PASSERINE BIRDS.
The birds of this group have the beak conical and pointed, in general rather strong, with both the mandibles moveable, and fit for peeling and cleaning grain. Their feet are slender, and their claws divided. Some of them do not confine themselves to grain, but also eat insects. Those which feed solely on seeds disgorge them into the crop of their young, the others simply put the food into their beaks. The greater part of them build their nests very skilfully. The females brood alone, or are very rarely assisted by the males in hatching.
This group and the following are peculiarly the real cage birds; those pretty and attractive little creatures which enliven our rooms with their songs.
Those which feed only on seeds may be tamed at any age.
THE CROSSBILL.
Loxia curvirostra, Linnæus; Le Beccroisé, Buffon; Der Kreuzschnabel, Bechstein.
The length of this bird is nearly seven inches, of which the tail measures two and a quarter. The beak, which is one inch in length, and very thick, has its two mandibles curving in opposite directions, and crossing each other at the points, whence the name. It is no fixed rule for the upper mandible to cross to the right or left, but its direction appears to be acquired when young. The shanks, which are eight lines high, and the beak, are brown; the iris is nut-coloured.
The change of colour, which some assert this bird is subject to three times a year, simply occurs as follows:—
The young male, which is at first of a greyish brown, with a little yellow, becomes after moulting entirely red, darker on the upper part of the body than on the lower, the quill and tail feathers excepted, which are blackish. This generally happens in April or May. At the second moulting this red colour becomes a greenish yellow, which is permanent; so that when red they may be known to be the young male birds, and when yellow the old ones.
The females are in general grey, with a little green on the head, breast, and rump, or irregularly speckled with those two colours.
From observations which have been made with great care and exactness, and which any one can repeat who wishes, it appears proved that an old male bird never changes its colour. In order to be exact as to these facts, it is necessary to observe the bird from the time of its leaving the nest; for, if one were to judge from those taken in a snare, one would certainly be disposed to think that not one bird resembled another: but all this variety depends on the different stages in moulting, which so very much affects the colours of the plumage.
Thus, in old male birds the forehead, cheeks, and eyebrows are spotted with grey, greenish yellow, and white. Wherever green and yellow are prevalent, the dark grey shows through, and has the appearance of spots on those parts, particularly on the back, for the tips alone are green and yellow.
The result of all this is, that when grey or speckled crossbills are spoken of, they are the young ones; when red, they have passed their first moulting; when crimson, they are near their second; and when spotted, red and yellow, they are two years old, and in full feather. To judge with exactness, these birds ought to be seen at the time of laying, but neither this nor the moulting has any fixed season; and this circumstance sufficiently explains the great variety and difference of colour which are found among this species.
These details also show that the crossbill is subject to nearly the same changes of colour as the linnet, and that the red colour which it bears for the first year is what peculiarly distinguishes it from other birds. One thing, which is rather remarkable, is, that the young ones reared in the house never take the red colour, but remain grey for the second year, or change directly into greenish yellow.
There are two kinds of crossbills, the greater and lesser; but the difference is not so great as some pretend, and nature is not more invariable in the size of birds than it is in that of men[29].
Habitation.—When wild, the crossbill not only inhabits Europe, but also all the north of Asia and America, everywhere frequenting forests of pines and firs, where these trees, which are loaded with cones, furnish abundance of food.
In the house it may be let range at will, but a branch of fir, or any other tree, must be put near it, on which it can perch or sleep. If it be kept in a cage it must be made of wire; for, being so much disposed to peck and nibble, a wicker cage would soon be reduced to chips.
Food.—In its wild state the pine seed is its favourite food; the shape of its beak is peculiarly adapted for procuring these seeds, by separating the scales of the cones; it also gathers from the ground those which have fallen, and it does not neglect those of the fir, and even of the alder. When these fail it is contented with the buds of the same trees.
In the house, if it be let run about at liberty, the second universal paste will be sufficient; but if kept in a cage it must be fed on hemp, pine, and rape seed, and even elderberries.
Breeding.—The time of breeding is very remarkable, being generally in the depth of winter, from December to April. The nest, which is placed at the top of a pine or fir tree, is first formed of very fine small twigs, there is then a layer of coarse moss, but the interior is lined with the finest and softest moss; it is not glued with resin, as some have said. The young crossbills being in Thuringia the object of many ridiculous superstitions, the wood-cutters are always careful of the nests. The number of the eggs varies from three to five, they are of a greyish white, spotted, speckled, and streaked at the large end with red brown. The heating nature of their food enables the young and old birds to bear the severity of the season. The old birds feed their young with the food disgorged from their own stomach, as do all the grosbeaks. This species may be reared in the house on white bread soaked in milk, and mixed with a few poppy-seeds.
Diseases.—The accumulated vapour from a room with a stove has such an effect on the constitution of these birds, that they are almost always ill[30]. Weak eyes, swelled and ulcerated feet, are very common occurrences; hence the mountaineers of Thuringia have taken it into their heads that these poor birds can take upon themselves their diseases and pains: and it is this foolish idea that induces them always to keep one of these birds near them. Their superstitious extravagance carries them so far, that they are persuaded a bird whose upper mandible bends to the right, has the power of assuming to itself the colds and rheumatism from men; but when this mandible turns to the left, the bird renders the same service to the women. These simple and credulous people imagine that nothing is more efficacious against epilepsy, than every day to drink the water which the bird has left, because they see that these unfortunate victims are often attacked with this disease.
Mode of Taking.—With the decoy birds nothing is easier than to take the crossbills in the autumn and spring: one large rod, covered with strong bird-lime, is all that is necessary. It must be put in a glade in the wood which these birds frequent, with the decoy bird by the side; this, by its continual cry, will soon attract them. In Thuringia the people put nooses and spring traps on the top of some of the highest pines, and there hang the cage of the decoy bird; as soon as one crossbill has settled, the others follow; so that as many birds are taken as there are traps set, particularly if the stick of the spring traps be placed so that the bird must perch on it.
Attractive Qualities.—The crossbill is rather a silly bird; in the cage its motions are like those of the parrot; when lively it swings its body like the siskin, and sings a few sharp strains, which are more or less monotonous, according to the different powers of the songsters—for some of the males far surpass the others in this short melody. It is easily tamed, can be carried about anywhere on the finger, and will go and return again without wandering.
THE BULLFINCH.
Loxia pyrrhula, Linnæus; Le Bouvreuil, Buffon; Der Gimpel, Bechstein.
