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be made drawing-room pets. The head closely resembles that of the Skyeterrier, but the hair covering the face is more flossy. The general coat is as long also, but more transparent and soft, sometimes running into a fine species of wool; tail carried over the back, but very short, with a brush of silky hair. Colour white, with an occasional patch of fawn. Weight not more than 6 or 7 lbs., and as much less as possible.

Each variety of the TERRIER when bred less than 5, or even 7 lbs., is considered to belong to the TOYS. If black and tan, the colours should be very distinct and rich, without a speck of white, and on the tan cach toe should be pencilled with a fine streak of black reaching to the knce. This is a point greatly insisted on by fanciers. Blue and fawn smooth terriers are also prized highly, but they are not so handsome as the black and tan. Smooth white terriers should be without a speck of colour; but they show too much of the pink colour of the skin for my taste. These dogs have generally their ears clipped with tails left perfect, but some people prefer both left as nature provides them. The rough blue fawn, silky coat terrier, makes a very pretty toy dog, and so does the dwarf bull-terrier-both resembling the larger breeds in all points. The Italian greyhound, crossed with the terrier or spaniel, is often passed off as the pure toy terrier, especially the latter, which may be known by the full eye peculiar to the spaniel breed. The LION DOG and SMALL POODLE are both sometimes made toy dogs, as well as the Chinese and Japanese spaniel, but they are not bred in this country to any extent.

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Here at once we plunge into a wide subject, and must take care we do not lose ourselves and lead our readers astray. We wish to give them as much sound, useful information as possible in a small space, and therefore shall say little about the poetical associations of the delightful songsters that make our homes so lively and musical. We might talk by the hour of all the beautiful things that the poets have said and sung about them, and quote long passages of description from those who have observed them in their wild state; but this, although very delightful, would not accord with the object of this book, and perhaps the boys and girls for whom we write would not care to read them, although they must be pleased, when they take their walks abroad, to observe for themselves the interesting manners and customs of the feathered people.

Let us begin with

THE CANARY,

that most delightful of all feathered songsters; and in saying this we do not forget the nightingale, the poets' favourite, that certainly has the richest and most melodious natural song of any bird that we know of.

Canaries are great favourites with bird-fanciers: on their breeding and education they bestow much pains, and from their sale they derive a large part of their income. Many are bred in this country; but it is from Germany that the chief supply is obtained. The price of a good singer varies from a

crown to a guinea, and even more. In the canary shows, at which prizes are given for the best birds, shape and colour are considered more than powers of song, and no birds are admitted to those shows unless they come up to 2 certain standard of excellence in these respects, however fine a singer he may be. The show birds are arranged in classes, in accordance with some peculiarities of colour and marking. There are "Jonques," and "Lizards," and "Mealy birds,” and other names cunningly devised to puzzle simple people, and exalt canary-breeding into a science; but we must not trouble ourselves with all that. Once more-Bother science!

The canary, as my readers are doubtless aware, is not a bird native to Britain. We never see it flying about in the woods and fields like the larks and its relatives the pretty finches. Originally it came from the Canary Islands-turn to your maps and see whereabouts they are. But the wild birds are not so beautiful as those we behold in our cages and aviaries. Cultivation has improved the appearance, as well as the voice, greatly. All, or nearly all, of the wild canaries are grey, with a greenish tinge; the rich golden plumage which is so familiar to us, is seldom seen among them. They were first brought from their native islands as long ago as the latter part of the sixteenth century certainly, perhaps carlier than this, and the first European ground in which they found a resting-place was that little island in the Mediterannean Sea called Elba. It is stated that a ship, bound for Leghorn, with some of these Canary Islanders on board, was wrecked at Elba, and the prisoners escaping, settled and bred there; and in this manner, we are told, the first canaries found their way into our quarter of the globe. Since then, how many thousands have been brought from their distant home, and how many millions, we had almost said, have been bred and dispersed all over the world! Throughout England there are canary-breeders, and it is curious to note how many of them are either hairdressers or weavers. Yorkshire and Norfolk are the two counties that send out annually the greatest number of these birds; those from the former county are most celebrated for their strength and powers of song, those from the latter are the most graceful and beautiful birds, as they are also the most delicate. They are generally sent up to London in the autumn, and then is the time to choose a canary pet, when the markets are well stocked with young and vigorous birds. From Prussia and Belgium they generally come earlier in the year, and among these foreign importations are some of the finest songsters. The dealers live in all parts of London, but chiefly in the neighbourhood of Holborn and Oxford Street in the west, and Clerkenwell and Whitechapel in the east. They are no doubt very honest people, but they sometimes make mistakes, so it is best, when you have made choice of a bird that pleases you, to bring it away. We have known such a thing as a hen substituted for a cock, in which case you do not get what you doubtless require, a sweet songster; for the hen does not sing-he only, as the breeders say, "chatters."

"First catch your hare," says Mrs. Glasse in her famous cookery-book," and then skin it;" but if nobody ate hare until he or she had caught one, there would be few hare-eaters in the land. People generally have their game caught or shot for them, and so they have their canaries bred and trained for them, and they must first buy one, and then put it into a cige. And what sort of a cage should it be? Why, a pretty cage, of course. Yes, but prettiness is not the only quality which recommends it: soft wood, such as fir, should never be used in the construction, as this would be likely to breed insects, with

which cage birds are often much troubled. A metal cage is perhaps best, as it can be most easily cleaned, and can be made very light and pretty. The shape should be circular, and there should be at least a foot in height of interior space, and eight inches in length and breadth; there should be two or three perches, one very near the bottom, so that the bird can stand on it and peck from the seed and water-vessels, which are best of glass; another about half-way up, and one yet higher, unless there is a ring suspended on the top of the dome; these perches should cross each other. The breedingcage, of course, must be more roomy, and of a different shape; but about this we can give no directions that would be of much service: if any of our readers mean to go into canary-breeding, a book on the subject had better be procured.

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Take care that your canary cage is not hung in a draught, or in a place where there is a foul smell of any kind; the lungs of the bird are very delicate, and many a pet has languished and died without any perceptible cause, through breathing keen or unwholesome air. If in a room where gas is burned, the cage should always be lowered or taken away before it is lit, as the air above soon gets heated and unfit for breathing.

Seed and water-vessels are best of glass, as they can be most easily kept clean and bright, as everything about a bird should be-clear as the crystal water and bright as the sunshine in which it delights. Yet there should be provision made for shelter, too; it cannot live always in a glare: naturally much of its life is passed in the shadow of green leaves, so let it have some green about it when in confinement, leafy boughs that quiver and wave as the breeze kisses them, and fresh flowers that give out a pleasant perfume, or, if these are not available, draw a covering of emerald-tinted gauze, or some other thin stuff, partly over the cage when the sun is hot and bright. All this is

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