warm: ther. mix it with warm m: k and water till it is as stiff as it can be stirred; let the milk be as warm as it can be borne with the finger, put a cupful of this with .hree eggs well beaten, and mixed with three spoonfuls of very thick yeast; then put this to the batter, and beat them all well together in a large pan or bowl add as much milk and water as will make it into a thick batter; cover it close, and put it before the fire to rise; put a bit of butter in a piece of thin muslin, tie it up, and rub it lightly over the iron hearth or frying-pan; then pour on a sufficient quantity of batter at a time to make one crumpet; let it do slowly, and it will be very light. Bake then all the same way. They should not be brown, but of a fine yellow.

Muffins.

Mix a quartern of nne flour, 1 1-2 pints of warm milk and water, with 1-4 of a pint of good yeast, and a little salt; stir them together for a quarter of an hour, then strain the liquor into a quarter of a peck of fine flour; mix the dough well, and set it to rise for an hour, then roll it up and pull it into small pieces, make them up in the hand like balls, and lay a flannel over them while rolling, to keep them warm. The dough should be closely covered up the whole time; when the whole is rolled into balls, the first that are made will be ready for baking. When they are spread out in the right form for muffins, lay them on tins and bake them, and as the bottoms begin to change color, turn them on the other side.

Common Buns.

Rub four ounces of butter into two pounds of flour, a little salt, four ounces of sugar, a dessert-spoonful of carraways, and a teaspoonful of ginger; put some warm milk or cream to four tablespoonfuls of yeast; mix all together into a paste, but not too stiff; cover it over, and set it before the fire an hour to rise, then make it into buns, put them on a tin, set them before the fire for a quarter of an hour, ccver over with flannel, then brush them with very warm milk, and bake them of a nice brown in a moderate oven.

Rusks.

Beat up seven eggs, mix them with half a pint of warm new milk, in which a quarter of a pound of butter has been melted, add a quarter of a pint of yeast, and three ounces of sugar; put them gradually into as much flour as will make a light paste nearly as thin as batter; let it rise before the fire half an hour, add more flour to make it a little stiffer, work it well, and divide it into small loaves, or cakes, about five or six inches wide, and flatten them. When baked and cold, put them into the oven to brown a little. These cakes, when first baked, are very good buttered for tea; if they are made with cerraway seeds, they eat very nice cold.

Baked Custards.

Boil a pint of cream with some mace and cinnamon, and when it is cold, take four yolks of eggs, a little rose-water, sack. nutmeg, and sugar, to taste; mix them well and bake them.

Lemon Custards.

Take half a pound of double refired sugar, the juice of two lemons, the rind of one pared very thin, the inner rind of one boiled tender, and rubbed through a sieve, and a pint of white wine; boil them for somo time, then take out the peel and a l.ttle of the liquor; strain them into the dish, stir them well together, and set them to cool.

Orange or Lemon Pre,

Rub six oranges or lemons with salt, and put them into water, with. ■ handful of sait, for two days. Put every day fresh water without salt, for a fortnight. Boil them tender, cut them into half quarters, corner ways, quite thin; boil six pippins, pared, cored, and quartered, in a pint of water till they break, then put the liquor to the oranges or lemons, with half the pulp of the pippins well broken, and a pound of sugar; boil them a quarter of an hour, then put them into a pot and Equeeze in two spoonfuls of the juice of either orange or lemon, according to the kind of tart; put puff paste, very thin, into shallow patty-pans. Take a brush, and rub them over with melted butter, sift double refined sugar over them, which will form a pretty icing, and hake them.

THE CANARY BIRD FANCIER.

For the amusement of our leisure hours, I know not that a more innocent or rational pursuit can be recommended than that of rearing these harmonious songsters.

In many of the principal cities and towns, the industrious mechanic and manufacturer are enabled to pay the entire of their rents, and to add to their comforts, by attending, in the intervals of their labor, to the rearing and management of these pleasing little warblers. Pleasure is thus blended with profit; and our pretty songsters help tc "feed the hungry and clothe the naked."