This is one of the indigenous tame birds which is a favourite with the rich and noble. Its body is thick and short. Its whole length is six inches and three quarters, of which the tail measures two and three quarters; the beak is only six lines in length, short, thick, and black; the iris is chestnut-coloured; the shanks eight lines high, and black; the top of the head, the circle of the beak, the chin, and beginning of the throat, are of a beautiful velvet black; the upper part of the neck, the back, and shoulders, deep grey; the rump white; the under part of the neck, the wide breast, and to the centre of the belly, are of a fine vermilion, less bright, however, in the young than old; the blackish pen-feathers become darker towards the body; the secondaries have the outer edge of an iron blue, which in the hinder ones is reddish. The tail is rather forked, and of a brilliant black, tinged with iron blue.
The female is easily distinguished from the male, for what is red on him is reddish grey on her, while her back is of a brownish grey, and her feet are not so black; she is also smaller.
This species has some singular varieties; the principal are:—
1. The White Bullfinch, which is of an ashy white, or wholly white, with dark spots on the back.
2. The Black Bullfinch. These are most generally females, which become black, either with age, when they are only fed on hemp seed, or with having been kept when young in a totally dark place. Some resume at their moulting their natural colours; others remain black; but this black is not the same in all; some are of a brilliant raven black, others dull, and not so dark on the belly; in some the head only is of a raven black, the rest of the body being duller; in others the black is mixed with red spots on the belly, or the latter is entirely red. I have seen one in which the head and breast, as well as the upper and under parts of the body, were of a raven black, every other part of a dull black, with the wings and tail white; it was a very handsome bird, rather larger than a red-breast.
3. The Speckled Bullfinch. It is thus called, for, besides its natural colours, it is spotted with black and white, or white and ash colour.
4. The Mongrel Bullfinch. It is the offspring of a female reared in the house from the nest, and of a male canary. Its shape and colour partake of those of the parent birds; its note is very agreeable, and softer than that of the canary; but it is very scarce. This union rarely succeeds; but when tried, a very ardent and spirited canary should be chosen[31].
5. The other varieties are: the Large Bullfinch, about the size of a thrush, and the Middling, or Common. As to dwarf birds, which are not as large as a chaffinch, it is a bird-catcher’r story, for this difference in size is observed in all kinds of birds. I can affirm it with the more certainty, having had opportunities every year of seeing hundreds of these birds, both wild and tame. I have even in the same nest found some as small as red-breasts, and others as large as a crossbill.
Habitation.—When wild, bullfinches are found over Europe and Russia. They are particularly common in the mountainous forests of Germany. The male and female never separate during the whole year. In winter they wander about everywhere in search of buds.
In the house those which are caught in a snare are often let run about. These birds not being very unruly or very active, a middling-sized cage will do, in which those which have learned songs are kept; but they must be kept in separate rooms, as they will mutually spoil their songs if left together.
Food.—When wild the bullfinch does not often suffer from the failure of its food; for it eats pine and fir seeds, the fruit of the ash and maple, corn, all kinds of berries, the buds of the oak, beech, and pear trees, and even linseed, millet, rape, and nettle seed.
In the house those which run about may be fed on the universal paste, and, for a change, rape seed may be added; those which are taught must be fed only on poppy seed, with a little hemp seed, and now and then a little biscuit without spice. It has been remarked that those which are fed entirely on rape seed soaked in water live much longer, and are more healthy. The hemp seed is too heating, sooner or later blinds them, and always brings on a decline. A little green food, such as lettuce, endive, chickweed, water-cresses, a little apple, particularly the kernels, the berries of the service tree, and the like, is agreeable and salutary to them.
Breeding.—These tenderly affectionate birds can hardly live when separated from one another. They incessantly repeat their call with a languishing note, and continually caress. They can sometimes be made to breed in the house, like the canary, but their eggs are rarely fruitful. In the wild state they breed twice every year, each time laying from three to six eggs, of a bluish white, spotted with violet and brown at the large end. Their nest, which they build in the most retired part of a wood, or in a solitary quickset hedge, is constructed with little skill, of twigs which are covered with moss. The young ones are hatched in fifteen days. Those which are to be taught must be taken from the nest when the feathers of the tail begin to grow; and must be fed only on rape seed soaked in water and mixed with white bread; eggs would kill them or make them blind. Their plumage is then of a dark ash-colour, with the wings and tail blackish brown; the males may be known at first by their reddish breast; so that when these only are wished to be reared they may be chosen in the nest, for the females are not so beautiful, nor so easily taught.
Although they do not warble before they can feed themselves, one need not wait for this to begin their instruction[32], for it will succeed better, if one may say so, when infused with their food; since experience proves that they learn those airs more quickly, and remember them better, which they have been taught just after eating. It has been observed several times, that these birds, like the parrots, are never more attentive than during digestion. Nine months of regular and continued instruction are necessary before the bird acquires what amateurs call firmness, for if one ceases before this time, they spoil the air, by suppressing or displacing the different parts, and they often forget it entirely at their first moulting. In general it is a good thing to separate them from the other birds, even after they are perfect; because, owing to their great quickness in learning, they would spoil the air entirely by introducing wrong passages; they must be helped to continue the song when they stop, and the lesson must always be repeated whilst they are moulting, otherwise they will become mere chatterers, which would be doubly vexatious after having had much trouble in teaching them.
Diseases.—Those bullfinches which are caught in a snare or net are rarely ill, and may be preserved for eight years or more; but those reared from the nest are subject to many diseases, caused by their not having their natural food, or by those injurious delicacies which are always lavished on favourite birds; they rarely live more than six years. The surest means of preserving them healthy for a long time, is to give them neither sweets nor tit-bits of any kind, scrupulously to confine their food to rape seed, adding now and then a very little hemp seed to please them, and a good deal of the green food before mentioned. The bottom of their cages should be covered with river sand, as the bird there finds some stones which aid the functions of the stomach. Their most frequent diseases are moulting, costiveness, diarrhœa, epilepsy, grief, and melancholy, in which case they are quite silent, and remain immoveable, unless the cause can be discovered. They must not be given any delicacy, and must be fed entirely on soaked rape seed. A clove in their water, proper food, and particularly a good deal of refreshing green food, enables them to pass the moulting time in good health.
Mode of Taking.—There are few birds so easily attracted by the decoy bird as bullfinches. They may also be taken by any of the usual means. In winter numbers may be caught by a noose, by hanging to it such berries as the bird likes; in spring and autumn they may be caught in the area or barn floor trap; and provided they see berries there, the decoy bird is not wanted; it is sufficient if one imitates their soft cry of “tui, tui,” in the hut.
Attractive Qualities.—Although the song of the male and female bullfinch, in their wild state, is very harsh and disagreeable, yet if well taught while young, as they are in Hesse and Fulda, where there are schools of these little musicians, for all Germany, Holland, and England, they learn to whistle all kinds of airs and melodies with so soft and flute-like a tone, that they are great favourites with amateurs, and particularly with the ladies. There are some of these little birds which can whistle distinctly three different airs, without spoiling or confusing them in the least. Added to this attraction the bullfinch becomes exceedingly tame, sings whenever it is told to do so, and is susceptible of a most tender and lasting attachment, which it shows by its endearing actions; it balances its body, moves its tail from right to left, and spreads it like a fan. It will even repeat words, with an accent and tone which indicates sensibility, if one could believe that it understood them; but its memory must not be overloaded. A single air, with a prelude or a short flourish to begin with, is as much as the bird can learn and remember, and this it will execute to the greatest perfection. These little prodigies would be more interesting and agreeable, if their Hessian instructors possessed a little musical taste, but these are generally tradespeople, employed about the house with their different occupations and trades; and hymns, airs, and minuets of a hundred years old, public house songs, or some learnt of their apprentices, in general compose the whole of their music.
The bullfinch can also imitate the songs of other birds; but in general it is not permitted to do so, that it may only learn to repeat the airs which are taught it.
Different degrees of capacity are shown here, as well as in other animals. One young bullfinch learns with ease and quickness, another with difficulty and slowly; the former will repeat, without hesitation, several parts of a song; the latter will be hardly able to whistle one, after nine months' uninterrupted teaching. But it has been remarked that those birds which learn with most difficulty remember the songs, which have once been well learnt, better and longer, and rarely forget them, even when moulting. Mr. Thiem[33], bird-seller, at Waltershausen, near Gotha, sends annually to Berlin and London one or two hundred bullfinches, instructed in this manner, at from one to several pounds sterling a-piece, according as they are more or less accomplished, whilst a wild one would cost only two or three pence. These, however, are also kept in the room and prized, both on account of their beauty and the great ease with which they are tamed; they soon learn to fly on the hand, to receive their food, or will even take it from the mouth, and become at last as familiar as if they had been reared from the nest. The following are the means which are employed to tame them:—As soon as a bullfinch is caught and brought into the room, it must be put into a cage with food sufficient for the first day only; for the loss of its liberty does not prevent its eating as soon as it is disengaged from the lime twigs or noose. The next day a band must be put round the body and wings, like that which bird-catchers put round a decoy bird, which they let run about out of doors; by means of this band the bullfinch may be fastened by a piece of packthread, a foot in length, to some place from which it cannot fall; this will prevent its beating itself to death with its wings; a little bell may be fastened to a box, which when filled with food must be given to the bird, at the same time ringing the bell; it must be then left that it may eat; this must be repeated several times in the day; the same must be done when it is given anything to drink. The poor little captive will not at first either eat or drink in any one’s presence; it is therefore necessary to retire for the two first days after having given it the box, and only approach it by degrees, till it is accustomed to eat in the presence of its master, which it will soon be, for generally on the third day, as soon as it hears the bell and sees the box, it hops forward, and eats without the least shyness. Then the distance must be increased by degrees to make it come farther and farther, when, as soon as it has eaten, it may be taken on the hand and carried here and there, though it may seem a little frightened, but not being able to escape it will soon become used to this treatment, and will even begin to come to eat on the hand by continuing to do this for the third and fourth days; it will fly of itself at the sound of the bell to the hand which holds the box; after this the fastening may be loosened, and if one only move from the bird gradually, it will fearlessly approach and perch on the hand. Should it escape, however, it must be again confined and left without food for some hours. By this means a wild bullfinch will in eight days become accustomed to fly immediately to the hand, or wherever it hears the bell; in order to finish its education, it is well to increase the difficulty of getting at its food, by putting it in a small bag with a very little opening; it must also only have rape seed in the cage, keeping the hemp seed, which it likes best, for the hand or little bag. It may be taught to drink out of one’s mouth by keeping it without water for five or six hours. It may even be accustomed to go and return, provided the house is not too near a wood. The surest means of preventing too long an absence is to put a female bullfinch in a cage in the window, or to leave her in the room with her wing clipped; its affection will soon bring it back to her, and it will certainly never abandon her altogether.
Tame bullfinches have been known (says Buffon) to escape from the aviary, and live at liberty in the woods for a whole year, and then to recollect the voice of the person who had reared them, return to her, never more to leave her. Others have been known, which when forced to leave their first master, have died of grief. These birds remember very well, and often too well, any one who has injured them. One of them having been thrown down, with its cage, by some of the lowest order of people, did not seem at first much disturbed by it, but afterwards it would fall into convulsions as soon as it saw any shabbily dressed person, and it died in one of these fits eight months after the first accident.
A bullfinch, belonging to a lady often mentioned before, being subject to very frightful dreams, which made it fall from its perch, and beat itself in the cage, no sooner heard the affectionate voice of its mistress than, notwithstanding the darkness of the night, it became immediately tranquil, and re-ascended its perch to sleep again. It was very fond of chickweed, and as soon as it perceived one bringing it to him, however much care was taken to prevent its finding it easily, it would show its joy by its actions and cries.
THE GREEN BIRD.
Loxia chloris, Linnæus; Le Verdier, Buffon; Der Grünling, Bechstein.
This bird is rather larger than the chaffinch, being six inches in length, of which the tail measures two and a half; the beak five lines in length. The iris is dark brown; the shanks are eight inches in height, and of a bluish flesh colour. The prevailing colour of the plumage is yellowish green, lighter on the lower part of the body, still more so on the rump and breast, and shading to white on the belly.
The female, which is smaller, is still more distinguished by the greenish brown of the upper part, and the ash-colour rather than yellowish green of the lower part of the body; she has besides some yellow spots on the breast, and the whole belly is rather white than yellow.
Sportsmen and bird-catchers mention three kinds of green birds, namely, the large, which is everywhere of a beautiful yellow; the middle sized, the under part of the body of which is light yellow; and the little, which they say is rather greenish than yellow; but all this variety depends upon the different ages of the bird, as well as its strength, and more or less beautiful tints of its plumage. What much more deserves to be remarked is the mule, which is the offspring of a green bird, and a female canary; it has a strong body; its colours are green and grey, mixed with yellow, when the female canary is yellow; but it is always a bad singer.
Habitation.—When wild, the green bird may be found over all Europe, though not often far north. It may be seen during summer, in hedges, and on the borders of woods, and always where there are several trees near together; during winter it wanders into different provinces, in large and numerous flocks; but in March it begins to return from these journeys.
In the house it may either be let range free, or be shut up in an aviary with other birds, where it is always very peaceable as long as it has sufficient food; but when that fails, it perches itself on the general food-drawer, and keeps it determinedly, pecking it with its beak so cleverly that no other bird can approach: should one venture, it is soon obliged to go away or lose its feathers; otherwise this bird is as quiet and tame in the house as it is wild and active when at liberty.
Food.—In its wild state it seems to like all kinds of seed, even that of the milk thistle, which all other birds dislike.
In the house, when it ranges at will, the second universal paste so well agrees with it that it becomes quite fat; however, as a variety, rape and hemp seed may be thrown to it; if in a cage it must only be fed in summer with rape seed, except a little hemp seed, which may be given after moulting, to make it sing. Lettuce, chickweed and other green food, always agree with it, and even the berries of the juniper tree.
Breeding.—Its nest, which is almost always placed in a hedge, on a large branch near the trunk of a tree, or on the top of an old willow-tree, is firmly built with wool, moss, and lichen, and lined with very fine roots and bristles. The female lays, twice a year, four or five pointed eggs, of a silver hue, spotted with light violet or brown. The young are at first of a greenish grey; some yellow tints, however, may already be seen in the male. When reared from the nest, it learns, though with difficulty, to imitate the different songs of house-birds; and, as it almost always happens with slow memories, having once learnt a thing it never forgets it. It also sings through the whole year; it should therefore be taught by a bird whose song is agreeable, for instance, a chaffinch, and then one would have the pleasure of hearing it without interruption through all the seasons.
Diseases.—The constitution of the green bird being very strong and healthy, it is rarely subject to disease. It may be kept in good health for twelve years.
Mode of Taking.—If the decoy bird be a good one, the green bird may be easily caught in the area or barn-floor trap, even in December. In the spring it may be taken with bird-lime on the lure-bush, when a linnet will do for the songstress. In order to make it eat soon, a little crushed hemp seed should be thrown in the bottom of its cage.
Attractive Qualities.—Without being handsome its song is not disagreeable; it may also be taught to repeat words; but its greatest merit is the wonderful ease with which it is tamed, equalling, and even surpassing the bullfinch in this particular. It may not only be accustomed to go and return again, but also to build in a room near an orchard, or in a summer-house in the garden. The following are the means which must be taken to make it do this:—
After having taken the young from the nest they must be put in a cage, and placed at the foot of the tree in which this nest is built, in a place dug for the purpose, and on the cage a tit as a decoy. When left there, the old birds come to feed their young, and are caught in the snare. As soon as they are taken, they must all be brought into the house, where the old and young must be put together in any aviary, or large cage, till the latter can fly; the window may then be opened for them to go out, but hunger will soon bring them back. As soon as they have exercised their wings, the old birds should be placed on the table in the window to call them back. In time, they become so familiar that they will accompany one in a walk, and there is no fear of their flying away. If they are not taken thus, it is necessary to wait for winter and snow to let them go out, and if they profit by the permission, to call them back by some of their species placed in a cage in the window. If you wish to be quite sure of success, you have only to put a board in the window, on which two females with their wings cut, can run about, go out, and return.
The green bird likes to build near canaries, and as these are good nurses, they are given the eggs of the green bird, which, like the goldfinches and siskins, learns to draw up its water and food.
THE PINE GROSBEAK.
Loxia Enuclator, Linnæus; Le Durbec, Buffon; Der Fichtenkernbeisser, Bechstein.
This is one of the largest species of grosbeak that we have, equalling the Bohemian chatterer in size. Its length is eight inches and a half, of which the tail measures three; the beak is short and thick, measuring only six lines; its colour is brown, the iris dark brown; the feet are from twelve to thirteen lines high, and blackish; the head, neck, breast and rump are of a light vermilion, with bluish tints; the feathers on the back and the lesser wing coverts are black, with reddish edges.
The female is generally of a greyish green, with some scattered reddish and yellowish tints, principally on the top of the head. It is not yet well known if this bird has the same changes of colour as the crossbill, since more yellow ones have been found than red. Experience shows that the same things take place in the house as out of doors. They acquire the yellow red, not only after the first moulting, but even before it. This change begins first round the beak, descends afterwards to the back and breast, and at last gradually extends over the whole body, so that what was red before becomes yellow; this yellow is darker than citron; all the red and yellow feathers are ash-colour at the base. The young are brownish, with a slight shade of yellow. During the first year the colour of the males is light red; it is only after this that they become darker vermilion or crimson; these birds are caught in autumn and winter, either in the noose or net, with elder or service berries as a lure.
Observations.—This bird is found in all the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and America, and in Europe rarely passes the fifty-third degree of latitude. It frequents the pine and fir forests, the seeds of which form its food; in winter it quits these places in search of berries; this is what ranks it among the erratic birds. They are so stupid, that in the north they are easily caught with a circle of brass wire fixed to the end of a long pole, to which are fastened some horse-hair rings, which are simply passed over the head of the bird. They are often caught and kept in cages, as they are liked, both on account of the ease with which they are tamed, and of their song, which is very agreeable; they will even sometimes sing in the night, and always preserve their song through the whole year, while the wild only sing in the spring.
HAWFINCH.
Loxia coccothraustes, Linnæus; Le Grosbec, Buffon; Der gemeine Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
One must be a very great bird fancier to wish to have this bird in the house. Its length is seven inches, of which the tail measures two inches and a third. The beak, which is very thick in proportion to the rest of the body, is like a large blunt cone, dark blue in summer, and flesh-coloured, with the tip black, in winter; the slim feet are nine lines in height, and of a pale crimson; the yellowish brown of the forehead unites with the light chestnut on the top of the head and cheeks; the circle of the head is black, and forms, under the chin, a large square spot; the nape of the neck and upper part of the back are of a fine ash-grey, the lower part is of a dark brown, with some shades of grey on the rump.
BREEDING CAGE.
In the females, the cheeks, head, and upper tail coverts are of a greyish chestnut colour; the throat, wings, and tail rather brown than black, the spot on the wings greyish, the under part of the body reddish grey, shading to white on the belly.
Habitation.—When wild, it may be found in all the temperate parts of Europe and Russia. It is very common among the mountainous countries of Germany, where the beech prevails in the forests. It is rather an erratic bird than a bird of passage, and its excursions are ended in March. Sonnini says, however, that he has seen it during winter, in Egypt, with the blackbirds and thrushes, and its excursions are ended in March.
In the house it is generally kept in a large wire cage, where it is soon tamed. It may also be let run about, provided it has not too many companions, and that it has food in abundance, for it is a very quarrelsome bird.
Food.—In its wild state it eats many different things; the fruit of the beech, elm, ash, and maple; the berries of the juniper, service-tree, and white-thorn; cherries and plums, the stones of which it breaks with the greatest ease, to eat the kernel; hemp seed, cabbage, radish, and lettuce seed also form a part of its food.
In the house, if confined in the cage, it is contented with rape and hemp-seed; and if it run about, with the second universal paste.
Breeding.—Its nest is well built; the eggs, from three to five in number, are greenish grey, spotted with brown, and streaked with blackish blue. The young, when reared from the nest, will become so tame as to eat from the hand, and will courageously defend itself with its beak against the dogs and cats; it may also be accustomed to go and come.
Mode of Taking.—The haste with which these birds come on hearing the call, makes it very easy to catch them in the net, by throwing berries or hemp seed on the trap. In autumn and winter they may be taken by the noose, with service-berries; in spring they may be caught by placing lime twigs on the nest. The loss of their liberty does not prevent their eating immediately rape or hemp seed.
Attractive Qualities.—I confess that it has very few; its song is less agreeable than any of the others', it is a kind of low whistling, mixed with some harsh tones; but its great tameness may please; it is necessary, however, to guard one’s self from its beak.
THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK, OR VIRGINIAN NIGHTINGALE.
Loxia cardinalis, Linnæus; Cardinal huppé, ou Rossignol de Virginie, Buffon; Der Cardinal Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
The length of this bird is eight inches, of which the tail measures three. Its beak is strong and light red, like its feet; the iris is dark brown; the head is ornamented with a tuft, which, when raised, is pointed; the throat and the part round the beak are black; the rest of the body is of a beautiful bright red; the pen and tail-feathers are less brilliant, and brown on the anterior part.
The female is in general of a reddish brown.
Observations.—The beautiful song of this grosbeak is so like that of the nightingale, that this name has been given it; but its voice is so strong that it pierces the ears. It sings through the whole year, except during the time of moulting.
In its wild state, its principal food is the seed of the Indian corn and buck-wheat; it collects a considerable quantity of this food, which it skilfully covers with leaves and twigs, only leaving a very small hole, as the entrance to this magazine. In the cage it is fed with millet, rape seed, hemp seed, and the like, which agree with it very well.
Some persons have endeavoured to make it breed in large aviaries in the middle of gardens, but I do not know that it has ever succeeded. In Germany it is very dear, being as much as six or eight pounds sterling for a pair.
THE JAVA SPARROW, OR RICE BIRD.
Loxia orycivora, Linnæus; Le Padda, ou Oiseau de Riz, Buffon; Der Reiskernbeisser, Bechstein.
This bird is about the size of a bullfinch, and five inches in length, of which the tail measures two. The beak is thick, and of a fine rose colour; the feet are paler; the eyelids naked, and edged with rose colour; the head, throat, and streak which surrounds the cheeks, are black; the cheeks are white; the rump, tail, and greater pen-feathers are black, but all the rest of the upper part of the body, the wing-coverts, hinder pen-feathers, and breast, are of a dark grey; the belly purple grey; the lower tail-coverts white. “The whole plumage,” says Buffon, “is so well arranged, that no one feather passes another, and they all appear downy, or rather covered with that kind of bloom which you see on plums; this gives them a very beautiful tint.”
In the female the colours are rather lighter on the back and belly: the young are not only paler, but also irregularly spotted with dark brown on the cheeks and lower part of the belly.
Observations.—There are few vessels coming from Java and the Cape of Good Hope that do not bring numbers of these birds, which have as bad a character in those countries, and particularly in China, their native place, as the sparrows have amongst us, on account of the ravages they make in the rice fields. They have nothing attractive but their beauty, for their song is short and monotonous. They cost four or five pounds sterling a pair in Germany.
THE WAXBILL.
Loxia Astrild, Linnæus; Le Sénégali rayé, Buffon; Der Gemeine Senegalist, Bechstein.
This bird is hardly larger than a golden-crested wren, its length being four inches and a half, of which the tail measures two inches; the beak is rather rough at the base, and of a dark red; the band which crosses the eyes, the centre of the breast and belly, are red; the upper part of the body is brown, and the lower reddish grey, the whole streaked with transverse blackish lines, which become finer as they approach the head; the quill-feathers are brown, as well as the tail, which is wedge-shaped, and streaked with darker transverse lines; the feet are brown. These birds change colour like the amandava finch; thus some are found with the tail entirely brown, others which have the rump crimson, and the rest of the body brown above and white below, and some have the belly yellow, and the back spotted with white; there are some, indeed, which have the neck and throat bluish, the under part of the body white, mixed with iron colour, and the upper part blue.
Observations.—They inhabit the Canary Islands, Senegal, Angola, the Cape of Good Hope, and may even be found as far as India, whence they are brought to Europe. Their beautiful shape, their amiable disposition, and the affection which they show to every one indiscriminately, render them such favourites, that a dozen may be often seen in one cage. Their song is scarcely any thing. They are fed on millet, which also forms their food in their native country, to the damage of the fields which are sown with it. They approach villages like our sparrows; they are caught in traps made of the shell of a gourd, and cut like a bowl, on which some millet is scattered.
THE AMANDAVA.
Fringilla amandava, Linnæus; Le Bengali Piqueté, Buffon; Der Getiegerte Bengalist, Bechstein.
This beautiful little bird, which is brought to Europe in great numbers from Bengal, Java, Malacca, and other tropical countries of Asia, is only four inches long, of which the tail measures one and a third. Most ornithologists class it with the sparrows, but it seems to me that it belongs rather to the grosbeaks. Its beak is short and thick, being only four lines in length, and the diameter at the base measuring three. Its colour is deep bright red; the iris is also red; the feet are six lines in height, and of a pale flesh-colour; in the male the head and under part of the body are of a fiery red, the upper part of a dark grey, but the feathers have a broad red edge, so that this colour seems to prevail; thus the edge of the feathers on the rump make it appear of a brilliant orange, though, like the belly, it is properly black; the feathers of the back, tail, sides of the breast and belly, the wing-coverts, hinder quill-feathers, and both tail-coverts, are terminated at the tip with shining white spots, which are largest on the hinder quill-feathers, and larger wing-coverts, the colour of which is otherwise black.
The female is one third smaller than the male; part of the upper mandible is black; the head and upper part of the body, including the wing-coverts, are of a dark ash-colour; the feathers on the rump have only an orange edge, with a light tip; the cheeks are of a light grey; the under part of the body is pale sulphur, the pen-feathers blackish; the greater and lesser wing-coverts are finely speckled with white; the tips of the tail-feathers are greyish white.
The male varies in its colours for several years before it permanently acquires those above described: it may be seen with the back grey, slightly tinted with red, the belly black, speckled with yellow; others with the back reddish grey, spotted with bright red, and the belly of a sulphur yellow, with black rings, and more or less speckled, &c.
Observations.—These birds are as sociable as the waxbills; if there should be twenty or thirty in the same cage, they perch close against one another on the same perch; and, what is more singular, they never sing together, but one after another, the rest keeping quite silent to listen to the songster. Their song resembles that of the hay bird, and continues through the winter. The females do not sing; those are wrong who think the contrary. They are very active, often bowing and spreading their tail like a fan. In their native country their food consists of different seeds, particularly millet; this is also given it in the cage, as well as canary seed. They eat and drink a great deal. They will live from six to ten years.
THE PARADISE GROSBEAK.
Loxia erythrocephala, Linnæus; Le Cardinal d’dngola, Buffon; Der Paridiese-Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This species is about six inches long; the beak and feet are flesh-coloured, the head and chin red; the upper part of the neck, the back, rump, and wing-coverts, bluish grey; the upper tail-coverts are edged with grey; the under part of the body white, with dark brown spots on the sides; the wing-coverts white at the tip, which forms two transverse streaks on the wings; the pen and tail-feathers are of a dark grey, with lighter tips. The female does not differ from the male.
Observations.—The male sings through the whole year, but its voice is so weak that the least noise overpowers it. In England this species has been made to breed in an aviary. Its food is millet and rape seed, and sometimes a little hemp seed.
THE REDBILL.
Loxia sanguinirostris, Linnæus; Le Becsanguin, Buffon; Der Rothschäbliger Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This pretty little bird is three inches and a half long, of which the tail measures one inch, and the beak four lines. The feet are nine lines in height, the middle claw measures five lines and the side ones four. The beak is strong, rather naked at the forehead, and of a dark blood red; the feet are of a very red colour, the claws black; the eyelids red, and irides orange; the circle of the beak, including the forehead, eyes, and chin, is black; the top of the head rust-colour, more or less approaching to red, scattered with blackish spots, formed by the black of the feathers; the under part of the body of a brownish red, clouded with white, and lighter on the sides and the lower part of the belly, the whole spotted with black in the young birds, but with no spots in the old ones.
The female is altogether lighter, and has no black on the head, but two dark grey streaks above and under the eyes; the under part of the body is only reddish grey.
Observations.—This species is found on the coasts of Africa, in Bengal, and other parts of Asia. It is a very agreeable bird, and though its voice is weak its song is only the more melodious. A male and female put together in a cage seem to be taken up with their mutual affection, always feeding and caressing each other. They are fed on crushed canary and hemp seed, which preserves them in good health for several years. The room in which they are kept must be heated during winter.
THE DOMINICAN.
Loxia Dominicana, Linnæus; Le Paroare, Buffon; Der Dominicaner Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This bird is about the size of a lark. The upper part of the beak is brown, and the lower light flesh-colour; the feet are grey; the front of the head, the throat, and part of the neck red; the back of the head is blackish, with a slight mixture of white.
Observations.—This bird comes from Brazil, and possesses nothing attractive but its beauty. Its song is merely an occasional call. In Germany it costs three pounds sterling.
THE GRENADIER.
Loxia orix, Linnæus; Le Cardinal du Cap de Bonne Espérance, Buffon; Der Grenadier Kernbeisser, oder Feuervogel, Bechstein.
This bird is about the size of a sparrow. The beak is black; iris chestnut; feet dark flesh-colour; forehead, sides of the head, chin, lower part of the breast and belly blackish; the throat, top of the head and breast, rump, vent, and tail are of a fiery red, or brilliant carmine, and soft, like velvet.
Varieties.—1. A black spot on the chin; thighs red.
2. Tail dark brown, with a greyish white border.
In the female the beak is raven black, the upper part of the body dark brown, with light grey edges to the feathers; the head dark grey, with a whitish streak which passes above the eyes; the under part of the body light grey. From this it seems to be very like the house sparrow; its plumage is, however, altogether lighter.
The male takes these colours, in the house, at the second moulting, but the streaks are darker, the feathers of the upper part of the body being blackish, with broad borders of reddish grey; the streak above the eyes is of a pale sulphur. When wild, the males, immediately after pairing, which is in January, lose their red feathers, and become like the females, but have them again in July, about the time of the second breeding season. They are pretty whilst moulting, when the head and body are speckled, the tail and neck still remaining red.
Observations.—These birds, which are very numerous in all the colonies at the Cape of Good Hope, do as much mischief there to the flowers and ears of corn, as the sparrows do in Europe. When retiring by thousands in the evening, from the fields to the reeds, they make such a noise with their chirping as may be heard to a great distance. Their call is like the sparrows’ “dib, dib,” and their song as weak as that of the siskin; the nest is skilfully constructed with small twigs interwoven with cotton, and has but one opening, with two compartments, one above the other, the upper for the male and the lower for the female; the eggs are green.
These birds, when kept in a cage, are fed on canary seed. The male and female never like to be separated; there is no instance, however, of their breeding in these climates.
THE CAPE FINCH.
Loxia Capensis, Linnæus; Le Pinson noir et jaune, Buffon; Der Capsche Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
I have one of these birds, which is about the size of a bullfinch: its length is six inches and a quarter, of which the tail, which is rather wedge-shaped, measures two and a half. The beak is whitish above, very much compressed on the sides, and very pointed; the iris dark brown; feet dark flesh-colour. The head, neck, top of the back, all the under part of the body, and the tail are of a fine velvet black.
The female, which is light brown, has a black spot in the centre of each feather; the sides of the head and greater wing-coverts are grey white, streaked with black; the lesser coverts and the rump of a light yellow; the tail-feathers edged with grey; the beak pale or raven grey.
The plumage of the male after pairing is like that of the female.
Observations.—This bird, which comes from the Cape of Good Hope lives very well in the house; it is kept in a cage, alone or with the female, and fed with hemp and canary seed. In its native country it frequents the edges of streams and rivers, feeds on seeds, but is not so mischievous as the preceding. The eggs are grey, spotted with black. It is said to be nice to eat.
THE CAFFRARIAN FINCH.
Loxia Caffra, Linnæus; Le Caffre, Buffon; Der Mohren Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This bird is very little larger than the bullfinch, but its long and raised tail is about twice the length of its body: it is only ornamented with it during the pairing season. The beak is brown grey; the feet grey; the prevailing colour of the plumage is velvet black; the shoulders are red; the coverts white; the pen-feathers brown grey, with a white border.
The female is always grey, and has only a little red on the shoulders. The male acquires its beautiful black plumage at the beginning of November, and loses it in January, to assume the colours of the female.
Observations.—This species, which is found in the interior of the country north of the Cape, lives and builds in marshes: it is rarely brought to Europe. The long tail of the male requires a large cage in order to preserve its beauty. In its wild state this length of tail is very inconvenient during the high winds; and during the rainy season it may be caught by the hand. It is fed with canary seed.
THE BLUE FINCH.
Loxia cœrulea, Linnæus; Le Bouvreuil bleu d’dmérique, Buffon; Der dunkelblaue Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This bird is the size of the common grosbeak, about six inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures two. The beak, which measures six lines, is strong, and of a dark brown; the feet black; a black streak surrounds the chin, and extends to the eyes: the whole plumage is blue, except the greater wing coverts, the pen-feathers, and the central tail feathers, which are dark brown.
The female is entirely brown, with a slight mixture of blue.
Observations.—I have had an opportunity of observing this bird among the collection belonging to his Royal Highness the Duke of Saxe Meiningen, where it is fed on canary seed. It calls little, and its song is weak, but its plumage is beautiful. It is found in several parts of America, in Brazil, Cayenne, and even in Carolina.
YELLOW-BELLIED GROSBEAK.
Loxia flaviventris, Linnæus; Le Grosbec jaune du Cap de Bonne Espérance, Brisson; Der gelbafterige Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
I am not sure that this bird, which I have also seen amongst those of his Royal Highness the Duke of Saxe Meiningen, is the true Loxia flaviventris of Linnæus. It is of the size of the common chaffinch, and five inches long. The beak, which is moderately strong, very much resembles that of the chaffinch, and is of a horn brown. The feet are a dull brown. The head and neck are of a dull pale blue; the upper part of the body olive, the whole of the under part is a fine bright orange.
The Yellow Grosbeak of the Cape of Good Hope is thus described:—the head, upper part of the neck, and back are olive, with stripes of brown; the rump olive. The under part of the body deep yellow; on each side of the head is a yellow band which passes above the eyes; the wings and tail feathers are brown, edged with olive.
The female only differs in the colours being less vivid.
Variety.—The top of the head, the upper part of the body, and the breast are olive; the back of the neck, even to the throat, is ash-coloured; the belly yellow, but between the legs white. The wings are black, bordered with orange; the tail feathers dark green, but they are bordered with yellow, and are black up the middle.
Observations.—This bird has been sold as the female of the preceding, and placed in the same cage. It lived very sociably; but I should suspect it rather of being the female of that under notice. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope.
THE GOWRY BIRD.
Loxia punctularia, Linnæus; Le Grosbec tacheté de Java, Buffon; Der getüpfelte Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This bird is the size of a linnet, about four inches and a quarter in length. The beak and feet black; the whole of the upper part of the body, and the lower, as far as the breast, chestnut brown; the cheeks marked with a reddish purple tinge; the belly and sides white, but all the feathers bordered with black in the form of a heart.
The female has no red tinge on the cheeks, the beak and feet are deep brown; the sides white, tinged with deep brown: the back reddish brown.
Observations.—This species, which I have seen in the collection of His Royal Highness the Duke of Saxe Meiningen, comes from Java; it is kept in a cage and fed on canary seed. Its call is “deguay,” its feeble song somewhat resembles the siskin’n.
THE BANDED FINCH.
Loxia fasciata, Linnæus; La Collerette Buffon; Der gebänderte Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This bird is the size of the preceding, about four inches and a half in length. The beak is bluish grey. The feet short and flesh-coloured; the upper part of the body dark reddish ash grey, each feather having two black transverse bands, only one of which is visible; the cheeks and lower mandible are surrounded by a band of dark reddish purple.
The female has not this collar, and its plumage is paler; the under part of its body is red brown, each feather edged with a deeper shade.
Varieties.—The one I have actually before me, and which I received from Mr. Thiem, bird-dealer at Waltershausen, is a fine male, whose plumage is as follows:—
The head is dull orange, with black stripes very near together; the upper part of the neck, the back and rump, are the same shade of orange, but each feather is intersected by a semicircular black line, and terminated by a spot of red brown; the scapular wing coverts and last pen-feathers are dark grey, with transverse angular black bands, and bordered at the tips with red brown.
2. This variety is thus described in Latham’s Synopsis of Birds.
The top of the head, upper part of the neck, and lesser wing coverts, light brown, with semicircular black lines; the cheeks plain brown, but edged at the lower part with bright crimson, below which is a black line; the breast and belly light brown, occasionally marked with semicircular lines; the pen-feathers and tail are brown.
Observations.—Bird-fanciers give to these the name of Indian sparrows, though they come from Africa; their cry is similar to that of the common sparrow, and their song not very different. They are fed on canary seeds.
THE BROWN-CHEEKED FINCH.
Loxia canora, Linnæus; Der braunwangige Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This bird is the size of the siskin, and four inches in length. The beak short, strong, and horn brown. The feet flesh-colour. The cheeks brown, adorned with a yellow border from the throat to the back of the ear. The female has no yellow border to the cheeks.
Observations.—This pretty species comes from Mexico; its song is soft and clear; its actions are as lively as they are amusing. It is kept in a cage, and fed on canary seed and millet.
THE MALACCA FINCH.
Loxia Malacca, Linnæus; Le Jacobin, Buffon; Der Malackische Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This bird is the size of the greenfinch, and four inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures one and a half. The beak thick, five lines in length, and bluish grey; the feet the same colour. The head, neck, a stripe, which extends up the belly to the vent, and the thighs, are black; the back, wings and tail, pale chestnut.
The following is mentioned as a variety.
The Chinese Grosbeak (Brisson’s Ornithology, III., page 235, No. 7), with the head, throat, and front of the neck black, the upper part of the body red brown or chestnut, the wings and tail similar to the one above.
I have seen this bird in a room several times, and have always regarded it as a male, on account of its song, and because, after moulting, its plumage returned unaltered, not becoming either white on the breast or black at the vent.
Edwards, who has represented it in his 355th plate, has added a female, which he kept in the same cage, and which was improved by its companion. The upper part of its body was grey brown, the sides of the head and under part of the body pinkish, or rather blush colour, the wing and tail feathers blackish, the feet flesh-colour.
The blackness of the wings and tail makes me suspect that this female belongs to another species; its attachment and familiarity prove nothing. We know, in fact, that nearly all granivorous birds hold communion together, and mutually caress each other with the bill.
Observations.—The Malacca Finch comes from the East Indies: it is very gentle, confiding, and lively. Its voice is strong; its cry, “tziapp,” pronounced in a loud clear tone. Though its song is somewhat nasal and rather noisy, it is not disagreeable.
Its food, when in confinement, is hemp and canary seed, which I have known preserve it for a long time in good health.
THE SNOW BUNTING.
Emberiza nivalis, Linnæus; L’Lrtolan de neige, Buffon; Der Schneeamer, Bechstein.
Naturalists say that the plumage of this bird differs considerably in summer and winter; though, from analogy with others of its species, I am authorized in suspecting that this change arises rather from age. I shall leave the question undecided; and since we can never see this bird when it has retired in summer within the arctic circle, its native home, I shall content myself with describing its winter colours, such as we may see them in a room.
It is the size of a lark, six inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures two and two-thirds. The beak is five or six lines in length, with every characteristic of the bunting species, conical in form, rather bent at the sides, and having a bony tubercle like a grain of barley at the palate; its colour in the singing season is quite black, at other times the point alone is black, the rest yellow. The back and rump are black, the feathers of the back being edged with white, whilst those of the rump and scapulars are edged with yellowish brown, darker in spring than summer.
The female is rather smaller, the head and upper part of the neck white, with a mixture of cinnamon-brown, and transverse spots of the same colour form a kind of broken band across the white breast.
The young ones which are taken in winter are known by their dark brown beak; the lower part of the back is of the same colour, but their feathers are edged with a light grey. The male has the head most speckled with yellow brown, the cheeks of the female are of the same tint, and it has spots of this on the breast.
Observations.—When the winter is severe, these birds are seen from December to May in many parts of Germany, where they even approach the villages. I am persuaded that, if attention were paid to them, they might be seen in every direction, during March, on their passage to the North; whilst snow is on the ground they are found in company with larks, on the high roads and in the fields; they may then be taken with horse dung, placed in net, or covered with bird-lime, or by clearing a spot of ground of snow and strewing it with oats. I have had a pair six years in my room without a cage, and they are satisfied with the food common for other birds: if kept in a cage, they must be fed on hemp seed, oats, millet, rape, and poppy seeds. They appear much delighted whilst bathing; during the night they seem very uneasy, hopping and running about continually. Their strong and piercing cry resembles a loud whistle; their song would be rather agreeable were it not interrupted in a peculiar manner; it is a warbling mingled with some high noisy notes, descending slowly from shrill to deep, and a little strong and broken whistling. Heat is so contrary to their nature, that they cannot be preserved unless carefully guarded from it.
THE MOUNTAIN BUNTING.
Emberiza montana, Linnæus; L’Lrtolan de Montagne, Buffon; Der Bergammer, Bechstein.
This bird is smaller than the snow bunting, has a short, strong yellow beak, with a black point; the head is nearly flat, the frontal band light chestnut; the upper part of the neck and back grey, with black streaks, most numerous on the back, causing a resemblance to the female yellowhammer; feet black.
The breast of the female is of a deeper colour than the male’e.
Observations.—This species, inhabiting the cold regions of Europe, is never found in great numbers. In Thuringia, and some other provinces of Germany, they are seen generally every year, in March, the time of passage, settling in pairs along the high roads, searching for a few undigested grains in the dung of animals. Their song is shrill, tolerably pleasing, and interrupted like the yellowhammer’r. They may be easily kept in the house, either caged or not, feeding them on oats, bread, hemp, and other seeds. These birds also appear uneasy during the night, especially in the pairing season, uttering their call amidst the darkness. Some are occasionally met with of a dull orange on the upper part of the body, streaked with yellow on the head, and deep orange on the back. These are young birds. This species is caught in the same manner as the snow bunting.
THE YELLOWHAMMER.
Emberiza citrinella, Linnæus; Le Bruant, Buffon; Der Goldammer, Bechstein.
However well known this bird may be, it is still necessary that it should be described minutely, as the young males and old females are often confounded with one another. It is six inches and a half in length, of which the forked tail measures three. The beak, five lines long, is dark brown in summer, and ash grey in winter; the feet are of a light brown. The head of the old males is of a fine yellow, generally having some streaks of dark olive scattered over the top and on the cheeks; it is only in very old birds that the head and neck are of a golden yellow, without any mixture; the upper part of the neck is olive; the back black, mingled with reddish grey; the feathers have black up the middle, and the edges reddish grey; the rump is of a deep red; the throat, with the under part of the neck and the belly, are yellow, more or less golden; the breast, especially its sides, as well as the small coverts of the tail, is streaked with yellow and red.
YELLOWHAMMER.
The female is rather smaller than the male; the yellow of the head, neck, and throat, is scarcely seen through the spots scattered over it, which are brown on the head and cheeks, and olive-coloured on the neck; the breast is only speckled with rust red, and the wing coverts with reddish white, so that at a distance it appears rather brown than yellow.
Young male birds, in spring, scarcely differ from old females, except that a spot of yellow may even then be seen on the top of the head, as well as a streak of the same colour above the eyes and on the throat; in fact, the breast and rump are rather of a deep reddish brown than rust red, and also without spots.
Habitation.—In its wild state the yellowhammer is found in all parts of Europe, and the north of Asia. It remains in summer about the skirts of forests and small woods. It overruns the fields in autumn, and in the winter approaches our buildings, particularly barns and stables.
When confined it is generally allowed to run about the room, but where it is rare, and therefore most valued, it is kept in a cage.
Food.—When wild these birds live on insects, particularly caterpillars, on which, like all the other species of this genus, they feed their young. In autumn and winter, they have recourse to all kinds of grain; but they prefer oats, which, with barley, wheat, and millet, they know how to get at very cleverly, notwithstanding the bony tubercle at their palate. They also feed upon rape, and other small seeds, when they can get them.
In the house, to preserve them in health, their food should be properly varied, giving them in turn oats, the crumb of white bread, meat, bruised hemp seed, poppy and rape seed. When running about, the second universal paste agrees very well with them. It is no doubt to assist their digestion, that they often swallow fresh black earth, as I have always seen those do that I have kept; this must not be forgotten to be given them, nor water for them to bathe in, which they enjoy very much.
Breeding.—This species breeds twice in the year, the first time in the end of March, or the beginning of April. The nest, which is placed in a hedge, bush, tuft of grass, or even in moss on the ground, is formed on the outside of straws, interwoven and lined within with the hair of horses and other animals. It contains from three to five eggs, of a dirty white, with zig-zag lines and spots of brown. When reared from the nest the young ones may be taught to imitate the song of the chaffinch, and a few notes of other birds.
Diseases.—The disease most common to this bird is decline. The time of moulting is very dangerous to them, as they suffer much, and sometimes die; to render this period less dangerous, they should have fresh ants’ eggs as soon as it commences, a remedy most useful to this species, to chaffinches, and to sparrows.
Mode of Taking.—The yellowhammer is easily taken in winter, near our dwellings, either in a net, with a stalk of oats as a bait, or under a basket or sieve, which may be thrown down, by drawing away the small stick that supports it, by means of a string. They will also enter the area or barn-floor trap, if a perching bird is fastened there, by a string attached to the leather band round its body; in spring they may be caught like other birds, by means of a bird-call.
Attractive Qualities.—The first of these is certainly the beauty of the bird, but the fine yellow which sets it off fades gradually when kept in the house, where it will live five or six years; the second is its song, which, without being very distinguished, is rather pleasing; its call, though not strong, is heard to some distance; but this bird, so gay, so spruce, so active when free, becomes dull, idle, and awkward in a cage.
THE CORN BUNTING.
Emberiza miliaria, Linnæus; Le Proyer, Buffon; