Birds and All Nature, Vol. 4, No. 2, August 1898: Illustrated by Color PhotographyVarious
History
Birds and All Nature, Vol. 4, No. 2, August 1898: Illustrated by Color Photography
Various
Birds -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals
In the mating and breeding season, however, young birds appear in the
great aviary which must be taught to sing and whistle accurately. Most
people imagine that all the perfection of song cage-birds is inherited,
and they would be surprised to learn the amount of labor bestowed upon
them in order to make their tunes accurate. The young birds that have
the proper voices for great artists are trained in the most careful
manner. In the Hartz Mountains, where Canary training reaches its
highest development, the throat and voice of each young Canary are
tested, and those selected for the highest training are set apart by
themselves. They are sent to a school of instruction that is unique in
its methods. At the head of this school is probably a Canary of the St.
Andreasberg type, which strikes the right note for all the youngsters
to imitate. The young birds are taken into the room in their cages,
with cloth draped over them to shut out the light until the proper time
has come for singing. Then the light is admitted and the teacher begins
her warbling. The young birds, which have probably never yet attempted
to pipe, leave off their feeding and listen to the marvelous outburst
of pure song. They become uneasy and enraptured, and in a short time
they try to imitate the song; but they make miserable failures for many
days. Eventually some of them strike the right note, and at the end of
the week the most promising ones are separated from the rest and placed
in rooms with the best singers. In this way their voices are gradually
cultivated, and new songs are taught them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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