To the gentleman fancier they afford an equal degree of amusement and delight; and, if profit were his object, the prices which are frequently given for well-bred birds, sufficiently prove that they may be easily obtained. I will only add, the directions here given for their treatment in cases of illness, are the result of practical knowledge, and many years' experience of their efficacy.

(1.) Of the general characteristics of Canaries.

Canaries are not naturally so delicate as they are thought to be, but become so from the little attention and improper treatment that is sometimes paid them. It may be said with truth, that they excel most other birds in their good qualities-1st, In the sweetness and melody of their song, which continues nearly the whole of the year, excepting only the time of moulting, during which they are generally silent; although some, in spite of their annual illness, do not even en lose their song. 2dly, By their rich and beautiful plumage, which

s displayed in seven or eight different colors, causing a variety of our responding names to be given them by different fanciers. 3dly, By their docility; which is manifested by their learning quickly a variety of pleasing little tricks—such as coming at the order of their master, and even pronouncing distinctly several words. Add to this their apt ness in learning airs, by means of a flageolet or bird-organ, even keeping time as correctly as a skillful musician. The manner of teaching them will be shown hereafter.

(2.) The proper time for pairing Canaries.

As to the time of pairing, it generally commences about the middle or latter end of March, but in some degree depends upon the weather, at that period, being genial or otherwise. The best criterion is, when the frosts have disappeared, and the rays of the sun begin to shed the enlivening warmth, which, at the time I have named, is generally the

case.

You may then pair them in the following manner: Take a small cage which is well cleaned; be careful there are no small red insects, which are very injurious, and of which I shall hereafter speak. Select the cock and hen Canary you intend to pair, and put them in together, as they sooner match in a small cage than in a large one. Although at first they may fight and quarrel, let not this alarm you, as you will soon see them reconciled, which will be known by their feeding each other, billing, &c.

During the time they are preparing, they must be fed in the follow ing manner: Boil an egg very hard, and chop or grate it very fine, to which add bread crumbled equally fine, a little maw seed, and mix this all up well together in a plate, and give the birds a tablespoonful twice a day. In ten days (sometimes much sooner) they will be paired.

(3.) The most advantageous place for the Breeding Cage.

The situation of the breeding cage is an object of considerable importance; let it be where it may, the birds, prompted by nature, will go to nest; but there will be a great difference in the success that awaits the breeder.

For instance, if the cage be in a dark room, where the sun seldom appears, and never shines on the cage, the young birds that may be bred will be weakly, dull, and small; and not equal in three weeks to birds of ten days old, which are bred in a more cheerful situation; so that if you wish to procure fine birds, let your breeding cage be in a room which enjoys the morning sun, and on which it continues, if possible, the best part of the forenoon, which is preferable to a room where the sun shines only in the afternoon, as the excessive heat then sometimes causes the hen to fall ill, and forsake her nest; it likewise occasions what may be termed a sweating sickness, and causes the birds to breed mites, which destroy the young ones, sucking their Dood, and sticking to them with the most obstinate pertinacity, as long as life remains. I do not now speak of a variety of accidents to which they are liable, as having clear and unproductive eggs, or being in & room which does not suit their temper, for they have their preferences

and antipathies, and their behavior in their room or cage will readily testify their satisfaction or dislike to it.

(4.) Observations on the mode of Pairing.

The original Canary, which was of a dusky buff and dark green color, is now but little esteemed in comparison with the birds distinguished by the terms jonque and mealy. In pairing, care should bo taken not to put a cock and hen both mealy, otherwise the color of the young ones would degenerate to a disagreeable dirty or whitish tint: but rather you should pair a fine jonque or yellow cock with a mealy 252239 and you may then expect the young birds, particularly the cocks, to follow the color of the father. So also is it with streaked, striped, spotted, or various colored birds, taking care, if the predominant color be yellow, to pair with mealy, and vice versa. If you wish to breed splashed or marked birds, I should recommend you to pair a fine shaped lively green or splashed male bird with a yellow or jonque hen; the produce of this pair will be marked, and of various colors. To breed full-colored yellow birds without a spot or splash, you should procure a fine large mealy hen, bred from yellow birds, with whick match a jonque cock bird; or a pair of close-feathered yellow birds, large and strong: these latter will, from being both jonque, if they are not of a good size, dwindle very much, but from such matches are thrown the fine deep yellow birds. If you wish to breed green Cana. ries, let the birds you pair be both green, or a green cock bird with a yellow or mealy hen, bred from green old ones, from which I have known to be produced that pleasing variety called "Cinnamon Birds.”

