to prevent the entrance of vermin into the cage, and should they be detected both cage and bird must immediately be washed with linseed or rapeseed oil. Except during the breeding season, the females may all be kept together in a large cage, that is, if they will live in peace, which is not always the case. The place in which the cage hangs ought to be kept tolerably warm, but should the bird be exposed to a hot sun a screen should be provided. In winter the females may be kept without injury in a room in which the temperature is below freezing-point, but the male under such circumstances refuses to sing; many experiments have proved to us that these birds can endure extreme cold if only well fed, and provided with snow to drink instead of water. Canaries should be screened from draughts. Some perfumes are very injurious to them; one evening we placed a blooming _Orchis bifolia_ in a room occupied by three of these delicate creatures, and in the morning found the two females dead, and the male so overcome that he was only saved by prompt attention. The use of the common kind of lamp-oil blackens the feathers, but does not in other respects injure the bird. As to the most suitable food, we can only refer to the treatment adopted by the inhabitants of Andreasdorf, of which we gave a detailed account in a previous page. The average age attained by the Canary in Malaga is sixteen years, but we have heard of cases where by great attention they have lived to the age of twenty. The number of eggs laid by this species is large, and one reared by us produced as many as twenty-nine within the year; the eggs are white, and dotted with red at the broad end. The female broods from about thirteen to fifteen days; the young birds quit the nest soon after leaving the egg, and feed themselves within a week of that time. Before a month has passed the feathers, with the exception of those on the tail and wings, begin to moult, and the change is not completed for some months. By the ensuing moulting season the young birds have commenced singing, and the males are then easily recognised by the fluency of their song, the notes of the young female being quite unconnected. Should it be desired to render a favourite very tame, no food should be given in the cage, the bird being thus compelled to take all from the hand. The Canary is well known to be a most docile pupil, and will learn to exhibit its skill by spelling words that are repeated to it, selecting the letters in proper order from an alphabet laid before it; will find the required pieces of cloth from amongst several others; and has been taught to add up, multiply, or divide figures by the assistance of numbers given it to choose from. Others will sing when commanded, pretend to fall dead when a pistol is fired, then allow themselves to be laid on a little car to be carried to the grave by two other canaries, and when the journey is accomplished will jump up and sing a lively song. All these tricks are