I have bred Canaries in rooms and in cages, and I prefer the latter method, not only because I have been more successful in this way, but I think there is more pleasure and gratification in breeding in cages. You can go close up to the cage and look at them when feeding their young, without startling them, or take down the nests and see if all is right, and attend to their little wants, without frightening other hens off their nests, and have them all flying around you; and there is no fear of confusion amongst them, or of their quarrelling together, in a room, as I have seen them; for birds will get irritated sometimes as well as men, and fight too. Two or three years ago I had about fifteen females, all sitting on eggs together in nests in a room. For a few days they all sat well, and I had every prospect of having a large family of young Canaries, when one lady bird began to get restless, and come off her nest oftener than was necessary to eat; then she began to visit her neighbors, and at last got, like some other lady birds, to be a complete gadder abroad, and we almost gave up all hopes of her ever raising her family, and thought some of removing her out of the community. One day, in my absence, (as there are degrees in crime,) she had commenced pilfering from some of her steady neighbors; they had resented, of course; then came the tug of war, and Greek met Greek. The males had interfered to make peace, as was their bounden duty; the other lady birds, seeing their lords in danger, had come to the rescue, and there was nothing but riot and confusion, in this hitherto peaceful community. And when 1 arrived I found the floor strewed with broken eggs and fragments of nests; and where I had anticipated a fine harvest of young Canary birds, all was ruin and desolation. I immediately removed the delinquent, and two or three of the most furious of the combatants; but the mischief was done; this naughty female had imbued them all with her wicked spirit, and they fought and quarrelled, and quarrelled and fought, forsook their nests, or fought over them, until they broke the eggs in them; and from the whole I do not believe I had ten young birds.

A cage, to breed a pair of birds comfortably, should not be less than eighteen inches long. To each corner, opposite the door, pretty near the top, put a ring of common cage wire; take two of those little baskets which are imported from Germany every season, and after putting in a little tow or oakum, (the last is a good preventive against those little red mites) to fill them up, as they are made rather deep, line them inside with a piece of new woollen flannel, (which is better than the cotton,) sew it well through the basket with linen thread, and make it smooth inside; it will then be something like a teacup; then fit the rings in the cage to the nests, and make them fast by turning the ends over and driving them into the rail of the cage. Let the nests go pretty well down, so as not to tilt when the bird hops on them; and it is well to put a little edge on the top of them, so as they will not go down through. Make them fit easy, so that you can take them out and look at the eggs, or young. If you live in the country you may make the baskets yourself, of twigs, or splints of wood, as I have often done; then take some cotton wicking, and cut it in short pieces, and a few feathers. When the bird layed, if those materials were not put in snugly, I always take them out, as they are apt to catch their feet and pull the eggs out of the nest; then the eggs lay on the flannel, which is quite sufficient. Put in both your nests when you put in your birds, and let the female make her choice. This is necessary, for, when the young are about ten days old, she will leave the care of them to the male, who will rear them, and lay again, in the other nest. When the young leave a nest, take it out and put in a new one, or take all the lining of it, bake it in the oven, or throw it into boiling water, and then line it anew. These precautions are necessary, to destroy any of those mites which may have got about the nest, or prevent their breeding. This simple method of preparing the nests, I have found the best for the comfort and convenience of the birds; and I have been very successful in breeding them. It may be sufficient to say, that from a pair of birds I had twenty-one young ones, in one season, all alive and well. If you wish your birds to build their own nests, in place of the baskets, put up boxes four inches square, and three inches deep, made of thin wood;* then furnish your birds with some fine, dry grass; such as grows about the roots of bushes and fences is good, and some cotton wick cut in short pieces; also, some deer, or cow's hair; the hair should be washed clean, then put into a warm oven, or dried before the fire. Strew those materials over the bottom of the cage, or put them separately, in pieces of net, and hang them in the corners of the cage, and they will pull them out as they want them. It is better not to put but one box in at first, as they may amuse themselves by carrying the materials from one to another, and thereby lose time. Before you put in the box, take some of the grass, and fashion the frame of a nest, as neat as you can, (this will save time, and the labor of the birds,) and they will finish it to suit themselves, or rather she will, for the female is the master-builder, the male only an assistant, or laborer, bringing her the materials. I have seen a female pounce upon the poor male, and give him an unmerciful thrashing, when he had merely hopped in, to try how it would suit him, while she was engaged building it, and had probably gone to eat. If vou wish the birds to do the whole of the building of the nest, put in the box empty, and they will carry in all the grass, or hay, with the other material, themselves.

* Camphor wood, or red cedar, is the best, if it can be procured, (as the mites will not breed in it,) if not, common cedar; nail them close together, in the joints, and give them a good coat of copal varnish, and hang them in the sun to dry.