Song birds, and how to keep them

MANUALS,

BY MISS MALING.

Eg-ch elegantly bound, with Coloured FrontisDiece .

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Price One Shilling, sewed.

"The object of 'In-door Plants' is to teach the most inexperienced ho^
to grow plants ; the object of this little work is to show how to preservi
them long and to arrange them, when they are in beauty." — From th
Author's Preface.

LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL.

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

Day 8cSoix.Lith.to the Queen.

"RTPTVQ

SONG BIRDS,

AND

HOW TO KEEP THEM.

BY E. A. HALING,

AUTHOR OF "iN-DOOR PLANTS, AND HOW TO GROW THEM,"
AND " FLOWERS AND FOLIAGE FOR IN-DOOR PLANTS."

WITH A FRONTISPIECE.

LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL,

M.DCCC.LXII.

[ The right of Translation is reserved.}

I

PKEFACE.

IN writing this little book for the use of those
who, like myself, are fond of birds, and anxious
to make their lives among us as joyous as their
songs, I do not set myself up to be a scientific
birdkeeper. My own birds have thriven and
become extremely tame, and they seem as happy
as little birds can be ; yet mine professes to be
simply a natural mode of treatment. My ex-
perience of birds' ways began when a child, in
becoming familiar with them while in their
wild state, and I have since gone on gathering
from books, and friends, and personal observa-
tions, details of their habits when free; thus
learning how to make them more happy in con-
finement.

a— 2

iv Preface.

Judging in some degree by what my own
wants have been, I hope that this book may be
of use to others ; and it shall be at least kept
free from several topics which render many
bird books really painful reading.

Bird-trapping, for instance, bird-doctoring
in many cases, and the usual ways of so-called
bird-taming, are not ladies* works; indeed,
.instructions on such points always seem to
me of little use to any one. My own belief is,
that it is very easy to tame birds by kindness,
and to keep them in health by cleanliness and
warmth, with plenty of fresh air and only
simple food ; while few mistresses, I am sure,
would wish to teach amusing tricks to their
little pets by means of fear or hunger, or to
torment them when sick by trying, with unskil-
ful and trembling hands, to administer remedies
which are almost always useless, and very often
painful to such fragile patients.

The real art of taming is very little dwelt on
in bird books; yet this is generally the first

Preface. v

object of those who keep such pets. In writing
of this subject, I fear I have been tempted
to record too many of my own birds' doings ;
though I hope this may be forgiven me, on
the ground that as a good novel gives the
best insight into the manners of a country,
so a relation of what actually goes on under
any course of treatment is often the best expla-
nation of it.

While, then, I confess to having no preten-
sions to the science of ornithology, my own
fondness for birds has led me to read the works
and to test the advice of many of the best
authorities on the subject, comparing it with
what I have seen of the birds themselves ; and
as during some time, illness has reduced me to
the companionship of birds for much of my chief
amusement, the numbers that fill my room have
made me very familiar with many of their ways.

I have, therefore, tried to show in this little
volume how birds may be made tame, and how
easily they may be kept ; hoping that it may

vi Preface.

help in opening out to many a very great
source of interest : while, at the same, time it
may aid in rendering the treatment of birds
more natural, and in making them more happy,
when we, for our pleasure, keep them in con-
finement.

Whiteheatfs Grove, Chelsea,
Sept. 24f/2, 1861.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY. Page 1.

1. Cage birds happy. — 2. Affectionate ways. — 3. Way of
expressing themselves. — 4. Birds let loose remembering their
former owners. — 5. Feeding strong fledglings, &c.

CHAPTER II. — BIRDS TO KEEP. Page 5.

1. Out-door birds.— 2. Choice of small cage birds. —
3. Warblers attractive. — 4. How to make their lives happy. —
5. Other birds often sing Warblers' songs. — 6. Grief of
migrating birds in captivity. — 7. Gold-crested Wrens. —
8. Robins in a room or greenhouse. — 9. Delicacy of the soft-
billed birds.— 10. Goldfinches and Linnets.— 11. Chaffinches
veiy tame and lively. — 12. Bullfinches. — 13. Birds brought
up from the nest. — 14. Sudden frights to be avoided.

CHAPTER III.— ON TAMING BIRDS. Page 13.

1. Taming, real "friendliness." — 2. Old birds sometimes
patronise young ones. — 3. Birds that are caught, best kept till
spring. — 4. How to treat such birds. — 5. Cruelty of buying

viii Contents.

wild birds in spring. — 6. A few rules for bird-taming. — 7. An
instance of how birds care for those to whom they are used. —
8. The variety of their characters. — 9. General treatment for
taming birds. — 10. Change of cages. — 11. Letting birds fly
about while their cage is cleaned.

CHAPTER IV. — BIRDS IN A SITTING-ROOM. Page 23.

1. Birds, general pets. — 2. Kinds suitable for small cages. —
3. Foreign birds and Wrens need warmth. — 4. Birds' dread
of thunder-storms. — 5. Letting birds out. — 6. Birds do not
like being caught. — 7. Different food for cage-birds and free. —
8. Food during moulting. — 9. Birds building in rooms. —
10. Curious anecdote of two Canaries. — 11. Opportunity of
seeing various traits of character.

CHAPTER V. — VARIOUS SPECIAL BIRDS. Page 31.

1. Canaries. — 2. Bullfinches. — 3. Goldfinches. —4. Robin
Eedbreasts.

CHAPTER VI. — FOOD. Page 41.

1. Simple food best. — 2. Bechstein's paste. — 3. Food for soft-
billed birds. — 4. Receipts for " universal pastes." — 5. Tempt-
ing birds to eat. — 6. Taking ants' eggs. — 7. German paste
recipe. — 8. Goldfinches eating insects. — 9. Treats, watercress,
biscuit, &c. — 10. Seed, a general and convenient food. —
11. Birds accustomed to particular kinds of food. — 12. Better
not to bruise hemp-seed for old birds. — 13. Giving food at
night for the early morning.

CHAPTER VII. — TREATMENT OF BIRDS WHEN SICK. Page 55.

1. Prevention better than cure. — 2. Wooden shoes. — 3. Red
mites. — 4. Colds. — 5. Birds killed sometimes by fear of mice.

Contents. ix

—6. Birds having fits.— 7. Moulting.— 8. Fits not killing a
bird for years. — 9. Food that birds are used to the best. —
10. The gapes or a bad cold. — 11. Birds not pluming themselves.
— 12. Never letting young birds fly about a room. — 13. How
to treat them if hurt. — 14. Hospital for birds and manage-
ment while in it. — 15. Bird doctor. — 16. My wounded Canary.

CHAPTER VHI. — BREEDING IN ATIARIES. Page 66.

1. Portable aviary under a hawthorn-tree. — 2. Number
and kind of birds.— 3. Letting them pair as they like best.—
4. Adding a new bird dangerous. — 5. Goldfinches sometimes
*egg breakers. — 6. Birds manage best for themselves. —
7. Benefits of air and light. — 8. Removing young broods and
training them. — 9. Bad to watch birds too much. — 10. Curious
adherence of foreign birds to native habits. — 11. Match-
making undesirable. — 12. The most suitable alliances. —
13. Preparing branches in February for building. — 14. Very
early broods undesirable. — 15. Nest-bags. — 16. Objections to
ready-made nest-bags. — 17. Canaries sitting, better let alone.
— 18. Deserted nests. — 19. Good mother birds veiy valuable.
— 20. Food while sitting. — 21. Cleaning the cage a difficulty:
slide cages. — 22. Small cage outside for food. — 23. Foliage. —
24. Placing food in readiness for the chicks. — 25. Early sun-
shine, and fresh air, beneficial to the fledglings.

CHAPTER IX. — BEARING YOUNG BIRDS. Page 83.

1. To avoid frightening the old birds. — 2. Birds to be
removed very young. — 3. An old bird sometimes will adopt a
brood. — 4. Food strewed on the floor best.— 5. Tea for sick
birds. — 6. Food for the young. — 7. Audacity of small birds. —
8. Nestlings to be kept warm and covered up. — 9. Imitating
the old birds' way of feeding. — 10. Young birds not likely to
eat too much. — 11. Moulting. — 12. Tameness of young birds.

Contents.

CHAPTER X. — TEACHING YOUNG BIRDS TUNES. Page 90.

1. No starving. — 2. Whistling better than playing tunes. —
3. Canary taught by some children. — 4. How to escape the
mixture of wild notes. — 5. Birds' natural songs thought to be
acquired. — 6. School cage. — 7. Good master essential.

CHAPTER XI. — OCCUPANTS OF AN AVIARY. Page 93.

1. Birds put in when quiet. — 2. Peace depending much on
how managed. — 3. Many birds build in the same shrub when
wild. — 4. Birds in one large store cage. — 5. Baths, and tricks
while bathing. — 6. Goldfinches in a cage. — 7. Really unsafe
birds. — 8. Adding birds, in pairs, to an aviary. — 9. Number
of birds to have: a few birds more desirable than a crowd. —
10. Warblers seldom so happy as other birds.

CHAPTER XTT. — MAKING FRIENDS WITH WILD BIRDS.
Page 100.

1. Visiting nests. — 2. Birds getting much used to those who
feed them. — 3. London Sparrows.

CHAPTER XEI. — CAGES. Page 104.

1. Requisites of good cages. — 2. Papier Mache, a desirable
material. — 3. Objectionable seed and water arrangements in
many cages. — 4. Various cages. — 5. Common square market
cages. — 6. Change of cages. — 7. Arrangements for food,
perches, &c. — 8. Plants and hanging baskets. — 9. Small
cages for standing on a table. — 10. Cage for Wrens. —
11. Wicker cages for Doves and Thrushes. — 12. Cages for
Larks and Chaffinches.— 13. Bell cage for Tom Tits.—
14. Breeding cages. — 15. School and Hospital cages. —
16. Lined cages save some suffering to migrating birds.

Contents. xi

CHAPTER XIV. — AVIARY CAGE. Page 115.

1. Description of large aviary cage of deal. — 2. Other
plans for double cages. — 3. Materials. — 4. How to arrange
the birds. — 5. English wild-birds. — 6. Food holders. —

7. Exact working plan of an aviaiy cage. — 8. Pretty appear-
ance of this cage in a window.

CHAPTER XV. — KOOM AVIARY. Page 123.
1. Spare room aviary. — 2. Windows wired. — 3. Birds require
shelter in severe storms. — 4. Oil-cloth floor. — 5. Trees and
branches. — 6. Advantages of such bird-rooms. — 7. Mice. —

8. Building time needs watchfulness. — 9. Hungry birds in-
variably fight. — 10. Kitchen garden. — 11. Creepers, vine, &c.
— 12. West aspect nearly as good as east. — 13. Cages in a bird
room generally best hung low.

CHAPTER XVI. — OUTDOOR AVIARY, AND BIRDS FOR IT.
Page 130.

1. Style of aviaiy aimed at. — 2. Whether it is meant for
the birds to breed. — 3. Conservatory aviary. — 4. Birds to fill
such an aviary. — 5. Concrete floor. — 6. Plants, &c.

CHAPTER XVH. — BATHS, FOOD-HOLDERS, &c. Page 137.

1. A use for sea-side treasures. — 2. Birds bathing in an
aquarium. — 3. Glass milk-pan for bath. — 4. A standing-
place of shells or rock. — 5. Cleaning and emptying. — 6. Birds
delight in water. — 7. Winter baths. — 8. Glazed square bath
house. — 9. Plant case baths. — 10. Seed and water dishes. —
11. Objectionable contrivances. — 12. Fountain. — 13. Perches.

CHAPTER XVUI. — LIST OF BIRDS, AND WANTS OF BIRD
KEEPERS. Page 147.

1. Foreign Birds not expensive or delicate. — 2. Avadavats
and their cages. — 3. Birds should be sent home by the dealer.
4. Avadavats and Waxbills. — 5. Cordon Blues. — 6. Cut-

xii Contents.

throat Sparrows, &c. — 7. Java Sparrows. — 8. Canaries. —
9. English birds.— 10. Bullfinch.— 11. Goldfinch.— 12. Kobin
Kedbreast.— 13. Thrushes.— 14. Tom Tits.— 15. Wrens.—
16. Chaffinches. — 17. Redpoles. — 18. Linnets. — 19. Yellow-
hammers. — 20. Price of English birds generally. — 21. Com-
mon square cages. — 22. Large open cage. — 23. Zinc cages,
&c. — 24. Aviary cage. — 25. Seed-boxes. — 26. Elower-pot
saucers. — 27. Trays. — 28. Plants. — 29. Importance of getting
the best seed. — 30. Requisites for bird-keeping.

SONG BIRDS,

AND

HOW TO KEEP THEM.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

1. A GREAT many people think that to keep birds is
cruel. If it were so, indeed, few would be the cage
birds one would wish to see ; but happily, on the
contrary, for those who, like myself, are fond of
the feathered tribe, the more we know about them,
the more we are content to think theirs is a happy
prison. Not for all birds by any means ; some
would break their hearts, if they should be kept in
cage. The birds of passage, all those that come and
go, should never be kept from the sunny skies they
seek as the winter comes. We may easily, however,
find sufficient pets among our proper house-birds.
The Canaries generally, and all the home-bred
Finches ; plenty of sweet-voiced Linnets ; and amongst

1

2 Sony Birds.

the foreigners, many tiny creatures, Waxbills, and
Amandavas. When these are safely reared, or once
have been brought to England, we have but to
make them happy ; it would be cruel to expose them
to the misery of being loose} little shivering, trembling
strangers, in an unkindly crowd. Poor little creatures,
if one of them does get out, how fast it flies to seek
some friendly cage ; it knows not the language, the
ways and fashions of the birds around it, nor yet
does it always meet with the kindest welcome from
them. Besides, our home-birds want petting — they
have no wish, so their gay song tells us, to seek a dirty
puddle instead of a crystal bath, to hide from the rain
and cower from the cold, instead of hanging singing in
a pleasant room, conversing now and then with the
friendly company. My Goldfinch, for instance, would
he like, indeed, to go out and breakfast on his own
small means ? Goldie and I greatly take leave to doubt
it ; a flight round the room, while his mistress prepares
the breakfast, is much more to Goldie's mind, and the
moment it is ready, he pops back very briskly into
his cage to eat it. Moreover, would he get such
breakfasts every day alone if he were sent to try ?
And it is said goldfinches are capable of an attach-
ment to hemp seed, that will keep them very regular
in returning at proper hours, even when they are
allowed to go out into the air.

2. But most people forget to reckon on the birds*

.

Introductory. 3

social habits ; nor do they give them credit for half their
loving ways. I have known little pets fly all in a
flutter to meet and greet me, when really I thought
they would have quite forgotten that they had ever
known me ; and only let any one nurse a wounded
bird, and see if it forgets the benefit received.

8. Besides, they are very clever. I am sure if as
many people lived sociably with birds, as with dogs
and cats, we should have soon a thousand proofs of
their sagacious ways. Speaking for myself, I know
quite well by their tones what my birds are wanting,
— sometimes it may be only a kindly recognition
of a passing friend ; but a few days ago when two
were fighting and we took no notice, there was little
doubt what the conquered wanted, — she called us to
her assistance as plainly as if she had spoken.

4. Birds remember, too, even if they are free, those
whom they have known. We used at one time to rear
many birds, half Canaries and half golden Linnets ; and
these birds having learnt to sing the canary notes,
would be let fly away to build amongst the shrubs.
It was a doubtful experiment, so many of them got
caught ; but it used to be very pleasant while walking
amongst the trees to hear a sweet voice calling to us,
and to see one of our former charges flying on
before us, passing from one tree to another, bowing,
and fluttering, and keeping up the talk, as long
as we on our part would condescend to answer.

1—2

4 Song Birds.

5. I do not know how real Canaries can be best
brought to stand our cold English winters. Our
own grounds were remarkably warm, and shut in
amidst hills, and there were many thick belts of
laurels, and dense clumps of evergreens, which
certainly afforded a good deal of shelter, so that
we had no lack of English birds of all kinds, from
the Wrens that built their exquisite round nest in
the creepers upon the wall, to the Eobin Redbreasts
in their greenhouse home ; the Goldfinches in the
larches, the Thrushes in the laurels, and the gold-
crested Wrens on an apple branch. Alas, for the
cherry-trees, there were nests in them; but when
seven Nightingales would be heard on a summer's
evening, singing upon the lawn, we felt well repaid
for any little damage that their race might do us.
And thus it was, that I began to study birds, picking
up those half-fledged little ones that tumbled from
the nests, making daily rounds amongst those we
knew, and at last, where we felt well acquainted,
(as amongst those who built each year in the same
place regularly), becoming very daring, we went carry-
ing with us teacups of bread and water, and kindly
volunteered our help to the old birds in their menage.
I never knew a nest deserted for us, the old birds
would sit on a tree next door, and watch with much
benignity while all the little things would stretch
out their heads and open their mouths at once,

Birds to Keep. 5

thinking themselves very lucky because they all
got fed. Living thus amongst them, it was natural
by degrees to get into a birdish way of viewing
things ; feeling the chief consideration to be not
what might answer, but what was really natural :
and though it is indisputable that in a cage, the
state of birds is so far unnatural that they are deprived
to a great degree of exercise, still they are in
very frequent motion ; and in a room or aviary, no
one who watches them for a single day, can think
they are too stationary.

CHAPTER II.

BIRDS TO KEEP.

1. THE heading, Birds to Keep, gives a wide range,
indeed. So various are the tastes, so numerous the
birds, so different the accommodation in different
persons' reach. But to speak only of taste. There
are the many who delight in a talking bird — a
Starling or a Jackdaw, or perhaps a Magpie — and
when the accomplished bird has come, as these birds
do, to some untimely end, the wicker cage is filled by,
perhaps, a Thrush or Blackbird ; for I do not observe
that pets of the Jackdaw genus are frequently replaced.
Then there are the pretty white Doves ; they are

6 Song Birds.

general favourites for the outside of windows; but
none of these are exactly room birds, they require to
be out of doors so much, and in such airy quarters.

2. We have, however, song birds enough, amongst
which to choose ; and though, I think, generally, each
person is fond of one kind particularly, yet even thus
the many " Warblers" (as the soft-billed tribes are
called), and the numerous hardy English or Canary-
finches, give scope for choice to those who do not wish
to keep up a foreign aviary. Of the Finch class, and
those immediately resembling it, we have a goodly
number; the many kinds of each, too, differing
widely in their song and plumage, as, for example,
the Green Canary — a little sober, greenish brownly
dressed bird, and the brilliant Jonquille, with his jet-
black tuft.

There are Goldfinches with their tricks and Bull-
finches with their tunes, the sweet-voiced Linnets of
many sorts and colours, Chaffinches, more rarely met
with, at least in English aviaries, than they deserve
to be, and the pretty, black-headed Aberdevines or
Siskins, which pair with the Canaries.

3. The soft-billed birds, or Sylvia, are almost still
more numerous ; their very names are tempting, and
one longs to have a room of " Warblers," including
the universal favourites, the Woodlark and the Night-
ingale. There is, however, a wide starting-point from
which tastes may diverge. Some, for instance, delight

Birds to Keep. 7

in concerts of Nightingales on the lawn, or heard in
the depth of woods in quiet evening drives, but in
rooms they fancy that they are rather loud. Wood-
larks, on the contrary, with their trills of music, are
.almost too sad to listen to, except in a garden aviary,
where they may be happy.

4. For garden aviaries, Warblers are perfect ;
they need much care and to be enclosed in winter ;
but to a large conservatory, a little greenhouse full of
shrubs and warblers, or even large cages, half hidden
among the orange-trees and camellias, would be a
charming adjunct. There, protected from cold and
provided against starvation, the birds would be happy,
and their songs would be songs of joy ; in rooms,
shut up in little cages, they fret out their hearts, and
if they sing it is the low sweet melancholy note which
laments for their own free air.

Still it must be owned that when they have. once been
caught and have been long confined, much more when
they have been brought up from the nest, it is better
to let them stay and to make them then as happy as
is possible, since they would be very helpless left to
their own resources.

5. In the hard-billed class, my own .special
favourites amongst English birds are the Goldfinches
.and Linnets, Bullfinches and Robins ; they are such
sweet- voiced singers, and learn other notes so readily,
.that even the warblers' songs are not lost to my room

8 Song Birds.

entirely. In this way it is really pleasant to hear
those lovely strains, knowing all the time that the
sweet little singer is revelling in the intensest happi-
ness of its short bird life, poised on a waving branch,,
singing in the sunshine, turning and quivering in the
ecstasy of its song.

A German yellow Canary I bought last spring, is in
voice the sweetest of Woodlarks ; and as in disposition
it is the vainest and most affectionate of Canary birds,
it is delightful to see its happiness and to hear its
song when it sits bending down, fairly singing at one.

6. The warbler tribe, as its name implies, includes
most of our sweetest songsters ; Nightingales and
Blackcaps, Robin Kedbreasts and Jenny Wrens, White-
Throats and Garden Warblers ; all these are included r
while Larks may be reckoned with them as regards the
practical difficulties and objections to their being kept
in cages. Neither the Larks, Wrens, nor Robins
leave this country, however, in winter, as the others do.
For those like the Nightingale, who are birds of
passage, it is a great aggravation of their many
miseries to be prevented going ; and they die in great
numbers when the time of migration comes. I say an
aggravation — but think of a Lark incaged ! There is-
a quiet remark in Bechstein quoted by most bird-
writers, that Woodlarks seldom live more than one
year in prison ; and that the cause of their death is
" commonly a broken leg." This is too suggestive

Birds to Keep. 9

for keeping Woocllarks happily, and I am glad to say
that I have never had one, and cannot describe them,
therefore.

7. But for the gold-crest Wrens — loveliest of small
birds, our English humming birds ; they are happy
enough in a latticed bell cage, closely covered in
winter with green baize at night, perches wrapped in
flannel, and all sorts of luxuries in the way of warmth.
They generally sleep away the winter in some wool-
lined hole — a warm room or a plant case in one is
therefore best for them ; the glass lined with a fine
woollen net, and a large myrtle or a tiny fir-tree for
them to hang on like balls of brown and gold. They
greatly like a little fresh earth to peck and scratch at ;
and flies are dainties, for these birds are of the soft-
billed race.

Bread and milk, a roll, or some biscuit powder
squeezed through boiling water, and beaten up with
cold milk is their best food. I fancy egg, too, might
suit them ; but they must have some insects. Ants'
eggs particularly they like. Bechstein says that to
touch rape or camellia seed is death to them ; but I
cannot vouch for this from experience.

8. Bobins, again, may be made so tame and happy
in a room or greenhouse, that it would be a pity to-
attempt to keep them in a cage. They have to be
cultivated in the cold snowy weather, or to be
brought up on familiar terms from the nest. I

10 Sony Birds.

think it might be allowable to have a nest of young
Robins brought up in a cage by the old birds, the
tamest of which might be kept for the greenhouse or
for hopping about in a poultryhouse, where Hobby,
being pugnacious, agrees better with cocks and hens
than with birds of his own size : a pair of Robins will
feed with the chickens, take all sorts of liberties,
from a ride on the cock's back downwards — and at
the earliest glimpse of spring will build in the same
-enclosure ; and this plan is much better than bring-
ing Redbreasts into real confinement. The poultry-
woman is sure to complain that " the Robins eat all
the fowls' meat; " but that I think will be the gravest
difficulty that will be met with here.

9. Robins are much the hardiest of their class.
The soft -billed birds more generally require keeping
in winter in a well-warmed room ; and even then
there are difficulties arising from smoke or dust.

10. To proceed to the hard-billed class. In my
own opinion no birds equal Goldfinches and Canaries
for varieties of song, affectionate ways and prettiness.
Linnets are such frightful gluttons that if they are
kept in an aviary well supplied with a variety of
food, either they will become perfect balls of fat

•and die of over-eating, or else the other birds must
be almost deprived of hemp seed. They are, however,
very amusing birds ; and I always maintain that there
is a great deal of character in their faces. They are

Birds to Keep. 11

also easily tamed and very funny in their naughty
doings, poking in their heads wherever they are not
wanted, while no one need dwell on the sweetness of
their note. They are clean birds, and much enjoy a
good bath. I have a cage with five Linnets and a
Chaffinch, which afford me much amusement, and
they agree very well together.

11. The Chaffinch, in an aviary, seems generally
looked down upon ; and yet, I can see no reason why
this should be, or for the expression, " only a
common chaffinch." In Germany and France these
lively, active birds are extremely popular; and in
England it seems to me that only those who have
never tried them, continue to despise them.

