, to allow only such birds to pair as are both of the same color, and themselves clearly marked; though, of course, in large aviaries, this precaution cannot be taken. Greenish or brownish, paired with light-yellow birds, often produce very hand-some offspring. One rule, however, may be laid down as invariable; not to allow two crested birds to pair, as the young ones are almost always bald, or in some way disfigured on the head.

Canaries begin to pair about the middle of March or April, and may be allowed to do so either in a room or cage. Wash their breeding cages well and thoroughly with soft or strong black soap and water, both inside and out, and particularly in all the corners, crevices, and joinings, of the cage; to get at which you must use a painter's 'brush, and rub and press it well with the soap suds into all the crevices and corners, for in these places lurk the little minute vermin which destroy more birds in the breeding season than all other causes put together; - for the same reason also, never allow the nest boxes to be made out of the corners or any other part of the breeding cage, nor be fixed to it; but have moveable boxes to hang on hooks or nails, as you cannot by any possibility keep them free from these destructive vermin, unless you can take out the nest boxes, and wash them clean inside and out; burning the dirty nests; and giving them a fresh clean box and nest also.

It is a good plan to cover the floor thickly, at first, with sand, and then, if absolutely necessary, the top can be raked off; a slide is preferable to a drawer, which is open to the very grave objection that it affords a harbor for insects to lodge. You should have two slides, which is simply a smooth board, that they may be cleaned and dried by turns. If one keeps a cage both clean and quiet for five weeks, it will be found no easy task.

Place the breeding-cages in an airy and light room; and if the morning sun shines into the room for two or three hours, it will be much the better. Avoid draughts of air, for young callow birds are tender, and cannot stand cold streams of fresh air. In fine weather, open one of the windows, an hour or two early in the morning, when the sun shines, and in hot weather leave it open the greater part of the day, and also for a portion of the night, provided you prevent draughts by keeping the doors closed. Take care the window has a secure wire guard.

The grand principle for you to observe is an even temperature, for too much heat is as much to be avoided as too little; the former, with want of good air, making the hens sickly, producing weakening perspirations, and breeding very weak birds.

The pair which are designed to breed together should be put for a week into a small cage, before being removed to the large breeding-cage. If a male is to be mated with two females, the females should be previously confined in a small cage, till they have learned to agree. In this case, the breeding-cage should be divided into two parts, by a partition, in which is a communication, closed by a sliding-door. The male is first put with one of the females into one of the compartments, with the door of communication shut. "When she has laid, he is to be taken away and put into the other compartment with the second female. When she has also laid her eggs, the door may be left permanently open, and the male allowed to pass from one to the other, and they will not be jealous of each other if they were old friends. In a room full of canaries, the proportion of males to females should be one to two, or even three. Each male will at first select a mate, with whom he will always continue on the most affectionate terms. But lie will also pair with other females, without afterwards troubling him self much with either them or their eggs. It is noticed, that from unions such as these, the largest broods and the best birds are produced. But we lose in these unions one source of pleasure to the bird-keeper: for who would like to lose that prettiest of sights, when the forwardest nestling arrives at the perch, and sits between its parents, fluttering its little wings, and being fed by them alternately, in the midst of busy and delighted twittering. Of course, when one bird is the father of several young families, there is not much chance of his being much at home with any of them ; and the mother has no business to be always off her nest, as she must be, to supply a strong brood all by herself, with food. Cheerfulness, too, is an important thing in a bird cage, and a poor little hen, toiling on all alone, is by no means a lively sight. When the females can get at their rivals, a general skirmish terminates in torn nests. One little canary hen invariably flew off her nest in the most reckless manner, and went dashing after her most particular enemy whenever she passed near her, and, of course, these sudden antics were very dangerous, both to eggs and young. When the birds are about to build, strew fine moss and wool on the floor of the cage, or have two little net-bags filled with soft dry moss or grass, free from stalks, and a little soft wool or hair, which is better short, as long hairs sometimes get caught about a bird's foot. A few nice little feathers is also a great boon, and some soft down for lining. I think it best to have two bags, putting that with the moss in first; but the bags should be hung outside the wires, to prevent, not only entanglements, but considerable waste of strength, as in one case the birds dragged up forcibly the whole bag into their nursery. Jenny thought she was conveying her nest up wholesale, and she meant to jump upon it and scoop out a hole. Make the bags yourself; do not buy them ready prepared, as much of the comfort of the brood depends on perfect cleanliness. It is absolutely essential that all bought materials should be thoroughly baked or scalded before they are used, to destroy vermin concealed in them.