_HOW CANARIES LIVE AND SING._ [Illustration] 1. Canary-birds were first found in a warm region, and they can not live out-of-doors in our country. They have lived so long in cages, and been taken care of, that now they have lost the power to get their own living, and, if turned out, would soon starve to death. 2. The canary is one of the sweetest of all the bird singers, and it is so pretty in its ways, and so clean, that it is more often made a pet than any other bird. It has a sweet song of its own, but it is easily taught to sing a great many new notes. The songs of the canary, as we hear them, are very different from its song when wild. [Illustration] 3. A canary will often become so tame that it will fly about the room, come when called, perch on its mistress's finger, and eat out of her mouth. 4. The canary lays from four to six eggs, and hatches them in about two weeks. Both father and mother bird take care of the young. 5. In a large cage with two parts, two finches were in one end and two canaries in the other. The finches hatched out their eggs, but did not feed their young ones enough. The father canary, hearing their hungry cries, forced himself between the bars into their part of the cage, and fed them. This he did every day, till the finches were shamed into feeding the little ones themselves. LESSON XVIII. _A SONG OF SUMMER._ [Illustration] A cuckoo sat on a tree and sang, "Summer is coming, coming"; And a bee crept out from the hive and began Lazily humming, humming. The frogs, from out the rushes and reeds, Into the water went splashing; And the dragon-fly, with his body of green, Through the flags went flashing, flashing. The dormouse put out her head and said, "Really the sun shines brighter"; But the butterfly answered, "Not yet, not yet," And folded his wings up tighter. But the thrush and the blackbird began to sing Ever sweeter and sweeter, And the grasshopper chirped, and hopped, and skipped Ever fleeter and fleeter. The gnats and the chafers began to buzz; And the swallows began to chatter: "We have come from abroad with the summer at last. How lazy you are! what's the matter?" Then the dormouse said, "Summer's really here, Since the swallows are homeward coming"; And the butterfly spread out his wings, and the bee Went louder and louder humming. And suddenly brighter the sun shone out, And the clouds away went sailing, And the sheep nibbled peacefully at the grass, And the cow looked over the paling. Yes, summer had come, and the cuckoo sang His song through woodland and hollow: "The summer is come; if you don't believe me, You have only to ask the swallow." LESSON XIX. _HOW PARROTS LOOK AND TALK._ [Illustration]