They are very clean birds, always pluming and
pruning themselves, and their sharp call as they
hop about, is very sweet, though shrill. Their song
in England is not much thought of, but Bechstein
preferred them to all other cage birds, and I should
certainly recommend them as an addition to any
aviary. For a single bird, too, a Chaffinch is easily
managed, and is a very affectionate, clever little
fellow. Square cages in this case are a good deal
used for them, but they like best to have a good
space to hop along. However, for single cages I
know not whether Goldfinches, Chaffinches or Bull-
finches, really are the nicest.

12. Bullfinches are very nice birds to have, they

12 Song Birds.

are extremely dandified, which is always an advan-
tage, as it keeps them employed ; and they are not
generally very rapacious birds, though their habit
of pecking off buds, probably in the hope of an insect
inside, has apparently gained them a character of
being so. There are hardly any birds that may be made
more tame than these ; and the delight with which
they puff out their feathers, and sidle, and bow,
and stand up tall when spoken to, is something
charming, too amusing almost sometimes ; one wastes
so much time talking to them.

13. Goldfinches, too, are great pets ; it may well
be said, " if they were foreign birds, how popular
they would be." To make them very tame, they
should be brought up from the nest by being fed
through a quill, or tended in a cage by the old birds,
till fledged, as I shall explain hereafter ; and this is
the best and happiest as well as the most certain plan,
as the birds cannot miss so much the liberty that
they have never known. Still birds taken in very
snowy weather often get so happy, and seem so
thoroughly at home, that in their cases, any idea
of cruelty in keeping them is removed entirely.

14. In concluding this chapter, it may be as well
to say, that birds do not tame so quickly when
liable to be frightened: any sudden noises seem to
jar their nerves, and to render them more shy. It
is a very bad plan, therefore, to take all our friends

On Taming Birds. 13

to see our last new pet, and will greatly delay or
prevent it from becoming tame.

The first day or two in a new abode is of itself
quite enough to upset so small a head, and the
quieter it is in all ways, and the fewer faces it
sees, and voices it hears, the better it will get on.
These cautions sound almost too minute ; but people
are apt to be exuberant in their kindly intended
pettings of a new arrival.

CHAPTER III.

ON TAMING BIRDS.

1. EVERY one seems to fancy that in taming birds
there is some peculiar art, some secret means by
which the object can be attained directly.

Even if this were the case, I doubt if the secret
would be very greatly valued ; but it would aggravate
me dreadfully if anybody else could get my birds to
be at once on the same friendly footing as that on
which we live together.

In point of fact, birds are very exclusive in the
choice of their special friends ; it takes a long time
of kind words and petting, to make the little creature
perfectly at its ease, and to attach it to one, which is
really taming. It is extremely easy, for instance, to get

14 Song Birds.

a bird to take a seed or fruit when offered it, after a
I

day's acquaintance ; but to have it talk to us, and
flutter towards us, and hop about upon us, and try for a
game of play, is a great deal more agreeable ; and I
had rather see my birds tug at my lace or ribbon,
and dash away and come back again by another road,
looking very naughty, than have any amount of
tameness shown by accepting hempseeds.

Knowing that how to tame birds is a question of
so much interest to all who keep them, perhaps I
may venture to write about my own pets more than
I would do otherwise, in the hope that the descrip-
tion of some of their ways and of how they have
been managed may bring the same pleasant interest
into the easy reach of many other persons. In
the summer, when it can be managed easily, the
birds without doubt do better out of doors protected
by a shady tree during the day, and some water-
proof kind of curtain at night, and during rain :
while if in a room, the more the windows can be
kept open the better they will thrive. It is chiefly
in winter, therefore, and in early spring that I have
them generally flying about my room. For an hour
or two daily, it is a great amusement to all parties
concerned ; their number being from two or three to
about a dozen ; for it is difficult to study the charac-
teristics, and have special acquaintance with the
personal peculiarities of a much larger tribe.

On Taming Birds. 15

2. When young birds are brought up from the
nest, either reared in a cage by the old birds, or
by hand feeding, they are naturally quite tame ;
but there is often much difficulty in obtaining them,
and when they are caught just fledged, as is usually
the case with those offered for sale in the early
summer in London, and other towns, it is exceed-
ingly difficult to accustom them to their food; and,
with a beginner, certainly, if not on a remarkably
good system, nine-tenths of the birds so bought will
die in the first week. The best way possible, is
to find a good-natured old bird, though that is a
mere chance ; still in a good stock of birds it does
often happen that one will respond to the poor little
birds' entreaties to be fed and comforted. The young
Goldfinches especially are very tender, but charming
if they will live. The rearing of young birds, how-
ever, is described in another chapter ; my business-
now is chiefly about the taming.

3. Birds that are caught in winter, often take
to the cage more kindly than would be expected ;
and, indeed, in London I do not think it is of much
use to let them loose again under the supposition
that they are unhappy. The chances are that they
would die at that cold season, either of cold or
hunger, or that they would fall again into the bird-
catcher's hands.

4. Many birds are so wild at first in a change of

36 Song Birds.

place, that it is impossible to know whether any are
really newly caught. At any rate, where it is feared that
such is the case, the cage should be put into a quiet
place shaded with a green woollen cover, so that the
inmate may not see persons moving about the rooms,
iind it should be supplied with abundance of whatever
is supposed to be its favourite food. Hemp seeds
generally fulfil this requirement. It is an immense
advantage to have a large cage made like the " trap "
or " store " cages, in which German canaries are
generally sold. The wooden bars do not hurt a bird
like any made of wire, and these cages are also
warmer, and probably feel to the birds more of a
protection. I recommend, therefore, a cage for new-
comers, made like four traps in one.

Whatever the cage may be, the food and the
shading are essential points ; and the bird, if it does
not see where a voice comes from, will often get
very soon familiar with the tone of its mistress's,
even before the cage begins to be kept uncovered,
and when the seed is given it will be getting
accustomed to the voice that talks to it. After the
first day or two, I do not leave the seed tin always in
the cage, but take it away after each meal for a little
while, taking the opportunity of having a talk with
the bird when I give it back, and gradually bringing
the cage nearer to me as it gets more tame. The
water, of course, is always in the cage, and this must

On Taming Birds. 17

not be understood to imply a starving system ; I do
not think making a bird hungry and miserable —
which in bird- language are synonymous — would be
likely to make it quickly become at home ; the seed
is, at any rate, never kept long away; my only
object is to obtain the chance of talking to the bird
and making friends with it while it is partly engaged
in eating. A single bird in a cage tames very much
more quickly than when there are two or three. If,
as spring comes (for I am supposing newly-caught
birds to be bought in the winter only), the
birds do -not seem to have become quite happy, I
think that it would be then much better to give them
back their liberty : still, as far as my experience
goes, I do not think this sacrifice will be often called
for, they attach themselves so soon to their companions
.as well as to their owners.

5. I speak of birds bought in the autumn and
winter only, because it seems cruel to think of buying
old birds at any other season, excepting those which
(like foreign birds and Canaries) are always kept in-
doors. The bird-catchers frequently obtain them by
making their own nest the trap which catches them ;
and when one thinks of the little diamond eyes
shining out upon us with such apparent fearlessness,
though all the while we see how the poor heart is
beating, it does seem very cruel to remove the faithful
mother from the pretty nest of which she is so fond.

2

18 Song Birds.

6. The rules for bird- taming are very few — or
rather there are few that are really general, the
application of them varying with almost every bird.
I think one secret is always to respond to all the
bird's advances ; if it asks for a seed, to give it one ;
and if it pecks at your fingers, to produce the same
reward ; and in the especial treats, too, it is a great
matter always to give them yourself, and separately ;
the birds do not understand finding them in the cage,
or having them sent to them ; on the other hand, they
learn quickly to associate all their pleasures with their
mistress who prepares them.

7. Winning a bird's heart is very amusing work, and
if it does seem at first a little like " cupboard love,'*
yet, after all, how7, but by our actions, can they under-
stand our kind feelings towards them ? And I will
say that their hearts once gained, their attachment is
faithful and quite disinterested.

My little Bullfinch, for instance. Poor little Bullie,
with her brown satin dress, and her velvet head-
dress, she does sing such a song. It is very low and
extremely long, I wish I could add musical, but
that is certainly not its most striking feature. Still,
Bullie is an affectionate little bird, and if her song
is very droll and small, we cannot find fault with
anything, while she is so evidently doing her best
to please us, leaving her seed at any time for the
pleasure of talking to us. Very tame, too, is she, not

On Taming Birds. 19

to say familiar; solitude is her greatest grievance,
and she is heard complaining loudly, if ever for a
moment she is condemned to her own society.*

8. My present especial room stock consists of
three Goldfinches, eight Canaries, and one Bullfinch ;
and while I write these words, nine small birds are
hopping all about. In fact, when the cage doors
open, they generally all fly down in a whirl upon me.
I turn my head, and three are perched, conversing
sociably upon my pillow ; and as I resume my
sentence, one that has just washed, flies briskly
across the room, perches upon my head, and with a
tremendous shake commences the arrangement of his
very disordered toilette.

The various characters are a great amusement,
as they are cautious, polite, presumptuous or con-
descending. Charlie, for instance (all my birds
have names), conies, when spoken to, to the edge of his
cage, and looking down superior from his height upon
me, vouchsafes to warble me a song in the lowest
and sweetest of all sweet Woodlark tones.

And then there is Tuck, he is a very rapacious

* Very melancholy is the sequel of this Bullfinch's history.
Some time after the foregoing passage was written, Bullie
was unavoidably banished for a while from her mistress's
room. Every one thought she would have been happy in the
society of other birds, but no; for the first day or two she cried
very much, and then she refused to eat, and died within a
week. No one had any idea that the poor bird was pining,
and it was a real trouble to lose so warm-hearted a pet.

2—2

20 Song Birds.

Goldfinch, and in all ways, impetuous. Now the
other morning Tuck's seed ran short ; at least he
had none left but rape, of which he makes but small
account, and I could not think what ailed the little
bird, he shrieked so meaningly, and stared at me
so hard. At last it got quite alarming, and I rang to
have Tuck's cage brought near ; and then the way in
which my friend sidled along to his empty seed-box,
and put in his head and pulled his beak out empty,
looking me hard in the face and screaming with
anger all the time ; it was quite a farce, and Tuck
had to accept many a word of ignominy before he got
his breakfast. I hope these instances will be enough
to show that my plan of taming, simple though it
is, has hitherto answered well. The birds I have
now have none of them been in my possession much
more than a year ; and except in cases where some
(such as various kinds of Linnets, Chaffinches, &c.,)
have been sent up to me from distant parts of the
country, they are all London bought. However,
I think my readers will allow that my birds are
quite as familiar as they need be, though I do not
fancy many of them have had the advantage of being
brought up from the nest.

9. A very great point in such cases is never to be
the means of really frightening the birds at all ; in
letting them go into a cage, for instance, to put the
doors together so as for them to walk in themselves ;

On Taming Birds. 21

to avoid startling them by sudden movements, or by
snapping the seed-boxes round, and hooking the
doors with a jar, and always to talk to them and
coax them while performing any alarming offices.

I think it a particularly good plan, at any rate at
first, to have two cages similarly fitted up, and to
have one each morning entirely prepared for the
bird's reception, the seed for the day, and the water
ready, the floor well sanded, and even the green
food put in, so that when the doors of the two are
opened the inmates can just hop comfortably into
their freshly prepared breakfast room : it saves a
great deal of time and fluttering, if the birds are new;
and is an amusing scene, if they are impatiently
watching for the doors to open.

10. This plan of course involves the slight expense
of an extra cage, but I think its effect is so good on
the bird's health and comfort, that, where several are
kept, it is well worth adopting.

The cages get thus a chance of being thoroughly
cleaned and aired, as they should invariably be pre-
pared for use one morning, all but putting in seed
and water, and then be placed where they will get
plenty of air to freshen them, but without getting
damp, till they are used next day. As far as the birds
are concerned, twice a-week is sufficient for giving
this thorough cleaning, except in the heat of summer :
but if the cages are kept in a sitting-room, every-day

22 Song Birds.

is not at all too often to keep them really nice, and
nothing conduces more to a bird's own health, and
to the unruffled beauty of its plumage, than this
attention. The chief advantage, however, which
makes me advise it here, is the entire avoidance of
everything alarming. A strange hand coming near
the cage may be rather startling ; and it is seldom
that the birds are entirely fed and cared for by their
own mistress, to whom they are more accustomed.
To give admission merely into a nice fresh cage all
ready prepared for breakfast, is, however, an office
most ladies would rather like.

11. Perhaps the most amusing plan, as the birds
grow tame, is that which I alluded to in my Gold-
finch's case — to let the birds out for a short, brisk
flight while their cage is put ready ; and if an aviary
cage is used, which cannot be changed each day or
two, this plan is most convenient, as well as very
pleasant. My own room at these times presents a
droll scene ; as the birds being let out just at breakfast
time, all their attention is instantly directed to assist-
ing at mine ; and though there is a sort of under-
standing about not coming on the cloth, birds are
apt to evade it by a sudden spring ; and I remember
one morning three little culprits, one at the edge of
my breakfast -cup, another making dashes against the
loaf, and a third sipping, in a methodical manner,
some syrup from my plate.

Birch in a Sitting-room. 23

It may be considered a peculiar advantage in the
taming of my present stock, that a long illness lias
kept me much in their society, so that they have had
ample time to become accustomed to me. I do not,
however, think myself that others will find any
€xtra difficulty from the want of this privilege. Birds
I had as a child were, if possible, still more tame,
though, being kept in a little room where I learned
my lessons, they certainly did not enjoy too much
of my society. On my side there has been the
advantage of ample time in which to observe their
ways and to learn their language, far more intelligible
than any one could suppose. Such radiantly happy
things they are, sitting on picture -frames all round
the room, actually shouting in their joyous songs, and
then chasing each other round, singing and flying,
the conqueror pouring out such triumphant music !

CHAPTER IV.

BIRDS IN A SITTING-ROOM.

1. THERE are few things more popular in all sorts
*of rooms than a bird-cage — perhaps with a single in-
mate, perhaps with a pair of birds, or perhaps with
even a whole long line of the lovely Amandavas or
.the pretty Waxbills ; and the expensive bird, who

24 Song Birds.

pipes three tunes, is possibly less beloved and
treasured than the poor brown Linnet or the smoky
Bullfinch, whose song is called music only by a
partial mistress.

It would be, I think, a great deal more pleasant
to help such single bird-owners to manage their pets
well, than to give instructions how to arrange an
aviary of three hundred, which seems always to me
so utterly uninteresting. One bird, or even a few
dozen, may be known and be made friends of, but
this it is evident that three hundred cannot be.

However, I must only say that this chapter will be
devoted to birds kept in cages — in the usual small
sort of cages, that is ; thus, whether the stock con*
sists of one or twenty, it need make no difference in
the advice for each.

2. First, as to choice. I have already said that
Bullfinches, Goldfinches, Canaries or Chaffinches are
what seem to me most fitted to live alone. If a pair
are kept, they should be Canaries, Goldfinches, or
the Java Sparrows. Bullfinches are not so interesting
when there are two in a cage together ; and Chaf-
finches, I fear, are rather disposed to fight, and
constantly beat their wives.

Even Goldfinches sometimes " swear" consider-
ably ; the others, on the contrary, are pleased to be
together, and live all the year round on the most
friendly terms. The English Wrens, and all the-

Birds in a Sitting-room. 25

little foreign birds, Waxbills, &c., who live in large
parties all in one cage, are also extremely interesting.
They are not a very expensive tribe, and, excepting
care as to warmth, do not seem to be difficult to
manage well. They look very pretty sitting all of
a row on the perch, singing in a soft, low voice
by turns, spreading out their fan-tails, in a wonder-
fully quick manner, and sometimes skirmishing when
bed-time conies, not to be outside.

3. These pretty little foreigners, and also our own
Wrens, should always have thick green baize curtains
to cover their cage at night ; and if they are left in
a sitting-room the housemaid should be desired, on
no account, to uncover the cage on a winter's-
morning. A far safer plan is to let the cage be
carried each evening into a warm, comfortable room,
to remain there for the night. Everybody knows
the anecdote of Mr. Herbert's little gold-crested
Wrens, who used to sleep at night under the sofa
cushions, but being taken out one morning before
the drawing-room had got thoroughly well warmed
were all dead in a very few hours after.

In keeping birds there are many ways of adding
to their happiness ; and to all such pets a bright
gleam of sunshine, for instance, on a fine spring or
even winter's day, may be made a great enjoyment,
if the cage is placed in it. The little things seem
so much to like it, and puff out their feathers, and

26 Song Birds.

dress themselves so busily ; and then I always
fancy that they like to see flowers ; and we are not
the losers if this is indeed the case, for neither
birds or flowers ever look half so pretty as when
they are mixed together. I may mention here that
many of my own smaller cages are often hung in a
plant case.

Cold is one of the greatest dangers cage -birds
have to be guarded from. In an aviary there are
more birds together, who keep one another warm,
and they are not necessarily so near to the wires,
which are said to absorb a great deal of heat.

Besides giving them every chance of a little sun-
shine, they should be protected carefully from the
draught of open windows ; even in the summer time
the cage should never stand directly in a draught.
Hot sunshine is another extreme to avoid. People
are apt to leave a room with the sun just coming on
a cage, and to forget that long before they return
it will shine with all its force on the poor little bird.

4. Frights of any sort are also to be avoided.
Lightning and thunder often kill delicate birds,
especially if the blinds are up, and if they are left
alone. It is always safer during storms to cover
up the cages, especially when the latter are of an
open kind.

5. When cages are kept in a room it is best to
make a point of each being cleaned out daily, if the

Birds in a Sitting-room. 27

cage itself is not changed, as I have elsewhere
advised. If a bird is at that time allowed to stretch
its wings in a flight, it will always go back fast
enough to its breakfast : if it were, on the contrary,
to be let out in the evening, it is ten to one but
that it would perch on the top of its own cage, out-
side, and refuse decidedly to go to bed at all.

6. Then arises the unpleasant necessity of catch-
ing Dickie, an operation which all birds do especially
detest ; and I hardly like it better than they do
themselves : for it is nervous work to grasp such a
fragile creature. Very funny it feels, however, when
matters are reversed, and they claw you, sitting
upright on one finger, and taking such tight hold if
you give them a little ride ; and when they are caught
they peck so very hard. Sometimes birds scream out
when they are caught as if they were half killed ; at
first I thought they were, and was alarmed accord-
ingly; but it seems in reality that these were old
hands, who had been used to be caught before under
rather rougher handling, and thus very prudently
they cried out in good time ; however, the moment
I presented and they accepted a huge lump of
biscuit, both parties became consoled, and we had
no more shrieks.

7. When birds are kept in these small single
cages, they ought to have less hemp or rape seed
than if they have more exercise. Canary seed,

28 Song Birds.

crumbs of stale bread, or of perfectly plain biscuits,
water- cress and groundsel, should be their staple
food — only Bullfinches do better with a good deal
of rape — and Canaries, generally, require a little more
hemp. In small cages, or open seed-boxes, the
hemp should never be mixed with the other seed,
as the bird will plunge in his head and dash out
all the rest in search of it.

8. The coarse river sand impregnated with iron, as
shown by its reddish tinge, is a great preserver of
most birds' health, as they swallow a good deal of it,
as well as enjoy walking and scraping in it.

A rusty nail in the water glass, or a thread of
saffron, is very often useful ; it is especially so in the
autumn during the time of moulting, when greater
warmth and greater quiet, as well as more nourishing
food, are proper for the bird, which may be considered
an invalid. The food should also be softer, hemp
seeds being bruised ; and plenty of green food should
be given, with some plantain, — commonly called rat's
tails. A hard-boiled egg chopped up is very good,
when the bird seems to eat but little ; if his appetite
is good, there is not much cause to be uneasy for
him : often, indeed, birds do little but eat and sleep
while moulting, at which time they do not sing. A
few insects or ants' eggs, if they can be obtained (as
they can be in London), are particularly welcome to
most kinds of birds.

Birds in a Sitting-room. 29

9. Very pleasant it is in a room if a special pair of
pets begin to make a nest. At the moment I write
this, one pair of Canaries, within a yard of my head,
are thns engaged, and very amusing it is to watch
them. The right thing for their building is a cage
about twenty-two inches by sixteen, in which there
are two small square compartments, intended to hold
seed-boxes. I always think it best to remove these
boxes, and then filling the space with small sprays of
fir or box, the nest is made to fit in in a pretty way.
If the sprays are cut in February the fir generally
does not lose its leaves. These nest rooms have
small round holes for doors, and the bag of wool and
hair should be tied securely outside the cage to the
wire bars.

10. The instinct and cleverness of birds is really
very wonderful, when one has time to watch them.
This very pair, for instance : — it is the cock bird's duty
to feed the hen while sitting, and the gentleman here
being young and apparently rather giddy, his wife
evidently considered that he required training before
the time arrived for his duties to commence. And a
very funny affair between the two they made of it ; for
first Mrs. Tuft got into the nest and waited, and then
she went down and undutifully pecked her husband
without the least explanation ; at which, Tuft, who is
rather timid, looked both alanned and anxious. Flying
Tback to her nest and seating herself, she again called

30 Song Birds.

Tuft repeatedly, on which Tuft flew up (without any
seed) and stood on the door ledge looking more per-
plexed than ever. I was wondering greatly what she
would do with such a weak-minded although willing
slave, when I saw her dart from her nest, take Tuft
down with her indignantly to the seed tin, in some
way evidently indicating his duty, for she had hardly
time to fly back and settle herself again in due form
upon her nest, before Mr. Tuft arrived with a
splendid hemp seed, which, standing on the door
ledge, he presented to his lady in the most proper
manner.*

11. Birds vary very much as to their talents. The
pair I was just speaking of have been peculiarly full of
clever tricks ; the very first day after Tuft entered the
house (Tuft is a beautiful crested Canary, who has only
been here a few months) the lady who is now his wife

* The evident plan of all this did seem to ine so astonishing
that I was quite delighted when I found, long after this page
was written, the following corrob oration. — "The male of a
Canary bird, which was sitting on her eggs, was more intent
on serenading than on feeding her. When this was the case^
she would quit her nest and chase him round and round the
cage, pecking him violently with her beak, and showing her
anger in a variety of ways. She would then return to her
nest without attempting to feed herself, and the male would
then, like a meek, obedient husband, immediately attend to her
wants, cariying her a plentiful supply of seed, groundsel, and
egg. He then resumed his song, and she resumed her disci-
pline "whenever his notes were too much prolonged." — JESSE'S
Gleanings.

Various Special Birds. 31

applied herself to his training. I saw her, after care-
fully letting herself out of her cage in her usual
manner, by turning round the seed-box and then
squeezing through the turnstile thus formed, go
deliberately back and put Master Tuft up to the same
piece of misdirected talent. And then she introduced
him to her favourite dish of crocuses (which was also
mine), and within a very few days she had so perfected
his education, that when I put her into a more
impracticable sort of cage as the most mischievous
bird I had, I was forced to put Tuft into prison also,
as he was found to have become a perfect master of
all her naughty tricks.

I will add hereafter a list of birds suited for single
cages ; and mention also the kind of cages best for
each to have.

CHAPTER Y.

VAKIOUS SPECIAL BIRDS.

1. THERE are very few people who have not at some
time or other possessed a Canary. They are amongst
the easiest of all tame birds to manage ; and although
I do not think they possess the very attractive quali-
ties of Goldfinches and Bullfinches, they are still
perhaps the most universally known of all the cage

32 Song Birds.

birds. Their food cannot be better than one part
hemp seed to three parts of canary ; groundsel,
^hickweed, or watercress being made a daily food,
rather than an occasional dainty, as it too often is, to
the bird's great injury.

The price of Canaries is very moderate ; a very good
bird may be got for five shillings, and hens are not
generally more than two shillings. In buying them,
the birds which seem moderately shy, are generally
the best ; an inexperienced person is too apt to be
attracted by a very quiet manner ; they seem so tame
that they are bought quite eagerly, but unhappily they
are apt to die soon after : the too great quietness
being often caused by illness.

A real good bird will make no end of a fuss ; pre-
tending to be a vast deal shyer than it really is, hopping
from perch to perch, twisting its head about, and
having, in fact, an infinity of pretty airs and graces !

Bird dealers, again, always recommend the birds
which sing loudly; and this to many is not at all
desirable ; the lower the tone the prettier and sweeter
many would think the song.

An immense advantage in favour of Canaries is,
that they build so readily in cages. I do not know
anything more pretty than the little brood just leav-
ing the nest, the flutter of the old birds, and their
tremendous pride ; many a time my birds have fairly
called me to see. They have a peculiar clear note

Various Special Birds. 33

which always means they want something, and on the
days when the brood were just commencing to hop,
it was quite impossible for the proud mamma to let
anybody pass her door without giving information of
what was to be seen.

One successful bird-fancier told me that he had
kept as many as four-and-twenty Canaries loose in an
aviary about eight feet square, of which only six were
cocks ; so that in fact he was making it just like a
poultry yard. But this is a plan I do not like at all.
The poor mother birds get so dreadfully overworked,
and besides, it is impossible they should be half so
happy.

Mrs. Tuft, for instance, has laid her first egg
to-day, and is in a state of the profoundest bliss.
Mr. Tuft, having looked in once or twice by candle-
light to see that all's right upstairs, is now seated on
his perch close by, warbling the very sweetest of all
sweet-whispered songs ; but if Tuft had three other
wives and families claiming his attention, how could
he manage to do all this ? It is a consolation to
me to know that under the Turkish system, from
deficiency in attendance, family jars, and unavoidable
jealousies, it is extremely seldom that more young
birds grow up than would most likely do so if they
were let pair comfortably. Of those that are hatched,
many die quite young. The hope of gaining a great
many young birds would be of course the only object

3

34 Song Birds.

in treating them in this way, for pleasure certainly
there would not be in it ; but I strongly advise those
who want quickly to stock their aviary, to be con-
tented with what some few pairs will do. It is
enough too : a single pair will often build four times
in a summer, laying four or five eggs each time, and
sitting for thirteen days.

Prize birds there are, too, for very ambitious
people, and none of these I think are much prettier
than the crested, bright Jonque birds (the colour of
a jonquille), with full black tufts looking like black
wigs.

To gain a prize, however, a great deal of care is<
necessary, and the rules vary so often that there is
hardly time to keep up with their rapid changes.
There are Belgians (the present ugly fashion),
Lizards, Jonques, mealy (yellow and white), and the
fancy kinds, all amongst prize birds. Some Canaries
have red eyes ; but this gives a look of weakness, and
they are very delicate.

The wild Canary is of a very dark greenish brown
hue, almost as dark as an English Linnet, and
excessively graceful and pretty in its movements.

For birds merely to keep, however, the very nicest
I think are the beautiful little German birds, of which
quantities come over every year about Christmas.
This breed is rather delicate and exquisitely pretty,
small, neatly made, quiet, graceful things, with very

Various Special Birds. 35

sweet voices generally, and I can answer for their
becoming quite familiar. The crested birds are-
the cleverest, I think, and they are very tame.
Hopping up to one's hand, and pecking it, just to
suggest how acceptable a little bread would be, andr
fighting like Turks, pecking and screaming ; beating
their wings, and scratching away with their fine sharp
claws if one chances to interfere with the arrange-
ments, and to incur the sovereign displeasure of their
funny little majesties.

Canaries are, moreover, very healthy birds, and live
a long time in cages. I was consulted the other day
about a bird supposed to be fifteen years old.
Canaries are easily kept, — eating most kinds of seed,
— though hemp and canary are the most proper food
for them. During the laying and nesting season,
they should also have some maw seed, and a little
bread and milk, always freshly mixed.

When they are allowed to fly about in a room,
they will spend whole hours alternately bathing and
crawling along the window ledge to dry their feathers
on the wood which the sun has warmed. And there
they often .sit all day, pluming themselves, and bask-
ing, and shaking out their dresses.

2. Few birds are more popular than the handsomely
attired and affectionate-natured Bullfinch. Its shape,
indeed, is against it, — being of a rather heavy make,
which sometimes causes its movements to be more

3—2

36 Song Birds.

amusing than graceful. Its own note, too, I confess,
is not of the most musical. Still, putting aside the
sweetness of its acquired song, I hardly know any
bird I had not sooner miss than Bully, there is some-
thing so taking in its engaging ways.

The Bullfinch seems to be also one of the few
birds which may be brought indoors when old, and
maxle really happy, more as a visitor than as a
prisoner. If the old birds are caught in the winter
time when they are wanting food, they will very
quickly become extremely tame ; and then, when
spring returns, they may often be trained to come and
go in and out of the house, and to hop about their
mistress on the lawn, ruffling up their feathers, and
talking and sidling in a most taking manner. Even
should one be allowed to build out of doors, the
intimacy need not cease, as a Bullfinch has been
often known to return after a short absence, bringing
with her a fine young brood to be introduced to their
mamma's old friends. At the same time these birds
seem perfectly at home when kept entirely indoors, and
are well contented as long as they have company.

"When one wants to train a bird to be an accom-
plished singer, it is a great point to remove it when
extremely young from the nest, before it acquires any
of the old bird's notes. The food in this case should
be of bread on which boiling water has been poured
and pressed off, milk being then added and a little

Various Special Birds. 37

oatmeal. This should be given at the end of a quill
with a notch cut in it a little distance up ; the food
must he given very often, from sunrise to sunset,
and the nestlings must he between whiles warmly
covered up.

Hemp seed shelled and pounded up with bread
is one of the best of foods ; and hard-boiled egg
chopped up altogether, and mixed with grated bread.
The latter, perhaps, is that which answers most
universally for birds taken young from nests. They
must be kept also excessively clean ; the best plan is
a cage with some moss in it or bran, and a piece
of flannel that can be replaced daily. Under the
flannel the more feathers there are the better.

In learning to sing, a Bullfinch is best kept quite
alone, and everything should be done to make his
lessons pleasant. Whistling a tune repeatedly is the
way that answers best ; but a tune slowly played is
by degrees picked up, if the little pupil has at all a
good ear for music.

3. There may be sometimes a little doubt about
keeping Goldfinches, as they are certainly natives of
the English woods ; and yet I always console myself
by observing what extremely happy birds they are
under favourable circumstances even in what we
call their prison. If loose in the room, they very
seldom sit upon the window frame, or seem to look
out longingly, and when they have got out there

"38 Song Birds.

is no bird I have known so often return to the
cage.

These birds are certainly most elegant little crea-
tures, and I should be afraid to say how many hours
daily they would appear quite happy in a minute
attendance to their toilette duties ; they are also
some of the most affectionate as well as the
liveliest and prettiest of all the birds I know, and
their great charm is, that like Bullfinches they are
personal in their devotion ; they will be on the most
familiar terms with their own mistress, hopping about
on her hand, peeping between her fingers, and nibbling
at her pen ; and yet if another person enters, darting
up to the curtain pole, or perching on a picture frame,
and by no means affable.

It is rather rare that a pair of Goldfinches should
build in confinement ; — the best chance for their doing
so is when they are flying about a room fitted up
with a sort of thick hedge of pine branches cut in
February so as to keep their leaves, or with a thick
"bush or two of gorse fastened securely in one comer
of the room at a good height from the floor.

I own I suspect that some of my Goldfinches once
were wild ; but if so they have not much to complain
of now, for they look very happy in their russet
dress, shading down to white, and their black feathers
with the clear white spangles and brilliant crimson
heads. There they sit on the top of the fir-tree

Various Special Birds, 39

pluming themselves, and twittering, and playing all
sorts of tricks.

Goldfinches to become accomplished should always
be brought up from the nest. But though they
are certainly more difficult to tame when they are
old, the little " grey pates," i.e. birds of the same
season, are most difficult to rear, unless they
can be brought up by old birds from the nest. If
reared like Bullfinches, adding a little strong tea in
one of the water glasses, when they begin to moult,
saves the lives of many of them.

In any place where birds are kept at all, I think
that a tolerable number of these pretty Goldfinches are
really irresistible. I do not believe that they hurt
one another much, even though they do pretend to
quarrel, in spite of their long sharp bills and their
tremendous clamour, which sounds so very warlike ;
and they look so ridiculous when they take offence,
and sit sulky on their perch, holding it extremely
tight all the time, sitting almost on their feet, but
at the same time so upright as to seem not unlikely
to tumble over backwards.

A fir-tree in a pot in a sitting-room, and three
or four Goldfinches to hop about upon it, is as
constant an amusement as anything of the sort I
know ; and they are wonderful birds, too, for retiring
to their cage. After an hour or two's play, and a
good bath, if attainable, they hop off home again,

40 Song

and perch themselves in their proper cage with the
most solemn dignity. One of iny birds was out one
day while the places of the furniture were being
altered, and he was hardly put to it where to go-
fer safety; but his own cage was there, and though
it was on the stand at that moment being moved,
in flew my friend, and there he sat the whole time.

4. If we wish to tame a Robin, one of the most
pleasant of home pets, it must be done very gradually,
making great friends with a young bird and feeding
it, when it will often come contentedly to roost in-
doors in the colder weather, and will cheerfully intro-
duce its small brown brood to hop about before us
later in the season on the gravel walk. And one
tame Eobin will often bring in another, when they
are at peace, which is very rare, though I have
several which seem very happy. A young bird
brought up from a nest is a most agreeable pet ; he
ought in that case to possess a cage, but to be-
allowed to go in and out at will. My own favourite
little bird hops about my room continually, and the
instant I call either him or any one else, he comes,
hopping up with great long hops, to answer to his
name or see what is going on.

He eats egg and bread crumbs, German paste,,
hemp and canary seeds, and must have abundant
water. Yesterday I had my windows open, and Bobby
was kept in his cage all the morning ; so towards*

Food. 41

evening we shut the windows and let the poor Robin
out, shortly after which he was found drenched in a
watering pot, which was standing near my plant-
stand with a little water only (very luckily as it
happened,) remaining at the bottom. He had certainly
not been out ten minutes before he had discovered it,
and enjoyed his bath.

I find it very difficult to decide what bird is nicest,
Bobby certainly is an uncommon favourite, one never
speaks to him without such an instant answer, and
he sings so sweetly. It would be, however, a real
grief to me, if writing thus of my Eobin led any one to
attempt catching old birds to keep ; where one might
be happy, I am certain, a thousand would be miserable,
and I should feel a traitor to the whole race of Robins.
If they are kept, let them be taken from nests, and
let them hop about and amuse themselves in a room,
and then, I think, they will be quite at home and
happy.

CHAPTER VI.
FOOD.

1. THE question of food is often made more trouble-
some than it need be, by the idea that the different
kinds of birds require different sorts, either of seed or
paste. The simplest plan is generally best ; and in

42 Song Birds.

fact, where many birds are together in an aviary, an
approximation to the food of each is all that can be
attempted.

As a general rule, there is, perhaps, no bird of
the hard-billed class which would refuse canary seed,
but a few prefer rape ; and while to some a fair share
of hemp is necessary, to others it is injurious, as they
become too fat.

2. Bechstein gives a most excellent recipe for a
universal paste, one on which, he says, thirty or forty
birds thrive well in his room, preserving most
perfectly the beauty of their plumage. All birds, he
says, whatever their natural food, will eat this
willingly ; and he has had Chaffinches, Goldfinches,
Linnets, Siskins (Aberdevines), Robins, Canaries,
Larks, Tits, Hedge- warblers, Quails, &c., all feeding
on it together. These birds, however, belong chiefly to
those which eat only seeds, though a few of them eat
insects also, as Larks and the varieties of Tits, which
also are largely given to devour green pease and
berries. For all these birds it seems well to mix
with the paste a little hemp and rape seed ; when
the seed can be pounded, the birds certainly like it
better, and thus many people devote a coffee-mill
•entirely to their service.

Of course it is better to let the birds have their
own mill ; but should this be inconvenient, as in the
•case of only one or two, the mill may be perfectly

Food. 43

cleansed from both coffee and bird seed, by grinding
in it a little stale bread or rice before and after the
bird seed is ground ; the seed may also be prepared
by pounding. A sort of paste (which I will describe
hereafter) is also a good standard food for the warbler
class, and for all birds which live on insects and
berries, including, that is, Nightingales, Blackcaps,
Thrushes, Wrens, Redpoles, &c., with the various
Finches and Linnets. For these former birds, how-
ever, I always should be inclined, if possible, to omit
the milk — at any rate, boiled milk. Mr. Herbert, who
seenis to have tried many different plans, and to have
been one of the most successful managers of these
especially delightful songsters, never approved of giving
it. The freshly- ground hemp seeds contain, in reality,
a milky sort of juice, and a grated carrot also is suffi-
cient to sweeten the mass a little.

Bechstein's authority is certainly very weighty, but
it should be remembered that his birds were really
room birds (Stubenvogel), not cage birds, and that
allowance must be made for the constant exercise that
this gave scope for, as well as for the greater coldness
of the German weather, and throughout his work it is
evident that but few of his birds comparatively were
kept at all in cages.

3. For the warbler, or soft-billed class, the admix-
ture of dried flies, ants' eggs, or pounded hard-boiled
egg, is extremely useful ; and in many instances, the

44 Song Birds.

milk, u-lien used cold, will not disagree, though it
does when boiled.

Boiled milk is admitted to be unhealthy, raw milk
is considered harmless. Therefore, in some instances
when cold milk has been found injurious, this may
possibly arise from the fact that, though cold, it was
not raw, but scalded milk. As far as a short trial
(with bought milk too) can be depended on, I quite
believe the fact is thus accounted for.

4. I proceed to give Bechstein's three recipes, which
do not appear to have been since surpassed, as a
general food.

Let a supply of wheaten bread be baked without
salt — sufficient for three months' use may be done at
one time. The loaves should be kept till stale, and
then be replaced in the oven when a baking is taken
out, and remain there while it cools. The dried bread
may then be easily ground or pounded into a kind
of meal, which will keep good for three months. A
large tea- spoonful of this meal is sufficient for each
bird's share, and this should be mixed with three
times the quantity of warm milk, on no account
suffered to boil. This makes a thick paste, which may
be chopped up on a board, and is very nourishing.

Poppy seeds or a few flies may with great advantage
be mixed up with this paste. Another excellent
paste, the one alluded to above as feeding so many
birds, is recommended both for its cheapness and its

Food. 45

great simplicity. Soak thoroughly in cold water a
well-baked stale wheateu loaf, press the water out of
it, pour cold milk upon it, and mix it with two -thirds
of its own weight of barley or wheat meal, well ground
and sifted.

A third paste is made thus : Grate a carrot (which
may be kept in sand, in a cool place for a year) on
a grater, which must afterwards be immediately
washed quite clean; thoroughly soak a penny roll
in cold water, press the water out, and mix the bread
and carrot with two handfuls of wheat or barley meal,
pounding the whole together thoroughly in a mortar.

Except so far as the pounded bread meal itself is
concerned, these pastes must be made entirely fresh
each day; and the vessels in which they are kept
(Philipps' glass preserve jars answer admirably, with
glass lids) and the feeding trough (of earthenware)
must be very well cleansed each day.

5. The birds do not always take to these pastes
quite kindly. It is often requisite to humour some
dainty individuals by observing their tastes, and
mixing with the paste some of their favourite viands,
poppy seed, pounded hemp, or the universally liked
ants' eggs. Still it cannot be said to give such a
temptation to this and such to another bird, for so
much depends on their up-bringing ; and though
we may know what different ones ought to like, it is
by no means sure that they do so.

46 Song Birds.

6. Bechstein records a way of taking ants' eggs,,
which I think will be found useful, and is no doubt
practised in many places in laying up stores for game.

On a fine day in summer the ant-hill is turned
over, and the earth containing the eggs being shovelled
on to a cloth, a few green boughs are laid on one side,
under which immediately the ants convey the eggs.
The eggs are then dried in a frying-pan with a little
sand, and thus stored away in jars till required for use,
when boiling water is poured on them to soften them.

7. The German paste is also a very useful food, par-
ticularly for all the soft-billed birds, or warblers. I
find it answers best to have this paste made at home,
as it is scarcely any trouble. Good materials can
then be depended on ; the price is also a third or
fourth only of that at which it can be purchased
genuine. As far as I know, with the exception of
Nightingales, all soft -billed birds will thrive well on
this paste, with some grated stale-bread crumbs,
and a few canary and hemp seeds now and then as
a change. The seeds need not be bruised, as these
birds swallow them whole, and are provided with
gizzards for their digestion. A few morsels sometimes
of quite fresh meat (neither salt meat nor meat that
has any salt on it will do), given either raw or cooked,
will be good for most of them ; and the Nightingales,.
in particular, should be chiefly fed on raw meat finely
chopped up with some hard-boiled egg. In this.

Food. 47

way they will live and sing without insects, though
they, as well as Larks, Eobius, and other birds of
this class, are extremely glad to get any ; and any
approach to their most natural food is always a great
advantage. A spadeful of mould out of an ants' nest is
the greatest treat that such birds can have. My receipt
for the German paste is given me by one who seems to
be thoroughly acquainted with the ways and tastes of
birds, both when wild and when kept in confinement.

Take two tablespoonfuls of melted lard, very free
from salt, heat this in a saucepan till it is nearly boil-
ing, add to it four tablespoonfuls of treacle, keeping
the saucepan near the fire, but not putting it on
again, and stirring the treacle well in gradually.
Keeping this mixture still near the fire, but not near
enough to do more than keep hot, stir in pea-meal
till the whole mass is a stiff, crumbly paste. About
three pints and a half of meal go to the above
quantity, and a few maw seeds should be finally
strewed amongst it.

I give the quantity by measure, thinking it may
be the more convenient manner, but the proportions
by weight would be two ounces of lard, four of
treacle, and three pints and a half of pea-meal.
This paste, if kept in one of the glass preserve jars,
will be perfectly good for months.

Many bird-keepers in using it grate a piece of very
stale bread, and mix the two thoroughly well together.

48 Song Birds.

Most birds are fond of it, and it often tempts a
sickly one to eat, while it is an excellent preparation
for keeping them in good plumage. German paste,
however, should never be bought ready-made at an
inferior shop, as many other things are used in it less
good for the birds, besides which, damaged pea-meal
is continually employed, making the composition
extremely unwholesome for them. When this paste is
good a well-boiled mealy potato, well beaten up, which
is very popular among birds, does also well to mix
with it.

The lard in this paste of course supplies a little
the place of insects ; but there are very few birds
which do not seem the better for sometimes having a
little food of that kind.

8. Even the Goldfinches, which are supposed to be
the strictest vegetarians, will make the complete st
clearance of anything like greenflies or aphides on a
flower stem. When birds are moulting, and especially
when they have young broods, some food of this
nature seems to be particularly required, and if no
insects, such .as aphides, or ants' eggs, are forthcom-
ing, some finely chopped hard-boiled egg, or a little
chopped-up meat, is a useful substitute for even these
hard-billed birds ; always being careful that anything
of this kind is perfectly fresh and quite untouched by
salt. I fully believe myself that all young birds are
partly brought up on insects of some description.

Food. 49

9. Watercresses are one of the greatest of all birds'
•dainties. Groundsel, plantain, chickweed and thistle -
seeds for the Goldfinches are also very good. They
say, indeed, that in Scotland the " Goldies," or
*.' Goldspinks," are sometimes found half buried in a
thistle head. Another grand luxury is a piece of
plain biscuit. Few birds will be found to refuse a
part of one of Huntley ana Palmer's cracknels. I am
very particular in what I give my pets ; but there is
quite an excitement when I open the well-known
box, and all call out to beg some. Stuck between
the wires, or suspended (by a string through it) from
a fir-tree branch, it is very amusing to watch the
incessant nibbling till the biscuit is quite finished.

Sugar is not good for singing birds, a little
piece of Spanish liquorice in their water glass is
much better, and fresh ripe fruit is generally much
liked. I think on the whole apples and pears are
best ; though I do see very black bills in the cherry
season, and elderberries also are often much enjoyed.

Lettuce leaves are very good, and may be grown
in winter; but young lettuces and Begonias look,
unluckily, a good deal alike ; and, on the whole, it is
preferable that the former should be pulled up. I
have not yet forgotten the sudden dab made by Dickie
at a special Begonia seedling, which was out of the
pot and down her throat before I should have thought
she had had time to see it.

50 Song Birds.

10. Unless a very large stock is kept, probably
most people will find it least trouble to feed their birds
on seed as a general rule. It seems to me the most
plain course to take — and niy own birds have gene-
rally never tasted anything but seed and vegetables,
with a little egg, or perhaps a few stale bread -crumbs,
for weeks and months together.

There is an exceedingly strong prejudice against
giving birds much hemp-seed, it is said to make
Bullfinches black, and to turn Goldfinches grey- — at
least to deprive them of their brilliant plumage.

On this subject I can only mention the caution,
and state my own experience, which certainly does
not forbid to the Finch tribe generally, especially in
the winter, a tolerable allowance of their favourite
food. I cannot imagine crimson brighter than my
Goldie's head — and all my birds have always had
access to a little of it — except young Linnets, which
are so gluttonous. Canaries have generally a little
allowed to them ; but I think it probable that one
thing which causes it not to hurt my birds, is that
they have always so good a supply of green food, and
facilities for bathing, as well as some time for exer-
cise. In the case of both hemp and rape, however, it
must be remembered that they are heating foods ,
containing a large amount of oil.

In the summer, birds having as much green food as
they like, often do not eat a very great deal of seed ;

Food. 51

but where they are fed entirely upon seed, it would
certainly be necessary to make a most marked differ-
ence between the summer and winter diet.

Except in the spring with the young, and in the
autumn when moulting, the supply of these seeds
should therefore a good deal depend on the warmth of
the room or aviary, on the amount of exercise, and
on the share of green food that can be supplied.

When the birds are exposed to some cold, have
exercise and green food, the rape and hemp in the
proportion of one to three parts of canary will seldom
be found too much. In the summer even, Canaries
and other birds in an out -door aviary may generally
take this mixture harmlessly, especially when steeped.

11. In buying a new bird, however, it is well to
make a point of hearing what its food has been,
because, for instance, an old bird brought up without
hemp would suffer were it given.

My usual plan has been to have one pound of
canary-seed, and to mix with it half-a-pound of rape,
the same of hemp, and the same of flax.

The poppy, or maw-seed, I keep separate, and
generally give it either mixed with any paste that
is used, or strewed on the sand or gravel on the floor
of the cage. This red sand is very essential for the
health of the birds, and I think these small grains of
a popular seed are useful in causing them to scratch
about more diligently in it. It should be made an

4—2

52 Song Birds.

object to get real good seed. Canary should be hard
and bright, of a brownish yellow colour, and look
white and floury when broken through ; it is also very
essential, indeed, that it should have been stored where
mice cannot get at it. Birds have a horror of seed
that mice have been amongst, in fact, they will not
eat it unless they are very hungry. Hemp-seed is
white inside, and tastes like a nut ; rape-seed, which
is best, and tolerably new (we used always to have
ours sent in from the barn when the wheat was
threshed), is round and blackish brown, with a bright
yellow kernel looking like yolk of egg. The linseed,
or flax, should always be well examined, and that
which has a dull and dirty appearance should be
avoided, as well as that which, as is often the case,
seems stuck together.

Oats are seed for some birds, and groats for
some — millet also is a constant food of almost all
the little foreigners ; but it is not necessary to speak
of these things further than saying, that they must
be thoroughly good. I know nothing more injured by
inferior or adulterated food than birds ; and it is, more-
over, extravagant, as they waste more than they eat.

The rape-seed is often recommended to be soaked.
In this case, it should be placed in an earthen jar,
with about twice its own quantity of water, covered up
near the fire, for about twelve hours. The water
should be then poured off, and the seed dried on a

Food. 53

sieve. The birds will not touch it as long as it is
wet.

Hemp-seed is often the better for being bruised ;
that is, just slightly cracked ; for very young birds,
which chiefly live on it till after their first moult,
this braising is quite essential.

12. In full-grown birds, unless they are feeding
their young or moulting, or have remarkably weak
bills, it is better, I think, to put on the drag of
cracking, rather than letting them swallow the seed
as fast as they can do it. It is very amusing to see
the Goldfinches busy with a hemp -seed ; they gene-
rally go up on the perch to eat it, and after a little
rapid turning the seed about they shut up their
mouths completely, and sit regarding you with the
most preternatural air of occupation and considera-
tion. While, however, you are speculating (as you
suppose the bird is) on the consequences of a holt,
suddenly the seed reappears, and you find the delay
had only been in the hope that the seed would soften.
We may suppose it does, for the next proceeding is to
place various pieces with elaborate care on the perch,
which then quickly (and finally) disappear. I have
had birds deposit the precious morsels on my fingers
many a time, to be taken care of while they eat the
rest. Bread crumbs -are very good for all birds as a
•change of food. I think that stale bread grated is
the best way to give it.

54 Song Birds.

Melon seeds, chopped up fine, are often extremely
beneficial when a bird has a cold, or seems to be
suffering under any change of diet. The Cantaloupe
melon is the best kind, as far as I know, to give them.
Lettuce seed also is sometimes good.

The food should always be given early in the day,
and it is better not to mix one very favourite seed
with the rest, as it is then thrown about so much. I
often strew the hemp, for instance, upon the floor, or
give it from my own hand. The seed-box, £e. should
be thoroughly cleaned out constantly, and a small
Bieve is very useful for removing dust, and any loose
husks can be blown away, and the good seed returned
into the box.

13. It is well to make a great point of seeing at
night, that the birds have food enough for next morn-
ing's breakfast if it is daylight long before they are
fed* I have known great injury done by forgetfulness of
birds' early habits ; and a few hours waiting for food
in the morning, especially in the case of nestlings, is
most severely felt. Very often, indeed, it gives
a check from which they do not recover. A bird's
day, it must be remembered, is from sunrise to sun-
set. In the case of poultry, for example, the principal
difficulty attending winter broods lies in the long
night, during which the chickens are exposed to
remain unfed.

55
CHAPTER VII.

TREATMENT OF BIRDS WHEN SICK.

1. IT is utterly miserable to read the long lists given
of the birds' diseases and their so-called remedies.

Plenty of preventive measures there might be rightly,
and a little nursing, for a sick bird is not generally
kindly treated by its own companions ; but I own
that a case which goes beyond a bath or a warm
wrap, a piece of liquorice or a rusty nail, a little
groundsel, or some watercresses, is generally, in my
opinion, not very likely to be improved by a lady's
doctoring.

Up to that point, there is a little margin for a
small sort of quackery.

2. First, there are " wooden shoes," which I con-
fess I find great delight in curing ; it is so pleasant
to see the birds' relief when the load falls off. This
discomfort arises from a damp or dirty cage, or one
not sufficiently supplied with clean red sand ; when
the feet become gradually perfectly clogged with a
sort of dirty shoe, sounding very much, indeed, as
if the bird wore sabots ; and when a bird is bought
in such a state, it is a legitimate case for attempting
a cure immediately. Take a saucer containing luke-
warm soft water, not hot, but milk-warm; and then
carefully catching the bird in one hand, cause i£

56 Song Birds.

to stand for at least five minutes if possible in its
shallow bath. To take hold of the bird without
hurting it, it is very essential to keep the hand quite
outside the wings ; watching an opportunity for lightly
closing it when the bird has both its wings folded.
It is best to keep the head over the thumb ; and
as the feet are very often tucked up just when we
want them down, the mistress's hand is usually
forced to take a bath with the bird. Jenny, one
of my pets, was extremely bad when I got her ; but
after three days of this treatment, she was as com-
fortable as could be ; and considering how she pecked
and screamed at being caught at first, it was very
amusing to witness her complacency as her shoes-
wore out. I always present the patients with hemp-
seeds while in the bath ; sometimes they only hold
them (taking them back to their cage to eat) ; but
at any rate it assures them that people who give
them such delicious things, cannot possibly mean
harm.

There should be always a little bed of rather fine1
dry oatmeal for the bird to stand on for a moment
when its bath is over; this dries the feet, and in?
all ways is useful, while its dusting the feathers does,
not the slightest harm.

But except in the case of birds very newly bought,
this is treatment not likely ever to be required, a&
clean cages and clean sand are suificient preserva-

Treatment of Birds when SicL 57

tives from this discomfort as well as from the one-
which I will mention in case of a similar need.

3. I once bought two birds at the door which
were evidently made very uncomfortable by a torment
arising from want of bathing — very minute red insects
like cheese mites, which were amongst their feathers..
These birds were twice dusted with Duniont's or
Keating' s insect powder, taking care that the powder
did not get into their eyes ; and after the second
time of dusting, the patients appeared quite well.
They bathed, at the same time, frequently, their cage
was well scrubbed daily with yellow soap and water :
but newly-bought birds, for fear of such annoyances,,
should never be mixed at first with others, unless they
are obtained from a dealer on whom one can depend.

4. Some birds, more particularly Canaries, have
a talent for taking cold, and are heard conversing-
in the hoarsest tones. For this a piece of Spanish
liquorice about the size of a pea, dropped into the
water glass, is a very simple remedy. If, however,
it is left there long, I always give a second glass
of clean water after a short time in the morning,
as the birds soon begin to dislike the taste if they
have nothing else to drink. My birds the other day,
some light-coloured Canaries, thought proper to wash
in this cough mixture ; the effect was not ornamental,
but I suppose less injurious in the end than most
cosmetics are.

<58 Song Birds.

Watercress is invaluable for keeping birds in good
health : indeed, they are not often ill while they are
kept clean, free from draughts, well supplied with
this favourite salad, and not crammed with all sorts
of trash.

•5. It is very essential also to see that their seed
is good, that it is bright and well-filled, and that
it has not been where mice can get near it, for
mice seem in all ways great enemies of birds. I
•do not know how it is, but the terror birds have of
them is singularly great. My very favourite Gold-
finch was killed last winter by a mouse one night
running round the cage, the cold probably having
made it bold, and bird seed being tempting : before
I could take the poor little fellow in my hand, it
had fallen down on the floor of the cage quite dead.
It might be from fluttering too hard against the bars,
or, as I thought, from a fit. When a bird is sitting,
mice are very dangerous if they get up to the nest.

6. Sometimes, especially if a bird builds early in
the year while the weather is cold, she will be
subject to a sort of fit when she begins to lay her
eggs or sits ; probably cold weather renders her
much more exhausted. In the cold spring this year,
one of my birds was very ill indeed ; she lay on
her side with all her feathers fluffed out, and did
not even stir when her mate in the excess of his affec-
tionate disquietude perched himself on her shoulder,

Treatment of Birds when Sick. 59

and setting his feet firmly together, took her wing
in his beak and tugged it with all his might to
induce her to get up. I thought such nursing,
however, might be dispensed with, so having got
some warm water, and with exceedingly great care
given the bird a bath (of course holding her in my
hand the while), I wrapped her up, insensible as
she was, in a very warm piece of flannel, and having
kept her warm all day, I had the pleasure at night
of seeing her eating crumbs of sponge biscuit (which
was her favourite refreshment,) with considerable
appetite. She has never, I am sure, forgotten that
day's nursing, for she is the only bird who now
makes no fuss at all if I take her up. The others
kick and scratch and peck as hard as they can,
maintaining firmly the difference between being taken,
and coming of themselves.

7. The moulting is always a trying time to birds ; the
young ones lose their first feathers at about three
months old, the old ones generally about August or
September. At this time they require warmth, and
as they have little appetite, it is better to give them
as much variety in their food as possible, also being
careful to crush for them any hard kind of seed like
hemp, as they are very weak. A rusty nail or a shred
of saffron in the water glass is a useful tonic. And
if the bird should be attacked with any sort of fit,
some authorities recommend dipping its feet in warm

60 Song Birds.

water, others, much less safely, giving it a bath of
cold ; but I do not think anything is better than
laying the bird down on a marble slab, which gives it
a shock of cold without making it wet, and when it
comes to itself keeping it very warm in a well-heated
flannel.

8. One of my original pair of Canaries used, I
remember, to distress me ever}' spring and autumn
by a succession of what seemed very violent fits. Yet
she lived for years, and was the mother each summer
of a goodly family. A little oatmeal, a lump of chalk,
and a piece of bay salt, are all very desirable to keep
in the cage, as the birds have thus an opportunity to re-
sort to their natural remedies, if they feel indisposed.

9. Birds are extremely apt to suffer by any sudden
change of food, as well as by exposure to cold, damp,
fatigue, or fright. In all these cases the nearer the
food can resemble the natural kind the better, and I
have already said how important it is in buying a
new bird to hear exactly what food it has had, the
food being so much a matter of individual habit,
which seems often to take the place of that which is
most natural to the class. As a general rule, how-
ever, I think that canary seed, with a little new rape,
hemp, and flax, will suit ; hard-boiled egg is also a
very good thing for birds when moulting, weak, or ill,
and I often have given mine a little cold milk to
drink, or have fed them with scalded bread, which

Treatment of Birds when Sick. 61

has been beaten up, after pouring off the water, with
some cold milk and maw or poppy seed, of which
most birds ar*e fond. This small seed scattered
amongst the sand is also invaluable for teaching
young birds to peck. For a sick Goldfinch thistle
and groundsel seeds are the best kind of food, and
very generally a few ants' eggs are good and
strengthening. They can be kept dry in sand all
the winter, and softened by hot water.

10. Young birds are excessively liable to a disease
which resembles that called in poultry " the gapes,"
though it does not seem to be at all the same thing in
reality. The bird mopes and is uncomfortable, ruffles
up its feathers, and keeps opening its bill as if it wanted
air. The bill is generally dry and yellowish underneath
the eyes, and the bird has a generally miserable
look about it suggestive of its real disease , an exceed-
ingly bad cold. Some strong black tea without milk,
linseed, poppy seed, plenty of green stuff, and a little
liquorice in the water, are amongst the best remedies,
but perfect warmth is the greatest requisite. I think
this complaint is contagious, and, therefore, should
always recommend removing any other birds from the
same cage, or if in an aviary, placing the sick bird
in hospital.

11. It is a very great thing to make young birds
wash properly ; in pluming themselves afterwards
they are forced to have recourse to the provision

62 Song Birds.

made for oiling their feathers and keeping them
waterproof, and this prevents, at the same time, cold-
catching, from wet penetrating the feathers, and
inflammation, often accompanied by a painful spot, that
forms a little above the tail feathers from the accumula-
tion of the oil. In the open air morning mists and
summer showers soon compel the birds to attend to this
duty, in-doors it is well to remind them of it by a
gentle sprinkle from a brush or syringe, always choosing
for this a time when the sun is shining. A little
glycerine, or even cold cream, put on with a feather,
is the best remedy, if any is required ; but I think if
the birds are taught to bathe, the disease will not
often show itself.

12. One caution I must give most emphatically; it
is, never to let young birds fly loose in a room for many
weeks after they are fledged, unless they have been
used to hop about in one before they can fly at all, or
are brought out of the nest under parental care, when,
of all sights connected with the aviary, one of the
very prettiest is the young brood's early lessons. If,
however, a little bird is let fly alone, it will fail in
balancing its flight, so as continually to strike its head
against the wall or ceiling ; and if there are windows
with the blinds drawn up, or glasses of any kind, it
will most likely strike against them and hurt itself.
I lost several beautiful little birds this year, entirely
from the accident of their thus getting loose.

Treatment of Birds when Sick. 63-

The best way to accustom a bird to fly when it i&
old enough to do so, is to let out a few of those who
are quite accustomed to it, and then, having drawn
down the blinds, or, still better, closed any muslin
curtains, the bird will hop out of its cage peaceably,,
and when it has once examined the room well, will
ware glass sufficiently.

13. If unfortunate accidents do, however, happen
to birds getting loose, I think the best thing that can
be done is merely to keep them wrapped up warmly
for a day or two, feeding them with egg or milk from
a quill, if their heads have been badly bruised, as
often happens. Should they meet with a fall or blow
so severe as to stun them in their rapid flight, a few
moments generally is sufficient to bring them to*
themselves, and they must be held in the hand or
put into a soft cage to recover, as otherwise they
begin at once to beat about in a great fright : a little
cold water dropped on the head and bill, is the best
thing for them ; and after such escapades, the cage
should be shaded for an hour or two to give the
patient a little time to rest, when, if it is not seriously
injured, it will soon be again quite comfortable.

14. In case these disasters happen, I think it is-
always well to have a cage fitted up suitably for a
hospital. I prefer a low sort of double- sized trap-
cage, the wire sides being all taken out, and a piece
of canvas or flannel, bound or hemmed all round,

*64 Song Birds.

being nailed or sewn in their place. The top of thin
netting should take on and off, and there should he
no perch, or only one placed at one end, and ver}r
low. A soft hed of very fine moss or flannel seems
to me the hest for the hird to lie on ; hut anything
thready or hairy must carefully he avoided, as a
bird is always apt to get its feet and wings entangled.

If the cage is tolerably roomy there will perhaps
be space for a shallow bath, which I always fancy
relieves the bird, the head, at any rate, getting a
refreshing wash, and certainly very often the ailing
limb being also cooled by a little sprinkling.

The seed and food the bird usually has should
be abundantly supplied, and placed in such a manner
that it can help itself both to food and water from
the same position : a good deal of seed may also be
on the floor. Plenty of green stuff — watercress,
chickweed, and groundsel — should be always given on
these occasions, and sand in some shallow receptacle,
if there is no room for it on the cage floor, as
usual, and much best. Warmth also, and perfect
quiet, are great things at these times, and though there
should be a shady corner, darkness is not generally
desirable, as it depresses the bird and worries it.
Of course the patient should be always fed and cared
for by its chief friend in the family ; attention to
this one thing saving a world of fluttering.

15. While, however, a non-doctoring system is

Treatment of Birds when Sick. 65

*loubtless, as far as ladies are concerned, the best ; when
.tiny serious accident does happen, or when a bird is
very ill, it is so natural to long to alleviate the pain, or
to prolong the bird's realty happy life, that I must not
conclude this chapter without naming a bird dealer
devoted apparently, as so many Germans are, to
the pursuit he has followed in a humble fashion since
he was a boy of seven. His name is Litolff, 25, Rose
Street, Long Acre, and he seems to me to be well
acquainted with birds and their ailments. I under-
stand he is very successful as a bird doctor, and
mender of broken limbs ; and I may here remark
that a canary of my own hatched and brought up
large families for several succeeding years after the
unlucky accident which deprived her of a leg.

16. A strange cat last winter by some extra-
ordinary means made its way into my room one
evening in the twilight, and before I knew of its
presence, it had sprung upon and knocked down a
•cage from a table near. One bird flew away unhurt,
but the other was injured by the falling cage, and
had its leg broken. It was taken up and given to
me quite gently, and without even attempting then
to examine the injury, I laid it in a cage just such
as I described, and kept it close beside me for the
next ten days : talking to it seeming to comfort and
amuse it mightily. The leg was stiff and useless
for a long time after, but when once it had begun

5

66 Song Birds.

to bathe, the recover}* was rapid, and the bird now
is a very fine and healthy one, and has built and
hatched this summer.

It is very touching the way the sick birds cling
to one in their troubles ; they lie looking at one for
help so pitifully, taking so gently the offered food,
and always seeming disposed to nestle so closely to
one. After all I have said, however, I can but
repeat my conviction that cleanliness, watercress,
and abstinence from messes are the best means of
preserving a bird in health ; and if, after all, it does
become ill, keeping it very warm — not roasted before
the fire, but nestled in snugly — is the best mode of
both comforting and curing it.

CHAPTER VIII.

BREEDING IN AVIARIES.

1. THE most enjoyable arrangement that I ever
knew for the cage birds building, was a plan adopted
for my birds, when I was a child. In some little
details I may perhaps make mistakes ; but as the
birds belonged to me, and always were great pets,
I "do not think that any important thing will have
..been forgotten.

We had at that time a good many birds kept in

Breeding in Aviaries. 67

different ways, some loose in a room, some in single
cages, and others in one large cage standing about
six feet high, which was divided into separate apart-
ments, and provided with gratings to shut off young
broods.

This cage used every spring to be carried out into
the garden, when the greenhouse plants went, and
there it stood under a beautiful scarlet Thorn till the
first cold days of autumn warned us to take it back
to its winter quarters in the hall, near enough to the
tire to be kept pretty warm.

2. In a cage of this size, if birds of only one or
two kinds are kept, there may be as many as ten or
a dozen pairs. We generally had a few Linnets and
Goldfinches, and all the rest Canaries ; and all these
used to pair a good deal, Canaries with Goldfinches,
and so on.

There is always a doubt as to the good agreement
of many birds together ; but it must be remembered
that two birds alone in a cage will fight, if it so
pleases them, just like cat and dog ; while in an
aviary, or large-sized cage, the space for flight and for
dodging is far greater if they do fight ; and it is very
rare that more than a single bird at once will attack
another. When a whole cage full do set themselves
against one luckless individual, the only thing for
it is to give him another home. But a great deal
depends on careful management ; letting the birds be

5—2

68 Song Birds.

well acquainted, at least by sight and hearing, before
they actually share the same cage ; letting them loose
together, above all when they are not hungry, and
consequently cross.

Many persons would have as many, perhaps, as
eighteen hen birds to half a dozen cocks ; but I have
said already that, for my own part, out of the poultry
yard, I have no faith in such Turks. The numerous
wives very often rob one another's nests ; or else
they fight, instead of sitting quietly. An absurd
little Canary hen of mine, for instance, invariably
flies off her nest in the most reckless manner, and
goes dashing off after her most particular enemy, if
she even so much as sees her passing ; and of course
these sudden antics are. very dangerous both for eggs
and young.

3. One very great consideration to those who keep
birds for pleasure, is assuredly the happiness of the
tribe ; and who would like to lose that prettiest of
sights when the forwardest nestling arrives first at
the perch, and sits between its parents fluttering its
little wings and being fed by them alternately, in
the midst of busy and delighted twittering. Of
course when one bird is father of about four young
families, there is not much chance of his being much
at home with any of them ; and the mother has no
business to be always off' her nest, as she must
really be, to supply a strong brood all by herself,

Breeding in Avihries. 69

with food. I have been confidently assured by long
experienced bird-keepers, that even where number
is the great object, as in their own case (breeding
young birds for sale), the trying for too many often
ends in the loss of all. A general skirmish terminates
hi torn nests, or, even supposing that peace is main-
tained, a general weakness ensues amongst all the
birds, the- old ones being over- worked, and the
young ones under-fed. Cheerfulness, too, is an im-
portant thing iii a birdcage, and a poor little hen
toiling on all alone is by no means a lively sight.

For peace, then, for happiness, and even for
numbers to be reared, I strongly advise my readers
to match their birds pretty fairly, withdrawing any
member who is decidedly black-balled, and giving
opportunity before entering the aviary of forming a
slight acquaintance.

4. After February or March it is rather a risk to
introduce new inmates into an aviary already arranged
for breeding. If one of a pair should die, it is best
to remove the mate till it has formed another match ;
when the pair may be put in again, though with some
risk of the new bird not agreeing with those which
were there before.

An entirely new pair can be put in with more
safety, but we always need to have a few single cages
for such birds as are separated from the others for
any cause whatever.

70 Song Birds.

I shall not, then, attempt to enter at any length
into the uncomfortable fashion alluded to just now.
I believe where it is attempted it is usual to have a
cage with several partitions, a nest box in each, and
as soon as one bird begins to sit, her mate is taken
away, and she is left to bring up her brood alone.

5. In one instance proceedings like these may be
rendered necessary. If a Goldfinch and Canary build
together, the Goldfinch is sometimes disposed to break
his poor wife's eggs ; probably because they are not
exactly the colour he expects to see them. But all are
not so cruel ; and Goldfinches sometimes bring up
young families in a most exemplary manner. I have
myself one so good-natured that, having no family
of his own this year, when a poor little strange
''grey pate" fluttered its wings and looked up at
him in a meek and insinuating way, he actually fed
it and comforted it, as though it had been his own.
There are, however, varieties of disposition. But the
general caution is quite necessary: that if birds of
different races pair, when the eggs naturally look dif-
ferent, it is always necessary to look sharply after them
as soon as they are laid ; if, for instance, it is certain
that the hen has laid, and yet no egg is visible,
it would be safer next day to lock up the suspected
party behind the sliding grating till the expected
egg is safely in our possession, when it can be put
into another nest for hatching.

Breeding in Aviaries. 71

6. Birds do not, however, generally approve of
any interference, and the less they undergo, the
better they will succeed.

Home persons make a practice of taking away the
eggs in all cases, as fast as they are laid, thereby
losing a great many birds. Others dip them in warm
water ; others sprinkle them to aid in the hatching :
but all these practices are worse than useless, and
if they were required the bird herself would see to it.

Chaffinches, for instance, in hot weather have been
noticed damping their eggs with water in their bills ;
and when the eggs are bad, the hen generally finds
it out, and thereupon leaves the ne^t.

7. It is a very necessary thing that plenty of light
and air should be afforded, whether in the aviary or
in breeding-cages.

I dislike the practice of hanging cages, as people
often do, by the side of a window, to be out of the
strong light. The nest itself, doubtless, should be in
a shady corner, and either a spray of leaves or a piece
of green baize may be hung over the spot where it
is being built ; but of all depressing things to the
old birds, and of all hurtful and weakening things
for the young, the absence of direct light and of the
warm soft rays of the morning sun, are the worst
to which they can be exposed. Some young birds, in
fact, leave their nests less than half fledged from this
very cause, as nothing adds so much to the quick

72 Sony Birds.

growth of the feathers as the warm (not scorching)
sunshine, such as flickers down through the leaves-
of some waving shruh ; and the fresh air and moisture
of the summer dew help the nestlings hoth in their
growth and feathering.

Thus it was that our birds throve so well with their
nurseries out of doors. They had the early sunlight r
the sweet morning air, the dew, and the cheerfulness of
everything around, all keeping them well and happy,
till, indeed, I should now be quite afraid to say how
many young birds, year by year, used to grow up
with us.

8. "When then was a young family old enough to>
leave the maternal wing, a small cage would be pro-
vided, or a division of the aviary prepared for them.
In whichever they were placed, we took care they
should have plenty of little round holes (like those
miserable holes for getting at seed and water), which
they could be fed through if their parents pleased.
"We used always to strew a good deal of crushed
hemp, and maw seed, and crumbs of stale bread,
upon the floor of the cage, as soon as ever the young
ones began to leave their nest and to hop about, so
that afterwards, the same plan being continued in
their own new cage, half the difficulty of teaching
them to eat was obviated.

It is a good thing to accustom young birds to be
yery clean : baths in fine weather arejiot likely to be

Breeding in Aviaries. 73-

hurtful ; but if they do not wash, a little sprinkling
from a fine brush is sometimes desirable to force
them to preen their feathers. To be in a cage in
view of the old birds is often helpful here, and at any
time I would gladly give up one hatch of birds for the
sake of the pleasure it is to see the little fledglings-
getting their education — the parental scoldings, pecks,
and pokes which are so amusing.

9. Unless a set of birds are already on a very
familiar footing with their mistress and extremely tame,
it does not do to seem to watch them much. At the-
sanie time when a young pair bred up from nestlings,
or long become tame, have begun to build, they will
often go on composedly, and allow of almost any
amount of friendly interference.

I suspected the other day that one of mine had
been building a floorless nest, and put a finger into
the nest to see : both birds came immediately, and,
standing at the door to watch me, gave no sign of
fear or of displeasure, but simply wished to know
what I could be at. A very soft, well-felted lining,
after all, I found, and directly I removed my finger,
into her nest popped the little bird, and there she sat
amidst her fir branches, with her little black eyes
glittering as I hardly thought a bird's eyes would
glitter ; she also took crumbs of biscuits or of hemp
seed when I held them to her, with evident satis-
faction.

74 Song Birds.

10. When imported birds breed in England, it is
very amusing to witness their determined adherence
io the ways of their own land. There is a most curious
instance of this given in Jesse's Gleanings, of an
African bird — one of the Cardinal Grosbeaks — which
was put into the same cage with a hen Goldfinch, in
order to try if they would breed together; they did so,
and the hen having begun to sit, the tropical bird took
.-a quantity of grass and covered her up with it. This
he did regularly every day at eleven o'clock (at which
time the sun came upon the cage), apparently for the
purpose of screening the hen from the heat, and it was
supposed that this attention was usual in the country
from which the bird was brought.

Parrots, again, will insist on "a hollow tree "
wherein to form their nest ; the most successful broods
are therefore reared in old barrels half full of saw-
dust, and with holes cut in the sides.

Goldfinches cannot bear building low down in a
room ; about the top of the curtain pole is the lowest
level that they like. Many of the English wild birds,
too, often will not build in an open cage (the Gold-
finches generally, amongst others, will not), but they
will build in a thick hedge of fir, or box, or gorse, if
ihis is arranged for them in a room, or in an aviary
cage, affording sufficient space.

Having made these stray remarks on the subject
generally, I will now proceed to give a f6w rules as to

Breeding in Aviaries. 75

the little that has to be done for the hirds in regard
to their building.

11. I have no faith at all in match-making ; in nine
cases out of ten it is quite certain that the birds suit
themselves better than we could suit them. Besides,
half the amusement is seeing what they will do. The
prettiest nest I have had this year was the production
of a strong-minded fenlale, who fairly hunted down a
poor little German bird not more than half her size.
Never was anything more amusing than Jenny's
pertinacity ; first she drove away all the other birds,
daring them to come near her, and then she fairly
flattered little timid Tuft into becoming her most
submissive spouse. She treated him well, however,
and fought his battles for him.

12. A match between a Goldfinch and yellow
(Jonquille) Canary is one much to be desired; the
nestlings are so pretty. Siskins and Canaries are
also veiy pretty ; and some of the little crimson
plumaged foreign birds should be encouraged in any
such alliances. The being together much, the being
thoroughly tame, and the having abundant room, and
good choice of building places, are the chief means by
which one might promote this end.

Two crested birds should never be allowed to pair.
I settle that by having with the others only crested
liens. The crested Goldfinches are extremely pretty
as well as rare, but I never heard of any progeny

76 Song Birds.

from a crested Canary and Chaffinch. Crested Bull-
finches are not desirable, as crests never suit those
large-headed, thick-billed birds. The young of a
Canary and Linnet are very pretty; but not equal,
I think, to those of Goldfinches or Siskins and Jon-
quille Canaries.

18. Branches or trees in pots should be put into-
the cage, room, or aviary, as early as possible for the
birds to get used to them ; but in the chapters on
Booms, Aviaries, and Cages, I will describe more fully
the various ways of arranging these.

14. About the end of March is quite early enough
to begin to furnish nest materials. In a very early
spring I have known the birds begin to build in
February ; but as we cannot ensure warm weather for
the young birds' early growth, about four weeks later
when they should leave the nest, it seems the safer
plan not to encourage these very early broods.

It does not, on the other hand, answer when they
begin to sit very late, because then the second or
third brood is apt to be made too backward.
About six weeks generally elapse from the time of
the first sitting till the next begins. And it is very
common to have four or five broods of Canaries in a
season. The wild birds in Madeira begin to build in
February, and hatch quite as often, though Linnets
and Goldfinches hatch generally only twice a year.

15. "When the birds are about to build, a few little

Breeding in Aviaries. 77

"bags of network should be prepared, filled with small
tufts of soft dry moss or grass, free from stalks, a
little soft hair or wool, which is better short, as a long
hair sometimes gets caught about a bird's foot ; a few
nice little feathers, also, are a great boon, and some
soft down or thistle-down is best for the lining. I
should observe here, too, that birds are particular in
their tastes : one prefers a white lining, and another
a brown, and so far are they from conforming their
tastes to their means, that if they cannot have the one
preferred they often will not have any. As, however,
it is very much safer for the young to be warmly
housed, a little trouble in humouring their mamma
will not be thrown away. Feathers, I always fancy,
answer best for Canaries, many of the Warblers, Tit-
mice, Wrens, &c. ; their own little wild nests are
perfect depths of warm, soft, downy feathers. But in
all these things birds differ : Goldfinches prefer hair,
and Thrushes think mud more suitable, and a dis-
honest Sparrow, living on our lawn, once stole a
piece of flannel from the nursery window, and we
afterwards found it nestling with it in a large clipped
yew-tree !

I think it better to give two bags, putting that with
the moss in first ; but if the birds are in cages the
bags should be hung outside the wires, to prevent,
not only entanglements, but considerable waste of
strength ; as in the case of two of mine, when they

78 Song Birds.

dragged up forcibly the whole bag to their nursery,
into which it would not enter, the door being rather
narrow. When I think of the Herculean labours of
those two small creatures, I always feel wicked for not
having prevented it. I suspect Jenny thought she
was conveying her nest up wholesale, and that she
meant to jump upon it and to scoop out a hole.

16. It is very common to buy nest bags ready fitted
up, and, for once, it may be well to see the sort of
stuff they are made of. It will, probably, however, be
advisable to put the bags aside unused, as they are
generally scented with powder of some kind — unplea-
sant, I think, to both birds and owners, and certainly
not natural for the former. The nest bags are im-
portant items, as so much of the comfort of the brood
depends on their good supply and perfect clean-
liness. It is absolutely essential to have all bought
materials thoroughly baked or scalded before they
are used.

17. The Canary often begins sitting from the day
on which her first egg is laid, thus beginning to hatch
in thirteen days after. Some people "take care " of
the eggs for the unhappy birds ; but I am sure that
the rule of letting things alone answers much the
best here, and the deserted nests and the uncared-for
young are not usual in the woods and fields — they
are events reserved for places where " every possible
pains is taken."

U reed ing in Aviaries. 791

Four living nestlings used, with us, to be no un-
common thing, but then we were not too helpful ;
we saw that there was always food at hand, and once,,
when the hen bird died and the cock seemed perplexed
as to how he was to act nurse, we undertook to help
him, and by feeding endlessly from early morning to
quite the evening, we certainly contrived to rear a tame
and pretty set of little downy birds.

18. The birds, sometimes, after building properly,,
will, without any apparent cause, coolly fill up the
nest, generally with some white stuff, and quietly
forsake it. This is generally when they have been
disturbed by strangers, or when the eggs are addled.
The latter is sometimes the case after a thunder-
storm, a door slamming violently, or some such cause.

I do not think that after the nest has been once
filled up they often return to it. I should, in such
cases, therefore, take the birds into another room or
aspect if they are in a cage ; at any rate, removing the
whole machinery, box, or branch, or whatever it may
be, of the other nest, and giving facilities for making
a fresh start. The nest may, however, in some cases,
be left as it is, when it would be troublesome to re-
move it ; but deserted nests are bad nooks for insects,
and a bird is all the better for not being reminded of
its former failure.

19. Some birds are first-rate sitters and nurses,
others very careless, and while these need constant

•80 Song Birds.

watching, they are very often also the least familiar,
and the most ready to take offence. The penalty, too,
of their negligence is serious in the first days of
hatching, no less than murdered nestlings. After a
little practice, however, the general look of things
shows if all is right. A real good bird for sitting and
bringing up her young is a great acquisition, and
should always have every advantage, and should she
-even be an inferior bird she would be invaluable, with
first-rate eggs substituted for her own.

If the hen bird should have fits while sitting, as
Is very likely, especially in cold weather, it is best
to put her very gently in a warm bath : laying her
afterwards on a piece of heated flannel. The greatest
«are is necessary, however, not to hurt the bird while
holding it in the hands.

20. While birds are sitting, the supply of food should
always be very abundant. I am doubtful myself if
the hard-boiled egg is really a good addition ; bread,
well baked, and allowed to get rather stale, answers
very well mixed with pounded hemp -seed — some say
pounded rape — and Mr. Kidd, who is a great authority
in these matters, recommends bread and milk. In
that case the bread should be finely grated, and cold
milk poured on just enough to moisten it. My birds
have, nevertheless, often done very well with no
change from their ordinary food, except an additional
allowance of pounded hemp, with a little maw-seed.

Breeding in Aviaries. 81

Some old pounded mortar in the cage is essential,
iind a rusty nail in the water glass. Plenty of chick-
'weed, too, is a great advantage.

Where egg is given, I should much recommend its
l>eing finely pounded, and mixed with the grated bread.
Only a small quantity should be given at a time, and
it should never be left to get sour in the cage.

21. Cleaning a breeding- cage is an immense diffi-
culty. It is a veiy good plan to cover the floor
Jhickli/ at first with sand, and then, if absolutely
necessary, the top may be raked off ; having what the
•cage-makers call a slide is, for this, an advantage,
even above a drawer. Drawers are open to the very
grave objection that they afford so convenient a har-
l)our in which insects may lodge. But when slide
cages are used in common, there should be a spare
one, that they may be well cleaned by turns.

22. It is desirable to have a small cage hooked on to
•contain seed and water. There is generally a small
door whereon it can be hung, and it makes a wonder-
fully great difference in the neatness of the cage.
These suggestions must not be despised because they
seem so trivial, for when any one tries to keep a cage
both clean and quiet for five weeks, it will be found
to be no such easy task.

23. In cages it is also a good plan to put a few
•soft little sprays of foliage into the building-place in
which the nest is to be ; the little yellow head, with its

6

82 Song Birds.

bright eves peeping out, is so extremely pretty half
seen amidst the green.

24. The day hefore the young are expected to he
hatched, some grated hrea.d, and a finely- chopped up
hard-boiled egg should he put in the cage in a saucer.
This should ciliwys be given in the evening an hour
before the bird's usual roosting time, and again in
the morning as early as it can be done conveniently.
It is not essential to do this at sunrise — eight or nine
o'clock will do ; but then the evening supply must
mrer be omitted, as its object, of course, is to provide
for the early hours, before the rest of the world are
up, although the small birds are.

25. Nothing conduces more to the young birds*
health than being in a spot which catches the rising
sun. If they do not feather quickly it is rather a good
plan to sprinkle them sometimes on a warm sunny
morning with a few drops of water from a soft brush,
but if the old birds bathe this will not be necessary.

As to the feeding of the young when they leave the
nest, to have pounded hemp, bread-crumbs and seed
scattered about the floor, is all I need recommend ;
till we come to the time when, the parents being
engaged with another nest, the poor little fledglings
have to be taken from them ; even then, however,
their being sent to reside in a cage that touches the
old birds' home, affords opportunity for the latter, if
they are so disposed, still to take notice of them.

83
CHAPTER IX.

EEAKING YOUNG BIRDS.

1. IN bringing ^i nests of young birds to rear with the'
parents' help, I think it is always best to choose such
families as are already tolerably tame ; — when, for
instance, any one has been in the habit of feeding a
certain brood, or of conversing much with the old
birds as they hop on the window-ledge, or upon the
turf, before one. The great thing is in this to avoid
anything that is of a scaring nature. Birds have
frequently been known to build in the hats of scare-
crows ; so it is not that exactly, which I mean here :
but the glittering cages, and those that shut with a
jar, or which have a door which slams to when
touched ; noisy cages, again, with a ringing wire ; all
these things are often much more alarming than
any dressed-up figures.

2. The younger the birds are when removed, the
better, after they have once got over the three or four
first days. The proper way, then, of proceeding, is to
procure a cage with no glitter whatever about it, a
mere wicker one if fine enough, or a dark green fine-
wired one. The door should be large, and made to
open in the front ; it is all the better if it hooks on
and off. Having decided on the nest which we mean:
to have, it is a good j)lan to nearly fill the cage with

6 — 2

84 Song Birds.

little "branches of the same kind of tree as that in
which the nest is ; then a few days at latest before
the young birds are fledged, the cage should be hung
in the tree itself, or in one close by, and the twigs that
keep the nest in its place being very ^carefully cut oft*
with it or else detached from it with even greater cau-
tion, the nest may be placed inside the cage prepared
for it. For the two or three first clays, the old birds
may be allowed to go in and out without any interfer-
ence. The next move should be to bring the cage
into a shady window or into a conservatory, carefully
providing against any risk of shutting out the parent
birds at night. It is also well to give a little help
now and then in the feeding, before removing, even
from the time of the young birds being nearly able to
see (they cannot see for the first week), and by giving
a little sopped bread or biscuit every now and then by
means of a rounded quill, they are prepared for
bringing up by hand, if by any contretemps the
parents should forsake them.

3. As the little birds begin to hop about, the most
difficult time approaches. Sometimes a very kind
old bird will take the young brood in hand and teach
them pecking ; but more frequently the nestlings are
left to our care, for it is impossible to imprison the
poor old birds, whose love for their brood brings them
near that danger.

4. The seed for young birds should be strewed on

Rearing Young Birds. 85

a sanded floor. Crashed hemp is in almost all cases
the best food at first for Finches and such like. And
this should be mixed with a good share of stale bread-
crumbs, merely crumbled up, not soaked. Maw seed
is often particularly useful in teaching birds to pick
up, and it is essential always at night to leave abun-
dant food for the next day's breakfast.

The sooner the little birds will wash the better for
them ; and their cage should never be without green
food, chickweed, groundsel, or watercresses, which, in
London at least, can be obtained all winter.

5. A hard-boiled egg, white and yolk finely chopped
up together, is useful for these little birds. It must,
however, be constantly given fresh.

A rather novel and exceedingly useful remedy is a
little strongish tea, when the birds seem sickly. It
should be left in the cage as well as some fresh water ;
the birds then can take it or not, as their instinct
leads them, and when they are weakly, or liable to
cold, it often is good for them.

The more sunshine these young things can have
the better ; one end and the back of the cage being
partly covered, they can find shade if necessary, and
if the weather is hot, a branch or two of an evergreen
makes a nice trembling shade, in which they all
delight.

6. In rearing these little creatures, a great deal
depends on obtaining the food they are accustomed to

86 Song Birds.

have when wild. Thistle seed, dandelion seed,
plantain, besides groundsel and chickweed, and, per-
haps most important of all, some insects ; ants' eggs
are the pleasantest to give them, as they are only
eggs ; but aphides and most sorts of insects are
welcome. Goldfinches, in spite of their character
for only eating seeds, are very glad of insects for a
change, especially for their young, and so are
Canaries, Bullfinches, and the ichole, in fact, of the
great Sparrow (or Passerine) class. When these
birds are reared by hand, the food given should
be rather moist, as the old birds feed from the bill,
moistening the food in their own mouths first. I have
found hard-boiled egg pounded (always white and
yolk) and mixed with a little water, to answer very
well ; but it should be remembered, that the old birds
bring them whatever they can catch, and that thus,
they have a constant change of food, which is extremely
serviceable. Pounded mortar or lime rubbish is very
good to have mixed with the sand. Egg-shells
calcined and ground answer the purpose perfectly.

7. The little chicks are extremely funny, they
are so marvellously conceited and bold. One fledgling
I have now,' will take to roosting on the middle of a
perch, and will let no one else intrude upon him there ;
and as there are only four high perches in my cage,
and more than twenty birds, it may be supposed that
a considerable fuss ensues.

Rearing Young Birds. 87

These birds, however, make nothing of attacking any-
thing : I have myself seen small Grey-pates hop boldly
forward and assault a bird the size of a small Pigeon,
so that I am quite unwilling to trust these imprudent
small birds any longer in the same cage with large
ones till they have grown older and more wise.

8. A deep bed of moss, covered with wool, and
with a small blanket, daily changed for a clean one,
is the best arrangement for the nest. The flannel
should cover the young birds up completely, and only
be taken off for food to be given, which should be
done very often, from sunrise to sunset. Every hour
is best, eveiy two hours is almost necessary ; and
they eat several (about four) quillfuls at each meal.
A few drops of water should be also given, one or so
occasionally between the supplies of food. It is veiy
desirable to give some peculiar call or whistle before
uncovering the birds to feed, repeating it often while
giving them their food. If they are to learn to whistle
tunes, they will thus acquire a habit of association,
which will be very useful.

9. When it is difficult to make them eat, the
imitation of the old bird's note will often cause them
to do so. It is an important thing, too, to notice
how the old birds give the food ; some putting their
own bill into the chick's, and others standing up tall
and dropping the dinner into the gaping mouth.
This should be imitated as nearly as possible.

88 Song Uirds.

Canaries and Goldfinches put in their bills like-
Doves ; Kobins, Thrushes, &c. tumble the food down
their offsprings' throats.

10. I doubt if ven- young birds can eat too much..
The chief danger, I think, is in their getting too little-
food — too little nourishment in what they do have,,
and in the slightest exposure to either damp or cold.

11. The little birds moult at a very early age,,
almost before they have got over their early troubles,
and the learning to hop and fly. Extra warmth,
extra food, and extra quiet are at this time necessary..
If they survive September it may fairly be hoped
that they will do well.

12. Wonderfully tame these little pets grow. I
have one who follows my hand about the side of a
large cage just like a little dog, nestling up against
it, and putting its little claw out through the wires-
to take hold of my fingers ; and as to Bully and
Bobby, it is laughable to see how they sidle and bow,,
and fluff out their fine red plumes, and go edging
along as long as one will talk to them.

One of the prettiest sights is a little bird request-
ing to be fed ; it looks so pretty fluttering its wings-
and putting up its head. Even in London I find
there is plenty to be seen of this sort, both in and
out of doors. A little Sparrow the other day in-
terested me extremely by hopping about by my
window in a great crowd of others, begging very

Rearing Young Birds. 89-

hard ; some were contemptuous ; some hopped away 'r
but a few were kind and fed the little beggar.
One of the most provoking of fledglings, however,
is the cuckoo. I have been told by a person con-
tinually amongst woods that it is really touching to*
see the anxiety with which the poor Hedge Sparrow,
after standing on tiptoe for many days to feed her
giant nestling, is entirely overwhelmed when he first-
hops out to take the air by the enormous size and
strength of that tender chick ; the poor little Sparrow
is then seen hopping humbly after it, in the most
ludicrous attitude of meekness and consternation.

Sometimes, when there is much difficulty in bring-
ing up young birds, it even answers to hang the
cage out of doors, observing the precautions I have
already mentioned. As many as forty Sparrows have
been seen bringing food, it is said, to a set of
nestlings thus hung up in a cage, and I can speak
by my own experience of the friendly feelings between
the wild and tame birds.

In the country, of course, one expects the birds
to be unsophisticated, but in London I confess that
it would not have occurred to me to give those pert
little Sparrows credit for such gentle ways.

90 Song Birds.

CHAPTER X.

TEACHING YOUNG BIRDS TUNES.
1 . IT is fair to begin by saying that in this chapter
I write only the experience of others, and what I
have accidentally observed in watching their birds,
for I have not yet myself given many music lessons.
Having generally a good many birds with their
natural song, it would have been necessary to banish
them from my room, to prevent confusion amongst
the scholars ; and, besides, in most cases the sweet
little warbler cannot well be improved upon. At the
moment I write, however, I have some birds just
going into training. The hints collected for their
education may be useful to others, and, birds' ways
being understood, such advice as is found to be
theoretical can be rejected.

I never mean with my birds to try the starving
system. There is no pleasure in making the bird
unhappy, and it would only give a sad association to
its little tune. My idea is always to play to them
while they are at their breakfast, and after they have
done eating — they are always then much more dis-
posed to listen. After their bath again there is a
grand twittering time while they are pluming them-
selves, and at bedtime there is always an amazing
fuss, though I doubt if playing to them then would
do any good.

Teaching Young Birds Tunes. 91

2. I think myself birds learn best when they
can be whistled to. A servant of my father's
taught many birds in this way, and he followed no
particular system, merely whistled the same tune at
any spare moment, generally after or while he was
feeding them.

3. Another bird, a Canary, possessed by some
children I knew, was elaborately taught. The chil-
dren had a little bird-organ, and each and all played
" God save the Queen " on every occasion possible,
until, although the bird was two or three years
old, it learned to sing it beautifully, as also another
ditty.

4. The earlier the birds are taken from the nest
the freer their song will be, in all probability, from
notes that are not wanted. The German trainers
blow on the bird's feathers, and look cross, and scold
it when it sings a wrong note, rewarding it with a
hemp -seed or some such treat when it performs
successfully. It generally takes several months to
learn a tune perfectly. As a general rule those tunes
which have a sort of running scale will be found the
easiest and the most effective.

5. The organs of different birds are very various as
well as their performances ; but it is apparently a fact
that the song of birds is not, strictly speaking, natural,
but acquired at the very earliest age, from the notes
of the parent singing near the nest ; the knowledge of

92 Song Birds.

this fact should he a great assistance in teaching
hirds to sing artificial songs.

The very general introduction into an acquired tune
of a few of the bird's own notes, is most likely owing
to its haying been taken into training too far on in
life ; even at four or five days old, when the nestlings
cannot see, it appears they can remember the sound
of the parent's voice ; probably, they listen to it alone,
since, at this early age, it does not seem that they
remember any other note, though birds of all sorts
may be chirping round them. Any bird being taught
either a tune or the song of another bird, should be
kept in a cage alone and hung up, if possible, out of
the sight of others ; it learns all the better for having
its attention undisturbed from the notes that are
being slowly played.

6. In teaching young birds to sing, school cages are
useful, either a row of the little six-inch square cages,
which seem to me the handiest, or else a long narrow
box, wired in front and divided into compartments.

7. One really good singing bird — Woodlark, Night-
ingale, or Canary — may then be hung overhead and
will teach them all. But we must beware of what
companionship they have : learn they will whatever it
is they hear, and so we had better provide them with a
good instructor.

Even Sparrows may be taught to sing very well,
not to mention talking. Bechstein speaks of two of

Occupants of an Aviary. 93

these birds in Paris, who, in their frequent scuffles for
food, used gravely to admonish one another, Tu ne
voleras pas.

CHAPTER XI.

OCCUPANTS OF AN AVIARY.

1. OF all the knotty points in the keeping hirds, the
knottiest and the most troublesome is to know which
will live together.

My own belief is that much more depends on the
way of treatment than on the birds themselves. Of
course, if a wild bird is put into a cage full of tame and
gentle ones, it is much like a young gorilla set loose
in a* peaceful family : the mischief, the spite, the
tricks, are something inconceivable, — eveiy bird gets
cross, — and the mistress is in despair. Civilized
birds do not behave in this way, and it should be an
unalterable law never to put a bird into an aviary, or
large cage full of others, till it has been kept some
days and has got used to the place. Birds are
upset and bewildered by any change, as much or
more than human beings ; and the catching to put
them in a travelling cage, and the journey, — being
earned, perhaps, through some noisy streets, — is a
disturbing business ; and then, again, in the change
of cages, very often, indeed, new birds (Jo not know

94 Song Birds.

where to look for the food and water. Having once
given the new-comers time to get perfectly at home
with the room and their owner, and used to the faces
and voices of those going in and out, the actual
putting into the aviary is generally a very quiet work ;
when in a single cage, too, they have wanted so
much to be promoted to it !

2. In my experience of birds (speaking, of course,
only of my own) I do not think that I have ever known
one bird kill another. But there are a few kinds
always excluded from the company, and at the building
season I separate again those that are the larger,
Bullfinches, Java Sparrows, &c., from the remainder.
Bullfinches, however, are sometimes known to pair
with Canaries ; chiefly in cases where they have been
brought up together.

3. To continue the subject of birds that agree in
aviaries, I must first remind my readers that three
nests in one shrub, and those of different sorts, are
by no means uncommon ; at least I have found them
many a time thus placed : a very wide division does
not then seem necessary. Still, of course, the wider
the quarters are the more the cage resembles the open
air with the numerous flocks of all sorts of wild
birds we often see in places where they are cared for.

4. At this moment I have before me, living (for a
time) in one large store cage, about three feet six
long, by eighteen inches deep, a party of not less

Occupants of an Aviary. 95

than twenty birds. These have been put in three or
four at a time, and I always took care that they were
tolerably quiet before they were put in. There are
Canaries, Bullfinches, charming little Linnets, a
pretty Greenfinch, and an audacious little bird between
a Linnet and Canary who gives more trouble in
keeping peace than all the others together. The
rest of the party consists of Goldfinches, and very
pretty they look roosting in a long row with the
Linnets, seven in a line.

5. The cage at night stands in a passage, and is.
covered well over with a woollen table-cloth. In the
day it stands in a window of my sitting-room on the
top of a plant case. A bath, glazed at the top and
three sides, is hooked upon the door, the amusement
of which is indescribable. Birds emerge jft intervals
in parties of two or three, and go afterwards to " hang
themselves out to dry " on the sunniest perch or in
the swing, looking most wobegone. I have seen two*
of these half-drowned creatures hanging out in the
swing together. The toilette that concludes the
business is very elaborate, and it is most amusing to
see the little Grey-pates, who want to have credit
for washing but do not like the cold, how they put in
one leg and pull it out again, and finally perch just
upon the edge while somebody else is washing, to
catch the shower sent up so vigorously. And then
the little cheat shakes itself out, makes an immense

"96 Song J3irds.

to-do, and sometimes drives down a really washed
bird from a sunny corner, that it may diy itself.

6. In a cage like this I find that the severest
battles are between two Goldfinches ; an old bird,
for instance, and the boldest Grey-pate (one of this
year's birds without the red head plumage) ; they
scold, and flutter, and scream at one another, till
it needs daily experience to feel easy that no harm
will be done ; still I never knew them to do more than
make a tremendous noise.

7. The birds which are really unsafe (whatever may
be the sweetness of their individual dispositions,) are
Thrushes ; Ox-eyes, or large Blue Tits ; and Bobins.
I do not feel certain that Bobby. would get fighting
-amongst other birds, only with fellow Eobins, and
in the glass with himself ; still it seems to me to
l)e a sort of waste to put Bobins into a crowd, while
with regard to other birds of the above-named classes
it is really very necessary not to be misled by their
innocent antecedents into admitting any. I heard
of a Blue Tit, commonly called* Tom Tit, who was
hatched in a Canary's nest, and brought up always
in a cage, and never had tasted anything stronger
than bread and milk in all its life before ; but a
poor little brown mouse one day appeared in the
room where Tom resided, and it was only " a word
and a blow ; " Tom made but one dash, and his
victim lay dead upon the floor whilst very rapidly

Occupants of an Aviary. 97

were his brains devoured. This story illustrates
only their natural instincts ; but except under the
closest supervision, Tom Tits should not be admitted ;
for, although they are the drollest of little birds,
hanging on to everything, they hug other birds round
the neck to rob them of the very bread or berry
in their beaks in a way in which I should be sorry,
indeed, to see any of my favourites hugged.

In an aviary in which we meant the birds to build,
we had only Canaries, Linnets, Goldfinches, and
Siskins. In a case like this, any old birds put in
should be put in in pairs — even Goldfinches and
Siskins, though, I believe, it is safer that their mates
•should be Canaries. Then, the young birds growing
up may be left to take their own chance together.

8. In filling an aviary of six feet square or more,
I should advise putting in birds in the following
proportion : —

Two pairs of German Canaries, two Chaffinches,
.and two Bullfinches (both of these young birds).
One pair of Linnets, rose or brown ; two Siskins
already paired with Canaries, half a dozen each of
Grey-pates and young Linnets, four Siskins, and
sixteen of the same year's Canaries.

In an aviary filled like this, there would be eveiy
probability of a great many very successful broods.

It is quite a case in which what succeeds with
a few does with the many, and by keeping within

08 Son a Birds.

these proportions, I have very little douht that with
commonly good management the result would he
satisfactory.

9. Of course any number less than that named
would do quite as well or better, as it would give
more room, or in increasing the number for a larger
space, the proportions can be kept up ; though I
do not recommend any one to try more than fifty
birds for the first beginning. In too great a multitude
half the pleasure is lost of the clever tricks one
sees played, by not being certain of the individuality
of the culprits. For my own part I never wish to
have more than two dozen grown-up birds at once.

10. It will of course be remarked that in my list
for the aviary, I have excluded Warblers or the
Sylvia ; (Nightingales, Black-caps, Garden Warblers,
White throats, and many others of the same class
of birds ;) birds, that is, eating insects, seeking in
winter a warm climate, and generally shy and very
much given to avoid the- approach of any stranger.

These birds are always difficult to keep, and, unless-
one of them has chanced to grow very tame and
fond, the mere feeling of their unhappiness is enough
to make their presence in cages painful.

Their misery when first caught is very great, and
I do think it is a very cruel thing that they should
be taken after they are once fledged. The young
birds may get tame and be really happy ; but it is

Occupants of an Aviary. 99

probably hardly one in twenty of the old birds caught,
that do.

I have had myself hardly any of this class, but
having reared a few which came to grief by tumbling
out of nests, till old enough to fly, I know that
bread crumbs are generally the readiest food to give
them. I prefer giving it dry or very nearly so, or
beaten up with a little hemp-seed, or, still better,
with a few drops of cold milk, an egg boiled hard
and chopped extremely fine, yolk and white together,
is also very good for them.

When they are once reared, German paste and
stale bread- crumbs are the best staple foods for
them ; they like a great deal of water, and ought
to have a very well sheltered cage, and a branch of a
rose-tree covered with green fly is a most dainty feast.

Only one Nightingale ought to be kept at a time,
as two will not often sing. It is very difficult to
manage a Nightingale well, especially in an aviary
which cannot be moved about. Some will sing in
the light only, and others insist on shade; some
cannot bear a noise to disturb them, and others sing
the louder, warbling high above all the other notes.

Nightingales, too, require ants' eggs or insects to
keep them in good song, and this is always a very
great difficulty for a bird indoors.

All the warblers require a great deal of sand and
water. Their food is best placed in shallow china

7—2

100 Song Birds.

dishes on the floor : hemp and canary seeds may
also be strewn about ; the hemp need not be broken,
as it is swallowed whole ; but the nearer we can
approach the food they would have when wild the
greater are always the chances of preserving them,
both in health and song. It would be almost useless
to give any list of these birds. Larks do not do well
except in an outdoor aviary, and Whitethroats, Black-
caps and Garden "Warblers give perhaps most chance
of success, as well as being among the most desirable.

CHAPTER XII.

MAKING FKIENDS WITH WILD BIRDS.

1. IT may seem at first as if to make friends with
wild birds would be rather difficult, and also rather
useless, yet it is really a pleasant branch of bird
acquaintance, especially for those who live in a
retired place, where they may hope to preserve their
favourites from the fowler's snares, as well as from
their own gardener's guns.

I cannot pretend here, however, to lay down un-
failing rules ; I can only mention plans which I
have practised, or heard of from those on whose
testimony I can depend. The simple cottage plan
of feeding the birds at the door- step in winter, when

Making Friends with Wild Birds. 101

the snow is swept away, or on the window- sills when
the bold applicants come at our breakfast-time to
mention that they have none, are certainly very good
beginnings of an entente cordiale.

Visiting nests is also useful. I made it so much
a thing of course that I am not aware of any great
precautions that need be taken : of course, one moves
gently, and does not speak, except to the bird. In
feeding the young it is better to begin on the third
or fourth day, before they can see, as then they are
used to one's voice, and to the way of feeding.

Stale bread, crumbled and scalded, the water
poured off and a little cold milk poured on and beaten
up, is, I think, the food that answers most gene-
rally, serving for both hard and soft-billed birds.
A little finely pounded yolk of egg is an improve-
ment, if the birds do not seem to like it without.
This preparation should be made fresh each time,
and the milk must not be sour, nor the egg kept
more than a few hours. A quill, the end cut round,
and a little notch, two or three inches higher, for
admitting air, is the best thing for feeding with,
a very small piece being dropped into each of the
widely gaping beaks. The food should be given
neither quite cold nor at all hot.

2. Birds so trained to know one grow up pretty
tame. I used to take them in and out of the nests ;
and very often a young bird gets hurt, or a Swallow

102 Song Birds.

tumbles down from its own nest, and it may be nursed
till it has come to be quite at home. I have brought
up many and many a Swallow, though, of course,
not for a cage.

In many cases a Swallow once tamed returns
again, year by year, to the well-known places, and
with many birds a fiiendship seems to be hereditary,
the young pairs becoming more and more familiar.
In another chapter I have alluded to birds brought
up from the nest, either in a cage fed by the parents,
or by hand ; and also to such as having been rescued
either from cold or from any accident have grown
quite tame ; these will hop about us, tap at the
window, come in at the door, call when they see us,
and be, in fact, the most amusing and bold of socially
disposed birds.

3. Even in London people can find some interest
in the Sparrow tribe. It may be remarked that the
pet cage-birds are mostly themselves of the sparrow
class ; but at any rate friendships are sometimes
struck up, which are truly amusing ; and the audacity
of the young Sparrow broods feeding within a yard
of me, and stealing the food put down for my own
birds, often affords me much entertainment : and
their attitudes, basking in the sun, or taking dust
baths, are very attractive while they are young and
pretty.

They come too on my windows, and have great

Mdkiny Friends with Wild Birds. 103

flirtations with some of my canaries — a noisy llirta-
tion it is, botli parties rattling against the window-
pane — and great is my bird's excitement when she
hears her sparrow.

Sparrows, though plebeian, are good hearted birds.
I have heard of cases where they have continually
fed a cage bird, or a nest full of young hung outside
a window. It is an experiment in the result of which
I have but little doubt, though my fondness for
feeding birds myself has deterred me from tiying it.
In winter it is by no means rare to find a half-starved
bird, and as such a one is very likely to stay willingly
indoors while the cold weather lasts ; by the time
that is over it is tolerably tame and accustomed to
its new home.

These winter-caught birds, I think, should always
be let out before the spring comes on. If the cage
is then hung outside for a day or two and kept well
supplied with food, it will probably induce the bird
to keep up the acquaintance, and to return in any
trouble to the house that sheltered it. These means
at any rate make the birds about a place tame and
fearless, and add tenfold to the pleasure of hearing
their pleasant songs.

4. As an instance of this pleasantest way of rearing
birds to be tame, I may quote the account which
Bishop Stanley gives of a Nightingale, a bird, it
must be remembered, of the shyest habits. This

104 Song Birds.

Nightingale was reared from the nest, and soon be-
coming tame it was kept in a cage till that May two-
years, singing always in the winter from Christmas-
till April, and showing no symptoms of impatience at
the usual time of migration ; it was silent the rest
of the year. In that May it was permitted to go out
of its cage, which was hung up open at the door of
the offices. At first it returned regularly in the evening
to its cage, and was taken in, and released again the
next morning. As the season advanced, it sometimes
stayed out all night in the shruhheries and pleasure-
grounds, but if called by any one of the servants,
whose voice it knew, would return and feed out of
his hand. For a day or two, towards the close of
the summer, it seemed rather uneasy, but this soon
wore off. As the evenings got cool, in the autumn,
it returned to its cage before nightfall, and was taken
as usual into the house ; as the season still further
advanced it was permanently housed, and was expected
to sing again at Christmas.

CHAPTER XIII.
CAGES.

1. THE kinds of cages made are innumerable.
Auiongst the great variety there is, it is surprising
that there are not many which are more desirable.

Cages. 105

Cages are, however, more difficult to make good
in all respects than might be expected ; for, in many
points, it is not easy to reconcile health, good appear-
ance, convenience for cleaning, wholesomeness, and,
often, we must add, economy of expense.

Paint and brass are hurtful ; zinc cages and those
with a. large metal surface are extremely cold ; com-
mon wooden ones are supposed to require painting,
and to be hard to clean ; while those of mahogany or
any ornamental wood are a great deal more expensive.
Glass cages again are high in price, and doubtful
as regards their usefulness, the slightest chip being
even more dangerous than a painted cage could be.

2. It has often struck me, what particularly good
cages could be made of payier in ache. If bands
and a tray of this were substituted for the zinc, and
the food boxes and cans for the water glasses made
in the same material, the birds would have the
advantage of an extremely warm, comfortable cage,
which could be quickly cleaned and dried, while its
peculiar lightness would be a great advantage to
those who have to lift it, and particularly in the case
of hanging up a large cage.

I hope to get this idea earned into effect at some
time ; at any rate for the cages of the more tender
birds, and for perches of every length, and in every
sort of cage. Its usual colour is black, but this-
might suit well with the bird's bright plumage.

106 Song Birds.

Baths also are often difficult, because of their
weight, to manage. The use of papier maclie would
render them much lighter.

3. Most cages are defective, I find, as to their
arrangements concerning seed and water. Little
shallow tins, from which the seed is continually spilt ;
and water vessels, made to hang on outside in such
a. manner that the slightest movement may turn aside
the mouth, and leave the poor little creatures within
to die of thirst in the sight of water.

I do not think these glasses can be too much
•condemned. The mere injury the birds often get in
striking against the rim deserves some little notice ;
and the danger of their not reaching the water is
-enough to make all who are fond of their birds
unhappy, when unable themselves to see to them.

If they must be used, the only safety seems to
me to be in having a small glass kept filled inside
the cage as well, and that has many disadvantages.

The zinc cages have little barrels which turn round
for filling ; and these are much more suitable, though
I do not think for cages anything is better than the
old-fashioned drawers with holes made in them for
the birds' heads to go through at the upper edge.
For water, the self- supplying fountains, or the same
covered drawers are also very fitting.

The mahogany breeding -cages are often faulty
in these respects. Otherwise, when rather a close

Cages. 107

cage is desirable, if it ever is, they might be service-
able.

4. I must not, however, pretend to speak as of
personal experience in many kinds of cages. Those
that I infinitely prefer to any are the commonest ;
and though good materials and workmanship may
render them ornamental, my adherence to the plainest
prevents my knowing much of other kinds.

The glass cages made by Mr. Hawkins look bright
and gay. I believe their price is about two guineas
and a half, but I do not know how the birds thrive
in them. The slightest chip, where even the perches
are glass, is very dangerous, and I doubt whether
they can be warm enough. To the Zollverein cages
which I have tried I have a great dislike, for birds
in general. The quantity of metal seems to chill a
bird so thoroughly ; thus letting alone the question*,
not yet quite settled, as to the paint being hard
enough to resist all pecks, they do not seem to me
safe cages for any bird to be allowed to roost in.
Some of mine never do so without catching cold.
And as to the facilities of cleaning, I do not think
that properly-tended birds need meet with any diffi-
culty in a plain wooden cage.

I do not know if it is true that the cage was in
fault, as it was not a thing I wished to experiment
on further ; but some of my canaries in a zinc cage
suffered much from their feet, which seemed red and

108 Song Birds.

painful. The cause was supposed to have been the
cold zinc floor they had been standing on. The
remedy — strewing the floor of another (a wooden)
cage, with oatmeal — soon restored their comfort.

It was the only time I knew them so troubled, and
the only time that they lived at all in a metal cage
during the winter months. When they are kept in
one, a thick, warm covering at night is absolutely
essential at all times, except, perhaps, in the very heat
of summer.

These cages are in some ways tempting ; they look
pretty, are quickly cleaned, and afford the birds a
great amount of light, which they think so much of.
At the same time a cage made of wood may be quite
as open, and does not add to the only fault of open-
ness the further chill of an extended surface of metalr
which is said to withdraw heat from an animal.

5. The square or oblong wooden cages, of which
I am so fond, are simple enough, not to say common
in their design and shape. The lowest usual form
is that of the regular market cages, made in stained
or painted deal, at about six shillings a dozen. That
size is six inches square, and is useful for a large
assemblage of scholars taking a music lesson.

Those cages, however, made of polished wood are
very cheap and useful, or it answers very well to
have them stained and varnished. Where use is the
thing needed, as in cages to hang up in an aviary,

Cages. 109

I cannot too strongly advise the adoption of such
patterns. If they are thought too cold, or require
shading, a glass can be slid in, or a green baize
curtain drawn over. They are very nice for standing
in a window, made just to fit ; a glass outside the
front wire- keeping in the seed and litter, if necessary,
and the birds enjoying the full light in good view
of their mistress. These cages are convenient when
made eighteen inches high and wide, and exactly to fit
the whole length of the window. One of four feet long,
made in stained and varnished deal, would not exceed
in price twelve shillings. In mahogany its cost would
be about sixteen shillings, and if one end is glazed
for a bath all round, the amusement of watching the
birds will be great. A cage like this will hold quite
two dozen birds.

6. Being so low priced, a second cage can probably
be used, so that the two would be thoroughly washed
by turns, and well dried and aired.

Any wood susceptible of polish could be employed.
Maple looks well, but in boudoirs or drawing-rooms
it would generally be better to let it match the furni-
ture or the window-frame itself; whatever is the
material, it must be solid, with no veneers or inlaying
in any part that the birds can get at.

7. These cages can have an eating-room at one
end, with the walls wholly or partly of glass outside
the wire to keep the seed in, or they may be supplied

110 Song Birds.

merely with the food-boxes elsewhere described as the
best for all kinds of plain wooden cages. I think,
however, the two shut-in apartments, one at each end,
for food and bathing, is a good arrangement. A
long, well-polished round perch should run along
the front and back of the cage, the front next
the room particularly, because if the birds are tame
they will probably, when they want anything, come
and sit in one long line along the front, looking at
their mistress, and making their meaning generally
quite clear to her.

8. Nothing adds so much to the birds' delight as well
as to their beauty, as having a sort of shelf, about
five inches wide, on which a box full of roses, myrtles,
and other plants may stand, forming a hedge of foliage
between them and the window.

Hanging baskets of plants near to the cage adds
also much to its attractiveness, and the bath may be
made the prettiest of room ornaments.

I have a cage of this kind that stands along a very
large deep plant case, generally full of the gayest
flowers, and it is very delightful in the morning to
see the sun shining among the flowers, and the birds
in a perfect tremble of song and happiness.

9. For very small and beautiful birds, such as the
charming "Waxbills, or Averdavatts, nothing does
better than a cage of maple or of satin-wood, with little
silvered wires. These birds are really worthy of a

Cages. Ill

pretty home, and their grains of millet are harmless ;
they do not make any litter, and are pretty to stand
upon a table. A bell-shaped cage, with a fairy rose-
tree, or some very small plant in it, looks well ; a
pot should be fitted into a wooden or gutta percha
lloor with a rim all round, and the bell-shaped cage-
would then drop down over it, fitting to the rim ;
while the perches should rather yo through the tree
than over it.

10. A similar arrangement does charmingly for
Wrens. They delight particularly in a little fir- tree,
on which they can perch and hop up and down.
They do best of all, however, in a finely-latticed
enclosure of wood instead of wire (fine wicker almost
like basket-work) ; and in winter the safest plan is to
let them fly about the room and nestle into boxes
filled with the softest moss.

I have never dared to let Master Bobby out at the
same time as the Wrens, for Robins have a peculiar
enmity to their own particular race ; and the story of
Cock Robin and Jenny Wren has fixed in my mind
too firmly the idea of their relationship for me to
shake it off.

11. A Thrush, a Blackbird, or a pair of Doves
should have a large square wicker cage. The Thrush
is easily kept, and is a most delightful inhabitant of
a garden. Hung up in a tree where he has air and
sun, a little shade in the hot weather, and shelter in

112 Song Birds.

the cold, he seems very happy, and slugs — as only
Thrushes do sing. Nothing is more delightful than
to hear them in the early morning, and they sing
nearly all the year.

Doves, too, require a large wicker cage open all
round, in which they are very happy, and huild — no,
they certainly do not build much — for they deposit
their eggs often on the bare nest basket. They lay,
however, several times each year, and bring up two
young each time, generally a pair. They require to
have much air, but to come in doors at night.

12. If Larks are kept, they are seldom happy, but
perhaps in a long high cage they may be least
unhappy. A piece of strong net, or of some green
material should be strained over the top, to prevent
the poor bird from striking against the cage should he
attempt to rise up and sing. The white linen advised
by some writers, should never be used ; and to be away
from the fresh green fields, and from the blue clear
air, is quite bad enough, without the further torture of
a wall of whitewash to blind him with the glare.
Larks soar without perching, so that perches are not
wanted.

The more airy and open their cage can be the
better. Two feet by eighteen inches is a good size,
and the drawer for sand should be deep. Chaffinches
also prefer rather long cages, the shape, for instance,
of a double cube.

Cages. 113

13. A family of Tom Tits and a pair of Water
Wagtails, in a good-sized bell cage, are extremely
amusing ; but it should contain a large dish of water
with a rock in the middle, which may support a tree
or branch for perching on.

14. Breeding cages are best made of mahogany
•or some polished wood. They have generally two
small square spaces intended for the nests, and a
long division in which the little birds of the first
brood might live. I think, however, it should never
'bo used for this, as the young birds do better in a
larger cage put so as to touch the other. To have one
•ond, as well as the front, of wire, would be an immense
advantage in these too gloomy cages. They are made
with drawers too, which is a great mistake, as the jar
;tind grating of removing them is injurious. I think the
best plan is to have " a slide," that is, a slip of wood
which pushes out and allows the sand within to be
scraped out. Laying a couple of sheets of gutta
percha, or even of stiff brown paper, on the floor all
ready covered with a layer of sand, answers well in
some ways ; in that case, the upper one being drawn
off, the lower one is left all clean. It is said, that a,
few drops of sweet oil dropped in the crevices of the
•cage, painted on with a feather, or dropped on paper,
will effectually preserve the cage from any trouble-
some insects, which, if they ever come, are most to-
be feared just while the nest is there.

8

114 Soiuj Birds.

15. The little cheap square cages do as well as
anything for a long line of school cages, and for
hospital cages, which are very essential for wounded
l)irds. A good plan is to take the wires entirely out
of one about eight inches square, and to sew round
the frame, at each comer, a tightly strained piece of
canvas or flannel. I much prefer the latter. The
top should he done in the same way, and a box or
tray, arranged to contain food, sand, and water, should
go along the door.

The floor does best covered thickly with bran, or
even with coarse oatmeal, this being often cooling as
well as soft ; everything of wool is objectionable, onr
account of the hairs which twist round the claws. All
perches should always be moveable in this cage. If
a bird's leg is wounded, no perch should be left in
It ; but if it is the wing, one would be advisable. A
"water vessel, in which it could bathe if it wished, is
much to be desired ; but it should be at the door, or
liooked on, so as to cause no disturbance in filling or
refilling. If a bird is rather sick than hurt, the*
same arrangements may still answer well, but warmth
in this case is generally the principal thing needed,
and the bird should be laid on a piece of flannel, ancl
kept in a warm place, so that when there are many
birds, at least two hospital cages of each kind are-
desirable in order to change the patient from the one-
to the other.

Aviary Cage. 115

16. "When also the English birds are sometimes
bought very wild, or when the poor little Warblers are
to be kept in autumn, cages lined with something soft
may save pain. I mention it because, if it is to be
done, it may as well be done gently ; but when a
newly-bought bird beats wildly against the bars, or
when a soft -billed bird in autumn dashes against
its cage in the vain attempt to burst its wire prison,
let those who keep it know that it is for its liberty it
is almost dying.

CHAPTER XIV.

AVIARY CAGE.

1. IN describing an aviary cage, I think it will bo
well to record the fashion of one that was made for
me when I was a very little child, and which lasted an
immense time. During the time that it was in use,
a few improvements were thought of, and these have
been embodied in making the cage I now quote as a
model. My original cage was of deal, being made .at
first as a mere experiment, and when found to answer
we would not discard it. I, indeed, formed an opinion
in favour of deal for bird cages, which has never been
in the least relinquished, and in which the birds
themselves certainly bear me out.

8—2

116 Song .Birch.

The inside of this cage was not painted at all,
though the outside was thoroughly, as it used in
summer to stand out of doors. The top of this cage
had a sloping roof, from which the rain ran off, and a
waterproof curtain used to be hung up at night before
the wire front.

The two sides being separated by a wire grating,
the young birds were often kept in one division,
with, perhaps, a party of a different kind overhead,
their own parents still being -kind to them through
the dividing bars.

In the winter, the partitions being opened, the
whole number, sixteen or twenty, would live together
happily.

2. One very good plan to adopt in having this
kind of cage, is to have one half made permanently
separated by a wire division from the other, while
that other is so arranged, by means of brackets,
serving for perches when not in use, as to support
the floor of an upper story not more than a foot from
the top, or at different heights going up.

The advantage of this plan is that the two sides can
contain couples which would be disposed to molest
each other in their building, while the small division
up-stairs, when the cage is in three compartments,
forms a roomy nursery for any broods of young birds
that may require a little feeding after they have left
their mother. If a perch or branch is placed near the

Aviary Cage. 117

wires, the old bird will very often patronise his chil-
dren, and example is of great service in teaching them
to wash and make themselves look respectable.

This is of such consequence, that when my young
birds (bought when just fledged) do not do well in this
way, I put a very dandy bird, either Chaffie or Goldie,
in the adjoining part, that by seeing him they may be
fairly shamed by the elaborateness of his toilette.

Many people divide lengthways an aviary like this;
some, again, contrive a third story in winter, at least,
by removing the front slope of the roof and substi-
tuting wire. The top should, however, have a ceiling
when out of doors for protection from heat and damp
in the summer time, and from cold in winter.

I myself prefer very much the high divisions, as
the birds seem fond of hopping up and down ; they
admit also a much nicer tree, and show the inmates
off to greater advantage.

3. No paint, I need hardly say, should be used
inside, and no brass whatever.

If glass is adopted, the maker must be particularly
warned to put the putty entirely outside.

I do not think any wood really answers better than
well smoothed and polished deal ; but many persons
dislike it, and it is merely a fancy perhaps of my own,
though having seen how well it has answered, I have
now a preference for it. Mahogany is particularly un-
suitable to display the birds' bright plumage.

118 Song Birds.

4. Where it is desired to keep Canaries separate
from English birds, two divisions answer extremely
well ; and if the top of the cage is made flat in the
centre, or to rise to a shelf at the back, single cages
can stand all along it, containing one or two especial
birds or singers : and as it is with Canaries a law of
the Medes and Persians to allow no singing over their
own heads (if they can put it down), all those who
are underneath will warble indefatigably. A good
party of English birds, Linnets, Redpoles, Chaffinches,
Goldfinches and Siskins, are delightful to have in such
a cage. A single Bullfinch I should recommend to
be kept overhead ; and if valuable foreign birds form
part of the collection, I should advise either a third
central division for them, making the whole thing
larger, and covering their partitions carefully with
green baize in cold weather, at least at night, or else
the Canaries might be put in with the other finches,
trusting to their agreeing.

At any rate they can be very happy, and if it is
difficult to bring up a young family well there, BJI
attached couple can always be disposed of in another
case while they are employed in rearing their young.
One way of managing would be to have only hen
Canaries in the English aviary, and as they are
extremely pretty, the cock birds must either be con-
tented to sing outside, or build, with well-chosen mates,
in separate cages. Sometimes, however, they disgrace

A viary CCHJP. 119

themselves by terribly low matches, and then they
must run the chance of being ousted from their nest ;
the skirmish only adding to the amusement of the
aviary*

5. The English wild birds do not often build together
in cages unless they have been brought up in the
same plac^ from the nest, for though they may build,
the instinct of hiding her nest and eggs, while sitting,
is often too strong for the hen bird to get over. The
best chance is to pretend you do not see her (not to
let her see you see her), unless she is very tame.
'Canaries, on the contrary, often do not care a straw ;
mine eat biscuit in their nest when I hold it within,
reach, and seem obliged to me for thus enlivening
their solitude. Of course, when no divisions are
wanted, only one large space, matters are greatly
simplified.

A very good way, then, is to have the whole front
wire -work unbroken, as well as the back, which
may be of wood or glass ; the tray would then draw out
at one end, and the feeding apparatus fit in at the
same.

It is by no means a bad plan to have separate
little dining and bath rooms in such an establishment,
the same as I mentioned in speaking of the long,
narrow cage.

6. Another good arrangement is to have at one end
41 small trough or box, in which some shrubs sunk in

120 Song Birds.

pots are growing ; the tray then runs close up to this-
box, leaving also untouched a slip at the other side, on
which stand the bathing and eating houses. But
perhaps the easiest and pleasantest plan of all is to
have at each end a trough sunk in the floor, and
filled with plants, cress and lettuce growing about the
roots. The centre should contain one large fir or
myrtle growing in a rough box or flower-pot, and the
tray in two parts should draw out by the glass lifting-
up at the back. The bath would then be under the-
tree at one side, while the dining-rooms would be
drawers with holes, or little square glass houses,
placed in each corner.

This aviary would look excessively pretty, and
from the thorough opening it would allow at the
back, each separate part could be kept as clean
as possible.

When glass is used, the birds soon understand
that they must not knock against it, though frights in
this case are dangerous. In an aviary of this kind
nothing can be prettier than to watch the birds-
sitting upon the trees, and playing in the bath.

Perches, rounded and polished, should fit into-
niches or against the wires, going all along the cage,
as well as one rather near the front wire, and also one
nt the back. For containing the seed, boxes about
two inches wide and deep are the best I know. There
seenis great room for improvement in most cages in

Aviary Cage. 121

this respect, as ill open trays the birds waste their
seed terribly, while if they can get into it, it is both
scattered about and spoilt.

Small round holes in front, and wire gauze over
the top, prevent this great waste of seed, and though
a long row of apparent mouse-trap holes does not
look veiy pretty, this is much the best for the birds,,
as the wire causes many sharp, painful blows to their
eager little bills, which are by no means so insensible
as often is supposed to the jars they get. In this^
respect I think the more we return to the old-fashioned
drawers and holes the better for the birds ; and the
great objection that used to exist to these — the
dilliculty in thoroughly cleaning wood — may be
readily overcome.

I am much in favour of a double set of food-holders,,
changing them each day, so as to ensure a good
washing, drying, and ailing. And for the inside, it-
is most desirable to have a glass or earthenware
lining. When several are required, or when one
maker is fitting up many cages, it may be worth
while having their drawers made on purpose : other-
wise, I have found the glass or china trays used for
holding pens answer very well for this, and the deeper
they are the better. One of these for the seed, and
another for the drinking water, would answer very
well, the deepest being for water ; and if the drawer
is rather longer than these two divisions, it is no*

122 Song Birds.

bad plan to fill the space with a mixture of old lime,
red sand, and chalk, which will be very useful in
keeping the birds in health. The boxes should be
so arranged as to be got at easily by doors, as the
water should be changed twice a day in summer ;
the seed sifted and refilled daily, and the filling-up
mixture every now and then.

7. I will conclude this chapter by giving the exact
'working description of an aviary cage I have lately
had made* by the pattern, in great measure, of that
before alluded to. Mine has been made in a tolerably
•satisfactory manner by J. Millar, Cotter's Place, Old
Brompton. This cage painted and varnished would cost
•about five pounds. Woodwork entirely, of well sea-
soned deal. Wire- work, tin, (on many accounts to be
•much preferred.) Dimensions : height, from floor to
top, four feet, i.e. from floor to spring of slope, three
feet, and one foot allowed for the slope of the roof.
Width, two feet ; length, four feet. The top slopes
down from a shelf six inches wide, which is at the
back. The whole front, back, sides, and top, are of
the tin wire mentioned. The bottom has a drawer
made in two parts to draw out, and a wire partition
runs up the cage, and is unhooked at pleasure. A
^reen baize curtain can be drawn round the cage,
and a floor (a tray itself) can be put in to divide each
side into two stoiics — making four in all. The doors
-are all at the ends, which also open entirely. The

Room Aviary. 123

seed boxes are made covered, and have drawers lined
with glass for containing the seed and water. They
tstand in the cage, and have small perches fastened to
them, which look very pretty when crowded with
birds.

8. The great charm of this cage is, that standing
in a window the birds have full air and light, while
perfectly visible from within and without. In the
summer, therefore, they can stand entirely outside,
and the cage being light is easily supported. When
nicely arranged, fronted with a few plants and
creepers, and with a bath, &c., it is extremely pretty,
and the birds' bright plumage makes it look almost as
gay as flowers, even in the gloomier time of year
when only evergreens can make up " a wood."

CHAPTER XV.

THE IIOOM AVIAUY.

1. I BELIEVE one of the least troublesome and most
enjoyable of aviaries is that fitted up in a small spare
room — a breakfast -room, for instance. To do this
properly is very little tiouble. It is better to take
the paper oil' the walls, but not essential ; then the
walls themselves may be simply plastered ; — the
birds will certainly peck the plaster, but it only does
them good to do so.

124 Sony Birds.

2. The glass sashes have to be covered with wire-
work, or are, some say, much better taken out alto-
gether during the summer months. I do not quite
agree to that view myself, as it seems to me that
the means of closing a window is not to be despised
in case of heavy storms ; and, putting aside the birds,
I have visions of housemaids in confusion, and of
footmen in dismay when "-the water has come
through." Besides a permanent open window-frame
does not tend to warm, in spring and autumn, the
adjoining rooms. Thus I should be much disposed,
with all due deference to those who advocate the
more open plan, to advise that the window-sashes
should be left in place, covered within with a frame
in which wire-work has been fitted, the top sash
being let down every day in spring and autumn, and
in summer both day and night. A Venetian blind
outside, or between the window and the wire, is a
great gain if the room looks south, and the windows
can then always be closed directly if any violent
storm comes on.

3. I have known birds often die in numbers a few
days or hours after a severe thunder-storm, to the
glare and fear of which the poor frightened things had
been exposed. When any such alarming event is
going on, I always let in niy birds to my own room,
and talk to, and pet them, which is an evident
consolation, for no one knows how much they get

The Room Aviary. 125

to consider human beings as made entirely for their
own special use and comfort. While I write these
words one creature in yellow is pecking seeds from
off my very paper !

4. For the floor of the room it is very advisable
to have oil-cloth, which can now and then be taken
up to be cleaned, and which can also be frequently
washed. I do not know that this is indispensable,
but it certainly prevents any accumulation of sand
in the joints of a boarded floor.

5. There should be here again some grove con-
trivance, and a row of trees in large flower-pots round
the room is far the best and prettiest. I recommend
spruce firs, one on each side the window, and one
or two more in each corner. The privet and box
are also good shrubs for the purpose, as the birds
do not eat their leaves, which is more than one can
say of most plants. And the outside of the window
is the place of all others for a hanging garden.

For any one living in the country, perhaps large
branches of fir and gorse are best, and most con-
venient, as they can be got so easily in spring, the
fir being cut in March, before the sap begins to
flow ; this preserves its leaves and looks anything
but ill.

These should be fastened up, by means of two or
three little blocks of wood nailed, to the wall, or
rising from the skirting-board, and a long horizontal

126 Song Birds.

bar screwed to them, leaving only just room to stick
in the branches between it and the wall. This plan
too lias, no doubt, been found to answer well, as it
is given by Mr. Brent in the Cottage Gardener, the
instructions in which I always find work well.

My own fashion for any kind of aviary is trees,,
because, living in London, I like at least to make
believe a wood ; and it is pleasant to feel that in
a " bird's-eye view" it may even be deemed a forest.

6. Having a room like this affords great oppor-.
tunities of taming and playing with the birds : while
for those who have a weakness for * ' keeping things
in their proper places," a glass door into the next
room gives a pretty view of the various antics played
while keeping the birds quite separate.

7. In such a room, however, we must beware of mice ;
they utterly spoil any food they touch for the birds
that have to eat it ; indeed, I believe it is even made
very injurious by them ; and as people cannot actually
keep both cats and birds — unless the cat is a genius,
like one of ours, who knew that the birds were
*' friends," and let them perch upon him, and even
peck his ears — great care is needed to guard against
such inroads.

8. At building time, too, one must keep a strict
look-out amongst the birds themselves, watching
them when they are going on as usual, not when just
Hurried bv the entrance of some one into their abode ,

The Room Aviary. 127

unless, indeed, they are so tame as to go on with
their squabbles, and make no difference for the
presence of a visitor.

I think, when all are paired, or mostly so, they
generally keep themselves to themselves in a pretty
contented manner, but sometimes there seems, for
some unexplained cause, to be a general prejudice-
against some unhappy little couple, and their nest
gets pulled to pieces and they themselves are griev-
ously maltreated by many of the others joining in the-
attack.

Iii such cases, a common breeding cage is useful,
with some slight contrivance to protect the nest, if
built, as it sometimes is, against the outer wires : but
a good deal of vigilance is needed, as I said, in
listening for the sounds of battle — that peculiar sharp
hissing — and in observing if many feathers arc-
strewed about, a wing or tail feather, especially,,
betraying that there has been a scuffle.

9. It is as well also to remark that when birds are-
hungry they invariably take to fighting, for which
reason the seed boxes, standing upon the floor, or
fixed against the walls, should never become quite
empty.

10. We must not forget the kitchen garden, having
at present provided only for the trees. It is aggra-
vating to grand gardeners, perhaps, to be requested
to send one up a small parcel of groundsel seed,

128 Song Birds.

'diickweed cuttings, and water-cress roots, with an
injunction also on no account to forget the thistle seed
&nd dandelions ; but these delicacies greatly delight
the dickies. A set of shallow garden pans standing
in some out of the way corner, are good things to
have for this food, and turfs with a hole scooped
•out in them are also capital pans.

11. Birds are so very fond of seeing anything
moving, that there should he a vine trained about
their windows, the branches waving outside, and
the flickering shadow will delight them much. Swings
are also valuable playthings. I like to have them all
round, here and there, especially so placed as to
show the birds against a background of green leaves.
They also look well on a level with hanging flower
baskets, which are great ornaments in, or rather
outside, an aviary, the framing carried across a little
way out, from one corner post to the other along the
front, being just the thing on which to hang
them.

The higher the side rows of trees, and the lower
the front one of plants, the better pleased will be
the inhabitants of the place ; who are as fond as
can be of gay colours and pretty, cheerful-looking
homes.

12. Perhaps, a window facing the cast may be
in some respects the best aspect for the birds, being
•early risers, as they are proverbially ; but I prefer

The. Room Aviary. 120

myself a west window for them ; as a south look-
out is so much too hot in summer, and at the west
they get, after all, the softest and least keen winds.
When they can see a cheerful stream of sunshine
in front, or on one side, or when they are such
spoiled little Dickies as to be let come in to breakfast
with their mistress, sunning themselves then in
an eastern window, I do not think they will be
likely to complain very loudly. I ought here to
remark, for the benefit of those ' who are perplexed
as to their own room's open windows, that Hay-
ward's hexagon netting, or a panel of some woollen,
material, as green baize, damped and put up, will
both keep the room cool in summer, and provide
Against a sudden elopement of the little visitors.

The great amusement of the clay is the bath,
however, both to birds and mistress, but this will
be described hereafter.

13. Any separate cage hung in such a room should
always (if secure against the intrusion of cats and
mice) be hung rather low. Of course the light even
from the largest window is much less full close to
the ceiling than it is low down, and this both birds
iind plants find often to their cost.

In cold nights, however, the higher the better for
the birds to roost, as draughts and sudden changes
of temperature are about the very worst things that
they can undergo.

9

130 Song Birds.

CHAPTER XVI.

OUT-DOOR AVIARY, AND BIRDS FOR IT.

1. A REALLY well-formed aviary appears to me to
be very rarely met with. There is one mentioned
by Mr. Shirley Hibbert, which must be very charm-
ing ; a large conservatory looking towards the east,
being duly wired, and provided with the sloping bank
of plants and turf, and the fragrant flowers in which,
birds delight.

This is, however, a thing far beyond the unassisted
management of an amateur, and is probably kept
in order at a great expense.

My own experience in regularly built out- door
aviaries is extremely limited ; in fact, I never had
one of those in my own care at all. Those I have
known have been either mere large portable en-
closures, or an end of a greenhouse wired off, or a
room in the house adapted for the purpose ; the first
and last plans being those I have adopted myself.

Mr. Kidd, the story of whose aviary of nearly four
hundred birds is very widely known, does not allow
the possibility of letting birds in aviaries have the
opportunity of mateing among themselves, and bring-
ing up young families. He seems to consider the
birds as only kept for song, and for their pleasant
company ; and in the view of preserving peace, he

Out-door Aviary, and Birds for it. 131

would forbid the admittance of any ladies to the
large society.

Of course this is quite a question of taste, but
certainly many persons would think that no amount
of song would compensate for losing the variety,
and for missing the pretty sight of the little fledglings,
being also deprived of the amusement of witnessing the
courtships. It is so diverting to see the birds singing
for the approbation of some very much sought for
lady, who sits meanwhile with her head on one side,
sometimes deigning to listen, but always pretending
not to see the gentleman she prefers.

Canaries are said to choose their mates by song ;
that is to say, the finest singer has generally first
choice of a wife ; thus even for singing I cannot
imagine an aviary being improved by the absence
of all these competitions, and all variety would be lost.

2. Mr. Kidd, it seems, did icish his birds to build,
and I cannot help thinking that their failure to bring
up their young was naturally to be attributed to the
immense crowd they lived in ; besides the nest boxes
were nailed, so Mr. Kidd implies, upon the wall, and
thus the idle birds had full access to them. Had the
numbers of the aviary been a little more within
bounds, or had a thick hedge been arranged all round
the wall for dodging about and hiding it, I cannot
fancy the difficulty half so great; and even a,j; the
worst, a good flight of canary hens would probably

9—2

132 Song Birds.

have succeeded. It is certainly alwa}rs doubtful if
Canaries and other hen Finches will agree to live
peaceably ; still it does answer sometimes, when then
are put into the aviary in established ^rt/rs, the couples
generally being faithful to each other, and each being
occupied in its own important work, just, in fact, as
if they were out of doors. If, therefore, any very
large bird is from the first excluded during the build-
ing season, very naughty or mischievous small birds
imprisoned, and only pairs of birds admitted, or a
number of Canary hens (or of home-bred Linnets,
which answer charmingly), the peace of the aviary
will be in the main preserved, and a great attraction
and interest added to it during the summer months.
It must be understood, however, that it should be
Canaries or Linnets, not both together, if put in in
numbers ; or in a divided aviary, Canaries on one
side, and Linnets and Goldfinches and other hens
with their respectives mates on the other, would be
very pretty.

Any particular pair of any sort could be enclosed
in a breeding- cage, and it is well to have a few empty
cages of this kind standing open in case birds
formerly used to them may wish to build again in
them. But now, in proceeding to give a few hints for
the formation of large aviaries, I shall take it for
granted that it is an object that the birds should
breed ; and as I have been very careful to gain all the

Out-door Aviary, and Birds for it. 133

information possible from others, I hope that my not
having possessed exactly such an aviary myself may
not prevent the directions being well founded, as far
as concerns the birds and their requirements.

3. As interesting a fixed aviary as any I have
known, is formed from one end of a moderate sized
conservatory. The space, about twelve feet wide,
was merely wired off with galvanized zinc wire, the
surrounding glass being also lined with wire. The
birds here gain the morning sun, but in winter, when
it is very cold, the glass Avails are screened from
without by shutters.

The birds in such a position are very warmly
housed, and the sweet scent of the flowers adds
greatly to their pleasure. In the enclosed space,
which is rather narrow, a row of evergreen shrubs is
placed along the back, and grouped closely at each
corner, the higher trees nearly reaching the top ; and
again in the centre, three or four more are grouped.
In an aviary like this, it has a charming effect when
a pretty bath is suspended from the roof in one of the
wire baskets ; by the use of some strong cement the
outside may be made pretty, ornamented with shells
and coral, like the plaything that it is ; and there the
birds will amuse themselves for hours, pretending to
be frightened, and putting in one foot and pulling it
out again, behaving for all the world just like naughty
children. The seed and water-troughs recommended

134 Song Binls.

in the chapter referring to them are all that is
required in the way of furniture ; they should be
fixed against the side walls, a little door giving ready
access to them. The floor being formed of tiles or
stone, and the walls also being solid, there is every
reason to hope that further precautions against mice
and rats will be quite unnecessaiy. Their presence
certainly should be guarded against with every care
imaginable. If in an aviary of this kind a group of
firs — especially the spruce firs — are gathered in each
corner, with one or two oranges and myrtles in the
centre, there will be fair hiding-places, and it may be
hoped that the birds will build.

4. Keeping here a dozen English Finches, Linnets,
and Siskins, with a dozen pair of Canaries, and a
dozen Canaiy hens, the probabilities are that the
morning melody will be gay enough. A pair of
Nightingales, not more than one (as they are jealous
birds, and the worst singer gets sulky), one or two
Blackcaps, some Willow Wrens and Garden Warblers,
with perhaps a WToodlark, would make a very
delightful concert. Even the Nightingales will some-
times build in a quiet aviary ; and in a division
made against the house wall, especially if slightly
shaded by climbing plants, it is very likely they might
be induced to do so.

The Wrens also may. if they are very tame, build
in an ivied wall in such an aviary, and a lovely little

Out-door Aviary, and Birds for it. 135

•structure indeed the Wren's nest is ; so deep and
soft, with ten or twelve little pinkish eggs about the
size of peas, and the chicks when they appear are so
<leeply buried in their soft bed of down, that although
I have found their nests very early in the spring —
once, I think, before February was half through — they
always seemed to be cuddled in warmly and snugly
enough, under their little mamma's brown wings.

Larks sometimes will breed, it is said, in aviaries,
but this I cannot answer for, not having ever tried
them ; but at any rate it seems as if they might be
less unhappy than one would have feared.

Should divisions be wished for, a family of Tom
Tits, provided with a tree, on the branches of which to
hang, are the funniest and most impudent of pickles.
Their impish ways are such, that it is hardly safe to
.admit them amongst others. But even in a large bell-
<?age they ma}r display their ingenuity much to the
.amusement of those who like to see how naughty
birds can be ; or, though that is a little wicked,
.they may be suffered to persecute a Thrush.

5. If a floor has to be made, a very good plan is
that recommended in the Cottage Gardener for making
-concrete walks. " A layer of stones, brickbats,
shells, or clinkers, six inches deep ; a layer of chalk
-or lime, in the proportion of one to ten of the stones
or other foundation, well rolled, beaten and watered
io the thickness of three inches," — (for a floor it is

136 Song .Birds.

better to omit the directed rise of tiro inches in the-
middle, and substitute for it the same rule applied to.
a slight slope from the hack to the front) ; — " over this-
lay half an inch of gravel and lime or fine chalk ;
water, and roll well again." We may, or may not go-
on to add one eighth of an inch of the best coloured
gravel, and again to roll until it is quite solid. The
lime and gravel is, however, about the best thing birds
can have to peck at.

6. It is another good plan, as I have already
Muted, to have two sets of trees, and to turn out one
row at a time to get the benefit of a few showers,
whenever there are no nests actually in progress in
their branches; always remembering, however, that
the last shower had better be an artificial one, as
London rain has not the most cleansing qualities.
These trees require a good deal of water always, at
any rate at the roots — and the thicker they stand to-
gether, the better the birds will like it when they are-
looking out for an attractive spot for nests.

The floor should be covered at least four inches
deep with sand, and I think the best way is then to
clean it out occasionally from the outside with a thing;
like a hoe, having first removed the plant shelf to
render it accessible. The plant shelf, I ought to have
said before, should be in fact a deep box along the
front wall, filled nearly full of pieces of broken
charcoal, with the top only covered with sand, and a

Baths, Foodholders, fyc. 137

layer of green nioss in which the pots should stand.
The perches, round and polished, should be made to
fit in along the wire front, and near the ceiling. A
flat panelled ceiling should be always used. A frame
filled with felt and covered with waterproof cloth
would answer well.

Along the front of such an enclosure, a few
creepers trained on wires are beautiful — the blue
Passion-flower, for instance, and the Japan honey suckle*
Hanging baskets of flowers also look very charming,
while the gay yellow plumage, red bills, and crimson
heads, of the bright inhabitants take the place of
flowers within, and adorn the evergreens with the
gayest balls of colour.

CHAPTER XYIL

BATHS, EOODHOLDEUS, ETC.

1. WHAT pretty pebbles we can all remember gather-
ing on the shore — so shining and so transparent t
we quite thought cutting and polishing would be all
unnecessary, and that our finds were gems. Alas !
the pebbles got dry, and they were gems no longer ;
the lapidary looked contemptuous, and said they
"were common flints," and we went home disconso-
late. But now, I, for one, often wish that I had

138 Song Birds.

those stoues ; common though they might be when
-dry, they looked very pretty wet, and in a bird-bath
they have a chance of being so pretty often. If, then,
any of my readers wish for an amusing work, they
will pick up some pebbles and any shells they can ;
bits of spar, fossils, agate, jasper, cornelian, and all
the rest, and with these they will build up the most
^charming baths.

This, I am certain, will be a great delight, at any
rate to children, for it is pleasant to find a use for
things that are so pretty, and that remind us plea-
santly of some seaside holiday. On the Welsh
*eoast, and in Cornwall, many of these treasures are
easily to be found ; and even inland places often
^afford us charming pieces of quartz or spar, or bits of
limestone, thickly strewn with beautiful fossil shells.

The objection to grotto -building is, that it is of no
use, and not ornamental either ; but these baths are
useful, and may be veiy pretty, and if all the grot to -
builders now turn their minds to bird-baths, many a
bird will return them grateful thanks.

2. Birds liVe always to have a good depth of
water ; at the same time, of course, they do not wish
to be drowned. Their greatest delight, then, is to sit
-on a stone and bathe. I had last winter a pair of
•Goldfinches that regularly every morning bathed in a
small aquarium, standing on the top of the piece of
rock ; they bent down their heads, and dashed the

JJaths, • Foodholders, $c. 139

water briskly all over their wings and plumage. Nice
wet work it was, and in self -defence, a different bath,
such as the birds might prefer, to this, really became
essential. I have accordingly adopted a perfectly
new arrangement, which to my idea is perfection,
because the birds like it and can be seen enjoying it
without the slightest hindrance, and without the
discomfort of our being splashed all over.

3. One of the smallest glass milk pans is therefore
prepared for bathing in. This can be easily hung up
in a wire basket, like those used for flowers, in the
front of an aviary, where a little splashing is likely to
do no harm ; but when the birds are in a room in a
large cage, or flying loose about, I have a sort of
glass house in which the bath can stand. A plant
ease answers admirably, when birds can be trusted in
one, as Robins can, and three or four of the very
smallest fish look pretty in them.

I will proceed, however, to describe how the bath
is made, and afterwards it will be easy to fix on where
to place it.

The glass milk pans sold by Millington, in Bishops-
gate-street, are the best things I know for the forma-
tion of such baths. They are made six, ten, fourteen
inches in diameter — the sizes increasing up to twenty-
six ; the prices varying with the size, from sixpence to
five and sixpence. These pans are much superior to
hyacinth dishes, being of an infinitely better shape,

140 Song llirds.

and a very much prettier make. The glass is slightly
green, but this only adds to the pleasing appearance.

4. These pans are very sloping, deepest in the
middle ; and sometimes therefore a very large shell or
two look well in the centre fixed at the Lack together,
and with a number of little shells gathered about the
edge, with pretty bits of coral. For my own part, I
always like a bath to have some sand in it; it adds
much to the bather's comfort, as birds slip about upon
glass so much, and there can be no doubt that sand is
more natural. If, however, marine sand, shells, or
corals, are used, they cannot be too well washed first,
as salt water is hurtful. This need not imply any
excessive care, merely a good soaking for four and
twenty hours.

There may be a difficulty sometimes as to cement ,
because the putty used in glazing is dangerous, as it
contains white lead ; while in the case of any square
bath being used, some means are essential for fixing
the panes of glass together.

In his directions for aquariums, Mr. Shirley Hibberd
recommends Scott's cement, which is obtained from
Mr. Scott of Newcastle ; and as this can be conveyed
by post, it will probably be a useful hint to many per-
sons not living in easy reach of places where such
things are sold.

The rockwork ought not to be fixed to the glass
itself. It is well to put it together in it, for the sake

Baths, Foodholders, $c. 141

of keeping exactly to the shape, but it should always
he able to be taken in and out for cleaning. A pile in
the middle, or a ring round the edge, is pretty, and
easily arranged. Another very good plan is to take a
small piece of zinc, about six inches in diameter, and
spreading its surface with the Eoman or Portland
cement used in aquariums, to place in the middle one
high jagged piece of rock. This piece being firmly
fixed as a centre, little pieces of spar and crystal and
stalactite may be piled up all round, and also fixed
together by the bed of cement heaped around the base.
Lava, polished fossils, and specimens of jasper and
malachite also look well, mixed up in the heap.
Then there may be some shells — those beautifully
coloured harps, for instance, arid the great ones lined
with mother of pearl. The little creatures look so
very pretty, balancing themselves on the edge, dash-
ing down their heads, and fluttering their bright,
transparent wings in the water in an ecstasy of
delight !

5. The zinc foundation is of course to be hidden,
and all to lift out together; it can thus be easily
cleansed while wet, by water being allowed to pour
down upon it, and during this process the vase can be
also emptied. A flexible gutta percha tube attached
to a little plug-hole does best for this, or an aquarium
syringe will be found very useful, and the vase being
emptied, the rock work may be replaced, and the whole

142 Song Birds.

refilled with water, making it quite respectable for
our little friends to wash in.

6. They rush in sometimes four or five together, to
splash in the clean water like a little shoal of fishes.
They go paddling about, lifting up their feet very high
for each step, and making so much noise in setting them
down again, that any one would fancy that they were
web -footed, and holding up their tails so carefully out
of the water, like so many Jenny Wrens, as if to be
draggle-tailed was ignominious among birds ; sitting
at the water's edge shaking ; shaking so quickly that
one cannot see how they do it ; and then hopping in
again : and they will go in the same way each time.
I watched one the other day ; she took ten dips after I
began counting ; and each time she flew to one par-
ticular spot about three or four steps off, and took the
same series of short stages before she hopped in finally.
Sometimes a number bathe at the same time ; and
sometimes timid ones stand at the edge and let the
others splash them, and call that washing: and then
again they wait and go in by turns. I hardly know
which way is most amusing. One day when the bath
was shallow I saw one bird lie down in it and turn over
to bathe the other side when the first was done ; that
was a brown Linnet, and brown Linnets certainly do
delight in water.

7. I can hardly venture to recommend so bold a
plan ; but I let my own birds bathe when they like in

Baths, Foodholders, $c. 143*

winter. They have never suffered from it ; and a-
bird dealer and doctor whom I consulted said that he--
believed a bird always could be trusted to go by its.
own instinct, and so I think they can. If they are ill,,
too, a bath seems to be their most universal remedy..
A bird looks mopy, and then ensues a grand bathing ;
I observe a hearty luncheon follows, and the patient
brushes up and returns into active life. I may also*
remark, that if a newly bought or unhappy bird can be
induced to bathe, it is the best of signs that it is.
getting better.

8. A most excellent plan for this room bath is to have-
a common square bird-cage, glazed, the floor being;
covered with sand, and a bath, such as I have de-
scribed, being then placed within it ; we have thus the:
full amusement without the slightest inconvenience.
Two or three little plants, such as ferns, may grow at,
the corners, and fish may swim about in it. A
sliding side of glass makes the door of entrance as.
large or small as necessary.

Where large baths are not required, a little japanned
tin one may be had, from ninepence upwards, for
hooking upon the cage door. Little square cages, too,
with the perches removed, and a china or glass dish put
in, make capital bath cages, and give the birds room to*
splutter. They may be very easily glazed outside th&
wires, to prevent too much splashing.

9. Perhaps the prettiest methods of all are imbedding;

144 Song Birds.

it in the moss and ferns of a plant-case, hanging it
in a wire frame surrounded with moss, in a greenhouse
or room aviary, or letting it stand on a moss-covered
pedestal. In a cage, most probably, it would require
to hang near the floor, or to stand on it ; if there are
shrubs, it looks very pretty in the moss beneath them.

I hope, in what has been said on this subject,
nothing will have seemed to advocate a heap of trum-
pery and unmeaning ornaments. My excuse for
introducing the subject so prominently as this is, that
some "heap of stones" or shells being required for
victual use, it seems absurd to avoid using a class of
objects which have been only rendered ridiculous by
being employed in things that are both ugly and
unmeaning. The gathering of the materials, shells,
&c., is also a great delight, and if they could be
made useful it would add to the pleasure.

10. There is hardly anything in which modern
cages are more faulty than the seed and water vessels.
When I was a child, I had a number of old cages
that had been laid aside for I dare say ten years,
and, certainly, those cages were preferable to any that
I see now. They had, I remember, things like wash-
hand-stands, which turned in and out, were fitted
with nice large glasses, and had a sort of roof to
prevent the birds walking into them. The drawers,
too, were good deep ones, with a long row of holes for
the birds to eat through.

Baths, FoodholderSy fye. 145

11. The horrible invention of hanging glasses has
doubtless killed many birds, and even, without dying,
to endure great thirst is the extremest suffering. For
my own part, I cannot bear that my birds should ran
the risks which have been already adverted to in
Chapter XIII.

The zinc cages have little turning cylinders (which
•clever birds walk out through), and these being fitted
with tin seed-holders, the seed is upset directly ; if they
have glasses, the birds, at least young ones, very often
hurt themselves against them. The little tin trays
in breeding cages, with the outside glasses, seem to
•combine all the disadvantages possible to collect.

In Edinburgh, a kind of cage-fountain is or was
much used, made of plain cut glass, with a well
polished edge, and presenting to the bird a constant
supply of water inside the cage. There is, also, a
kind of barrel seed-box, through a hole in the side of
which the bird obtains its food. The best plan, how-
ever, that I know of, suited to any good-sized cage or
aviary, is a box, made with a sloping top and a deep
drawer belonging to it, which should be lined with glass
or earthenware ; a row of round holes goes all along
just above the drawer, and either a similar vessel is
arranged for water, or a division in each separates the
part for the seed from that which contains the water.
A low perch goes along it, on which the birds sit
when eating. The whole affair, woodwork as well as

10

146 Song Birds.

glass, should, however, now and then, be cleaned out
thoroughly. Tin or zinc is objectionahle either for
water or any kind of food. The pans for all kinds of
paste, or egg, &c., should he of glass or earthenware.
Terra cotta is a nice material to use in aviaries, not-
only for the food, hut for the fountain, the flooring, and
the plant boxes.

12. A white marble fountain is the most perfect
thing, and when this is arranged with a small jet of
water like the small Eau de Cologne fountains, the
effect is charming when the gay plumaged birds keep
diving through the spray.

18. The perches should always, in cages and in
aviaries of all sorts, be made to take in and out ; and
whether they are fixed or moveable, it is necessary to
be careful that the birds do not catch their feet in any
kind of cranny. Polished deal or maple is the best
material, perhaps, after cane for this, but cane is at
once a natural round perch for the bird's foot to grasp,
perfectly light, and easy to be cleaned. Deal I am?
fond of myself, but this is merely because my birds
have done well with it ; many other soft woods may
be quite as good. Still, deal is quickly cleaned, and
not at all apt to crack, which is much in its favour.

The perches should be kept perfectly clean ; and
after washing with yellow soap and water, they should
never be returned to the cage or aviary till quite dry*
"They should not, however, be dried too quickly, as.

Lists of Birds, and Wants of B irdkeepers. 147

that would warp them. In the cage they should be
carefully arranged not to be just over each other. A
good plan is to have one the whole way along both
front and back ; another higher up, farther into the
cage, and another quite near the top. The birds like
the high perches best, and the higher they roost the
better on all accounts. Another advisable plan is to
put the perches across the cage alternately in three
stories ; or to have the two long ones by the wires,
and all the short ones crossing the other way.
In the bell cages and so on, one perch should go
from the seed to the water place, and then the other
higher up, also across the cage.

CHAPTER XVIII.

LISTS OF BIRDS, AND WANTS OF BIRD-KEEPERS,

1 . As I have often been withheld from ordering birds
under the idea that they were much more costly than
they really prove, I subjoin a list of a few of the
prettiest birds I can find, naming, for the reader's
guidance, the prices that I have given for them. In a
few instances, I have not had the birds in my own
possession, but the information is reliable, and the
specimens appeared to be very good representatives of
their respective kinds.

10—2

148 Song Birds.

I do not myself find any particular difficulty in
keeping foreign birds. In gardening it is much easier
to grow exotic plants to something like perfection,
than to keep in good health our little hedgerow
flowers ; and with birds I fancy it is much the same,
the temperature of our rooms suiting best those of a
wanner climate.

Amongst the many kinds of pretty foreign birds I
know nothing prettier for a work-table or stand than
a small bell cage full of the beautiful Avadavats.
They are very small birds, smaller than a Wren, and
with their bright red beaks, spreading, fan-like tails,
and exquisitely spotted plumage, are really lovely.

They sit in a line on their perch, singing, such a
song as it is, continually ; being generally affectionate,
but quarrelling at night for the inside place.

2. The wire of the cage for very small birds like
these should be very fine, mine is only of tin ; but
such birds as these are worthy of a silver or of a
plated-wire dwelling ; there would be some advantage
also in giving them such homes in showing their
pretty movements. Brass must not be used ; and zinc
is too cold ; while the colour of gilding is not nearly
so becoming as that of silver.

3. In buying delicate foreign birds, I must strongly
advise all purchasers to have the birds sent to their
home by the dealer ; he perfectly understands how to
deliver the bird in the safest manner and in the best

Lists of Birds. 149

condition, while a lady putting a small birdcage into
her carriage, and driving off with it for a round of
shopping, is not unlikely to find her bird conie to grief.

This is the safest plan ; at the same time I do not
mean to say that birds cannot travel ; I have had
many from all parts of the country, and the first pair
I ever possessed, two pretty Canaries, travelled down
in a small wicker cage by railway, chaperoned by the
guard, from London. The distance was one hundred
and thirty miles, the last part of which was performed
in the carrier's cart. But to return to the bird list.

4. The AVADAVATS are little brown and red spotted
birds, with reddish backs and spreading tails, white
feet, red beaks like sealing-wax, shrill, silvery, short
song, and peculiarly graceful movements. They may
be made very tame, and look exquisitely pretty in a
company of birds of their own stature. Wrens, for
instance, and little Silver Beaks, in a small enclosure,
where, if there is some evergreen, they will dart about
pluming themselves noisily, washing, and singing,
and making the gayest of pictures. The other birds
of the size suitable to live with the pets I mentioned,
are Australian, African, St. Helena, Orange, and the
exquisite Zebra Wax-bills ; all these are to be had at
from twelve to fifteen shillings a pair. In Messrs.
Green's list of prices, the African ones are two
shillings less than the others. The little Avadavats
are eight shillings, and so are the Silver Beaks.

150 Song Birds.

5. CORDON BLUES are pretty pale blue birds, and
there are Saffron Finches, or South African Canaries,
and Fire Finches, of most brilliant colour, as their
name implies. A collection of one pair of each of
these several kinds would be fairly dazzling.

6. The CUT-THROAT SPARROWS are of rather a
larger size. The cock bird has a wide crimson band
just round the throat ; they are very slender, beauti-
fully marked with grey and brown, the. exquisite
feathers being like separate spangles ; they make,
however, a rather harsh sort of twittering, much like
other sparrows.

The hen bird has not the bright red stripe, but she
is very pretty. These birds are just the size of Gold-
finches ; their price, eight shillings a pair.

Indigo birds and Diamond Sparrows are each about
eight to ten, and twelve to twenty shillings the pair.

7. The JAVA SPARROWS, too, are nice birds, having
a sweet and liquid song, which, though it is short, is
very frequent, and sometimes almost continuously
repeated.

These birds are pretty, of a darkish grey plumage,
as neat as it can be, black head and white cheeks,
pink bills, red eyelids, and pinkish white feet. They
are always pluming themselves, and caressing each
other in a very loving manner. The pair I have cost
ten shillings ; they were from Mr. Hawkins's, and are
remarkably fine. These birds greatly delight in

Lists of Birds. 151

washing ; they eat canary and millet seed, and like
wide, square perches, which should be changed very
often for fresh clean ones.

They do best, perhaps, in a bell-shaped cage with
a wooden floor, or in an aviary amidst other birds.

8. The GERMAN CANARIES are far the sweetest
singers of these very sweet voiced tribes. Their prices
range from six shillings to ten shillings and sixpence,
hens about two shillings. For those who fancy trying
their success at rearing prize Canaries, Messrs. Green,
have also the thorough- bred Belgian birds, the most
prevailing, though odd-looking kind, from ten and six-
pence to thirty shillings a pair — the cock and hen.
of these being the same price. I have not seen their
stock, but it is said to be good, and most places have a
speciality for some sort of bird. Mr. Hawkins's, for
example, is the place for Mule birds. In giving
these recommendations I do not pretend to be
at all infallible, only knowing it was so difficult for
amateurs to get good birds without knowing where
to go, I took a great deal of trouble, and went to a
great deal of expense, in buy ing birds "promiscuously"
at all sorts of places, till I had succeeded in discovering
three or four really to be recommended.

At both Messrs. Green's and Hawkins's there is also
.11 large stock of cages, as good, I suppose, as any of
iheir respective sorts. The birds, at both these
places, are, as far as I know, invariably sent out in

152 Song liirds.

iirst-rate condition. The foreign birds I liave had at
different times from each have been good, and when
I have wanted to arrange a group, the information a*
to those that might be safe to live together I have
found trustworthy, and evidently founded on a long
experience.

9. English birds I have never purchased at these^
great places ; it is much cheaper to buy straight from
one of the men who supplies these birds, and I, for
one, rather like the chance of getting hold of all sorts
of queer, roundabout experience of the wild birds'
ways. Litolff, of Eose Street, Long Acre, sells
English birds. It is, however, a great point in all
cases, that they should not be bought when quite
newly caught.

10. A BULLFINCH is always a favourite bird, and
uncommonly sociable. It requires rather a spacious
cage, and does very well in one of the German zinc
kind. He will much like being let out now and then
in a room, when he will sidle about and be very
funny. A common Bullfinch costs about five to seven
shillings.

11. One or two GOLDFINCHES, in a small cage,,
become excessively tame, and may be let out con-
tinually. Small square cages, with the back and
top of wood, are best for them. The zinc ones they
peck more than is safe. These birds are generally
from half-a-crown to seven shillings.

Lists of Birds. 153

12. The ROBIN REDBREAST is a pleasant bird to
have flying ahout the room. My own has a German
cage, one of the zinc bell-shaped ones, in which he lives-
or not as it seems good to him. Robins would not be
happy if obliged to stay in a cage, though they are
so very much at home in a more extended space, and
go in and out of their own house. My tame Robin,
too, attracts others of his own race ; and I have
hardly ever heard a more sweet and silvery song than
that of one of these wild Robins sitting on a gera-
nium or evergreen, and singing with all its might.

13. THRUSHES, too, are delightful birds, when we
want to " make believe " that we are amongst the
fields. After a summer shower, even in confinement,
what a flood of melody the " mavis and merle " pour
out!

14. A party of the mischievous TOM TITS should
live alone, though I do not believe in their hurting
other birds. A good sized bell -shaped cage shows
them best, but a square one perhaps is the better for
them. Their brothers, the " Joe Bents," are murder-
ous, and must be excluded.

15. WRENS. A very small wired cage or latticed
house may contain these mites of birds. They like
very much, also, to fly about the room, and to sleep in
warm, snug nooks. But the nooks must be very warm
indeed, as they are very tender.

16. CHAFFINCHES are brisk, lively birds to have

i54 Song Birds.

alone. They are difficult to tame, which makes
it all the pleasanter when they do become so. They
wiay be taught to sing beautifully, having peculiarly
clear sweet voices.

17. EEDPOLES are excessively elegant little birds,
Something like Linnets, with bright red patches
exactly on their foreheads.

18. LINNETS are amongst the tamest and gentlest
birds for cages.

19. YELLOW HAMMERS should not be overlooked,
being extremely handsome, and sometimes breeding
with the Canary. The hen bird is not, however,
nearly so handsome as her blight, yellow-headed
mate.

20. All these English birds, and many other kinds, ,
•can be got from Litolff, the German bird-dealer

I mentioned ; the prices vary from sixpence to two
shillings each. Bullfinches and Thrushes fetch higher
prices ; the former cost from about three, the latter
from four or five shillings upwards, according to time
of year or scarceness. A real good Thrash or Bull-
finch is by no means common. A piping Bullfinch
<costs from one to two guineas and upwards.

21. WANTS OF BIRDKEEPERS. — Amongst the
various things that are found useful in keeping birds,
I may mention first the cages ; varying from the
cheapest and commonest form, to the largest and
most elaborate aviaries.

Wants of liirdkeepers. 155

Of the simplest construction is a sort of cage I
have used very much, because while it is excessively
cheap, and handy to stow away, yet when in use it
gives the birds plenty of light and air, and is easily
kept clean. These are the common market cages,
sold by any dealer.

There is a wooden sort of trough divided off for
the seed, which is so far preferable to many of the
smart cages, that the birds can get easily at their
food, and a little tin hooked on, contains the supply of
water. These hooked- on tins are better than water-
glasses, as they are less likely to be turned aside.
These cages are made of various sizes ; and I find it
most handy, the doors opening at one end, to let the
birds go daily from one that is dirty, into another
clean one. They have slides, not drawers, and if
made as I am having some done, either in stained
and varnished deal, or in polished wood, they are
really pretty. A tin barrel can then replace the
common cup now used for the water. These cages
heap together at night, and cover up in a pile in a
very convenient fashion. The prices in deal and tin
wire are about fourpence each for those five by six
inches, sixpence for those seven by eight, and a shilling
(when they are much higher) seven inches by eight.

22. I have also had made a very large cage on the
same principles, three feet by eighteen inches, with a
nice sort of perch for the birds to hop along, a sort

156 Song lairds.

of ladder all along the bottom, four perches high upr
and four more lower down alternately. A drawer
goes down the middle for containing food, and another
drawer runs along at the end for holding water.
The perches should have deep slits for taking, in
and out. The cost of a mahogany cage like this is
sixteen shillings ; in polished deal, thirteen.

I have more than two dozen birds in one of these
cages ; Canaries, Goldfinches, Linnets, Greenfinches,
Bullfinches, Crossbills, Yellow-hammers, Mules, and
a Chaffinch. This cage being portable, and at the
same time so open, affords me an immense deal of
amusement.

23. For those who like the zinc and fancy cages ,
there are abundance to choose from at Messrs. Green's
establishment, and I have found his illustrated list
very useful in giving an idea of the sort of shapes
there are; the prices, sizes, and fashions varying
immensely. Many of the zinc and bell- cages stand
on a rosewood or mahogany foundation, the tray
which forms the bottom of the cage not being of
metal. The prices of these range from four and
sixpence upwards ; breeding-cages, four shillings.
Hospitals and baths may be made much the same,
only flannel instead of wire in the one case, a dish
instead of perches and seed-boxes in the other.

24. My aviary cage was made by F. Millar,
Cotter's Place, Old Bronipton. It cost five pounds.

Wants of Birdkeepers. 157

when stained and varnished, in a way not in the
least injurious to the birds. The dimensions are,
four feet long, four feet high at the back, and
two feet deep. A wire shelf forms the back six
inches of the roof, and the front slopes down to
three feet from the floor. There is a wire parti-
tion which divides the cage into two equal parts,
drawing completely out, and two trays also hook upon
the wire, forming two more divisions, all entirely
separate, so that it may be one immense cage, as
large nearly as most greenhouse aviaries, or it may
make two, three, or four separate parts, each being
as large as from four to eight ordinary breeding-cages.
The sides are doors, with a secure fastening, and
these again have small doors in them to open into the
separate divisions.

The perches are large and round, and fit all along
the cage, as well as being stationed at different heights
across. They are made with a very deep cut at each
«nd, so that they slip backward and forward and thus
fit to the wire.

25. The seed-boxes are made sloping and with
a row of little arches for the birds to eat through,
and perches in front fixed to them. Glass or tin
pans are fitted in for seed and water; but I hope
soon these pans for birds will be made in the same
red material as the common flower-pots, glazed inside
as their saucers are.

158 Song Jttrds.

26. Flower-pot saucers are in tlie meanwhile
among the best of seed and water holders for stand-
ing on a cage floor, as the birds can perch upon
their edges quite comfortably.

My cage has another feeder, for the inhabitants
are so numerous that we need a good large dining-
room. A hanging box, of much the same shape as
the other, goes all along the end, containing alter-
nately boxes of seed and water.

27. The trays draw out for cleaning, or if it is
preferred to dispense with them in the breeding
season, a small hoe answers every cleaning purpose.

28. The side doors are made capacious, to enable
me to add large plants and branches inside. The
general eifect can be seen in the frontispiece.

29. I have already mentioned the importance of
getting the best seed only. Ants' eggs, teasles, and
thistle -seed, may be obtained from the house I men-
tioned as supplying English birds. The red bird
sand is one penny a quart.

30. The other requisites that occur to me for
bird keeping would be a tray for placing all the appa-
ratus on, which is very useful ; a few tin canisters,
or glass preserve jars, or even common bottles inthout
corks, for containing the various seeds. I say, ' * without
corks/' because of the danger of any small pieces being-
swallowed ; glass stoppers or gutta percha ones can-
be used instead.

Wants of JJlrdkeepers. 1591

A bread-grater is essential ; and if there are many
birds, either a mortar or a small coffee mill is a
serviceable addition. A mortar costs about a sove-
reign, and is hard work to pound in ; a coffee mill
costs three shillings, is no trouble at all, and does-
its work better ; so I recommend the coffee mill.

A glass dish for a bath, a wire basket for sus-
pending it in the aviary, and a sieve for sifting
the seed and sand from the husks or dirt, will be
also wanted. All these things, however, are matters'
of taste and means.

My pet Goldfinch of all lives in a sixpenny cage,
and himself cost half-a-crown ; living quite con-
tentedly with his tin to drink from and his trough of
seed. And as these moderate accommodations are>
all that are really requisite, I do not think that
bird-keeping is necessarily a very expensive pleasure,
whilst, of my own experience, I know it to be a
great one.

THE END.

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9. THORNEY HALL. A STORY OP AN OLD FAMILY. By

HOLME LEE.

10. THE CRUELEST WRONG OF ALL. By the Author
of " Margaret ; or, Prejudice at Home."

SECOND ISSUE.

LOST AND WON. By GEORGIANA M. CRAIK.
HAWKSVIEW. By HOLME LEE.
COUSIN STELLA j OR, CONFLICT. By the Author of " Who

Breaks— Pays."
FLORENCE TEMPLAR. By Mrs. F. VIDAL

HIGHLAND LASSIES ; OR, THE ROUA PASS. By ERICK
MACKENZIE.

L^ J