(5) The proper materials for Nests.

There are different materials given them to build their nests with but nothing is so good as a little fine hay and cow's hair, or deer's hair which latter ought to be well washed to clean it from dust, and then dried in the sun or before the fire. This hair, after serving one nest, may be washed and dried, and it will serve the remainder of the season, being as good as the first for the succeeding nest.

The best nest-boxes are those which are composed entirely of wicker, or wooden sides with wire bottoms, so that the dust, if any be left in the hair, falls through, and does not breed the red mites which prey on the young birds. You must not fail to let the paired birds, when in the breeding cage, have red sand or gravel, which ought to be dried before it is given them, and laid pretty thick at the bottom of the cage, so that if the cock or hen, in flying off the nest, happen to draw a young bird or egg out after them, which sometimes occurs, it falls on the soft sand, and thus frequently is saved a valuable bird. I would recom mend, when your birds are first put up, to give them only one nest. box, as they are apt, when they have two, to carry the building mate rials first to one and then to another, and by these means lose time. When the hen sits, the other nest box is easily put in, or indeed after she has hatched. It is better to make the second and following nest for them, as by so doing they are saved much unnecessary fatigue

und if it does not please them, they soon adapt it to their wishes o fancy.

(6.) Directions for Feeding.

The following food must be given to them when they have young: Boi. an egg very hard, and grate it through a grater, such as is used for grating horse-radish; after that, take a piece of stale bread about the size of an egg, and grate it through the grater, after the egg is grated; then mix them together; pass it through the grater twice, and it will mix the better. Give them, now and then, for a change, a piece of stale bread soaked in water, with the crust taken off, then squeeze the water out, add a little sweet milk to it, and then give it to the birds; also give them cabbage now and then when in season-this is a fine thing for them. This ought to be given them two or three times a day, with chicken-weed or salad, if in season. Many persons who com mence breeding Canaries, without previously knowing the necessary management of them, very often meet with such disappointment from the number of birds that die, that they give it up in disgust, attributing fault to the bird, when they alone are to be blamed. The young ones are generally lost from being either fed too much or too little, and without paying any attention as to the food being proper at the season it is given them, or not. For instance, chick-weed or salad, which in proper season are excellent, if given too early in the year, are absolute poison; that is, before the plants are in that stage of their growth that their bitterness goes off, and their cold acrid juices are dissipated or exhaled by the heat of the sun. Thus, when your young birds can feed themselves, (which you will observe by their not letting the cock feed them any longer, or by his discontinuing to do so,) you may cage them off and give them chopped egg, with bread, as before stated, with the addition of a little maw seed, and some ground or bruised rape till they are seven weeks old; when they will be able to crack hard seed, which should, however, before that time, be given them. They should then have a mixture of rape, Canary, yellow, and hemp seeds mixed together, taking care that fresh seed be put in their box every two days, with now and then a few grains of bruised hemp seed. Some feed their birds with rape alone, thinking they live longer. I have observed it renders them so thin, that they often die at the first illness that attacks them-and particularly the later birds when moulting. Another evil to guard against is, when your old birds are put in a cage with soft food, &c., to breed, they generally gorge to such a degree as to swell themselves and die. Many Canaries are killed by giving them too large a quantity of soft food, as eggs, greens, &c., which is not always necessary for them. Remember, when breeding, your old birds should have (besides Canary, rape, and hemp seed) a little lettuce seed, which purges and clears them of such foul humors as may have generated during the winter. And, as the breeding time is the most difficult time to manage them, I shall be particular in my directions for their treatment at that season.

The hen sits thirteen, but more frequently fourteen days, although much depends on the state of the weather, as in very fine weather they