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Rock Island Argus., December 15, 1906, MERCHANTS' ANNUAL SHOPPERS' EDITION, Page 19, Image 19
About Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920
Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL
Newspaper Page Text
THE AHGUS. SATU1SDAY. DECEMBER J5. 1900. 1(1 Wi tli all the Attending: Joys and Good Feeling is Mere and AIL Should Be of Good Cheer. GOOD CHEER RESIDES IN EVERY BOTTLE OF OUR OLD CHAMPAGNES, BURGUNDIES, BRANDIES AND WHISKIES, AND OUR CORDIALS WILL TOP OFF ANY HOLIDAY FEAST AND MAKE YOU CONTENT WITH THE WORLD AND "DRIVE DULL CARE AWAY" AT THE MERRY SEASON WHEN CARE SHOULD NOT LURK NEAR THE HOME. WE HAVE MADE UNUSUAL PREPARATIONS FOR THE HOLIDAY TRADE THIS YEAR, AS WE WERE NOT ABLE TO PROPERLY TAKE CARE OF OUR MANY CUSTOMERS LAST CHRISTMAS AMONG OTHER WELL KNOWN BRANDS OF WHISKY, WE HANDLE THESE EXCELLENT BRANDS: OLD CROW. HERMITAGE, OLD TAYLOR, McBREYER, MOUNT VERNON RYE, OLD MELLWOOD V "V- FREE A Bottle of Fine Wine Free with Every Purchase from Now Until Christmas. . . . Our Reputation for Fine Liquors is a Guarantee that Yoi Will Get the Best The finest goods on the market at the lowest prices is what we aim to give We Positively Have the Finest Line of Bottled Goods in the Tri- and Cordially Invite Vou to Call and Inspect our Stock and Get Our Prices. BEAUTIFUL CALENDARS We have again made arrangements to present all patrons with a beauti- tiful calendar. Call and get one. 3i mom TT A ew o RETAIL LIQUOR STORE, The Largest and Fastest Growing Retail Store in This Vicinity. Corner 17th St. and 3d Ave. On the Square. R.ock Island 111. THE GERMAN CANARY STRONGER AND MORE MELODIOUS THAN ANY OTHER VARIETY. Kearlr a Million of the Bird Drrd la the liars Mountains Every Year. Almost All Claaaea of People There Are la the Baalaeaa. Nearly all the canaries imported into America are from Germany. A Green wleh street lird dealer of New York imports from 60,000 to 70,000 canaries a year, and estimates the total Ameri can Importations of the melodious lit tie creatures at about 200,000 annually. Everything considered the German canary birds are more satisfactory to . most people than those bred anywhere else. They are 'not so hardy in this country, perhaps, as the American bred; they are not so large and good looking as the English or Scotch va rieties, nor so freakily showy an those rained In Belgium. . But of all canaries the German bred sing most satisfacto rily, and as ninety-nine in a hundred buyers of birds want them for their songs, the bulk of the business is in German birds. The canary was first found wild in the Islands of the same name, though .whether the islands were named from the bird or the bird from the islands nobody knows. Today, though canary birds still fly about ia freedom among ..the tree branches of the Canary and the Madeira islands, many thousands more are bred In Germany than any where, probably than everywhere, else. And for some reason most German canaries are bred in that part of Ger many, known as the Ilarz mountains. x-cruni3 triere is a enmane reason ror Ilarz mountain birds to be stronger and more melodious than others; ier haps the breeders there learned the business better than other , breeders 250 years ago when the birds were first taken to Europe; perhaps it Just happened so. At all events, there are not only more Ilarz mountain ca naries than any others, but they are the best In everything but size, color and freakishness; St. Andreasberg, whence came the famous full roller songsters, is in the Ilarz mountains. Inasmuch as the Ilarz mountain breeders have to supply the demand for canaries in all parts of Germany and some other European countries as well as the chief part of the American demand, it is probable that nearly a million birds are bred there every year. Oddly enough, while the raising of canaries is one of the leading indus tries of the region, no one Is under stood to be devoted exclusively to canary breeding. Nearly all classes of people breed canaries the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker; the farmer, the blacksmith, the miller and all. The most extensive breeder known to the Greenwich street im porter breeds only 700 or 800 a year, while many breed only a few each, so there must be thousands and thou sands of breeders. , The German canaries begin to reach this country early in August, and the shipments continue all through the fall and winter, the heaviest of them com ing in November and December, just in time for the birds to be useful as holiday presents. Importation stops in March for the year. . ! The birds reach this country at ages raJudnic fxooi a few months. to a year. inb younger ones baveliot been taught to sing of course, and really are not wanted by American dealers as a rule, for teaching tiicm to sing is a tedious operation. No importer likes to refuse a consignment of young birds with the demand as great as it fs. however, for fear some other dealer will get them. As practically every bird breeder In the Ilarz mountains has some other way of making a living besides hatch ing, rearing and selling canaries, which are thus a byproduct, they are generally bred just under the roofs. In the attics, and there kept till they have learned to sing. Different breeders adopt different methods of teaching the birds. Mahy a breeder keeps in his posses sion as long as it lives one especially good singing bird; the young birds hear his song and imitate It. Others prefer the canary organ, a queer whistling instrument whose motive power Is a stream of ; water from a pipe acting on a little water wheel. This mechan ical melody producer is kept going con tinuously when birds are being taught to sing, and the fact that It never gets tired or falls asleep gives it one value not possessed by the living bird. Some breeders use both the living bird and the canary organ, only, run ning the latter when the former refuses to sing. Canaries are bred in every country of Europe, but mostly for domestic con sumption. English canaries are . much larger than the German birds, one rich orange colored cayenne pepper fed English canary being twice or thrice the size of the average little St. An dreasberg roller. Not only do English bred canaries, for some nnexplained reason, tend to crow larger than ' the German breed, but, and for an equally little understood reason, their song, though loud and vociferous enough, is not nearly so melodious as the German birds song. A fanious English variety Is the Manchester topknot, a canary with a crest or topknot. The feather foot ca nary is another variety and those who fancy any of these will pay a high price for a good specimenthe range being from $8 to $10 for ordinary birds of any of these types up to $100 for unusual examples, while the German singers are worth much lessv2 to $2.50 being a fair price for a t airly good Ilarz mountain canary, and $50 a top notch price for a first class St. Andreasberg roller. The Belgians produce canaries with what is called the "Belgian shoulder," whose necks are unduly developed, as most bird lovers think, but o the great admiration of the Belgians. The Scotch fancy canaries develop a graceful curve between the tip of the tail and the top of the head that has almost the exact sweep of the crescent. There are other fancy varieties of canaries, none of which are bred in great num bers or valued much except by. a few specialists, but all of which are held at higher figures by those who like them than the singing birds generally are by anybody. Nobody else loves the canary as the German does; nobody else rears or teaches the bird so skillfully and lov ingly as he,; and a very large propor tion of the canaries Imported . to this country , are bought by German-Americans, i. -. , ' ' Both' here and in the old world the Germans J form blrd. clubs and carry tneni on witn great entnusiasm, study ing the peculiarities of their favorites assiduously, listening critically to their songs and discussing them with all the seriousness that Is given to criticism of the opera. Such clubs are to be found in all cities with a large German population In Chicago, St. Louis and New York for instance, aud in many of the small er Pennsylvania towns. The Green wich street dealer says the' Keystone State is fairly speckled with them, the number of bird clubs within its bound aries being greater than inany other state. Contests between canary birds or at least the holding of comparative exhibitions of their power as singers are .not at all uncommon wherever there are German canary, enthusiasts, and it is from the members of such clubs that the importers and the breed ers get fancy prices for fancy birds. Americans sometimes work up a de gree of enthusiasm for canaries, but their devotion to the melodious birds never compares with that shown by the Germans, either in degree, persist ence, or, if the truth must be told, in intelligence. The American's interest In the canary, to put the case flatly, is always faddish and fleeting, while the German's is serious, lasting, and, with regard to the bird's song, of the nature of true music worship. New York Telegraph. ' Cure for Sore Nipples. As soon as the child is done nursing apply Chamberlain's Salve. Wipe it off with a soft cloth before allowing the v child to nurse. if any: trained nurses use this with the best results. Price "25 cents per box. For sale by all leading druggists. The thoughtful and wise know that satisfaction is a thing they cannot buy. We desire to tell the wise and convince the unwise that satisfaction goes with every job of plumbing we do. Channon & DlfvQL, 112 W. Seventeenth Street ft J-JIS 1JJL X llUllCOt OOOCXXX$OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOCXXXXXXOOCXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOC(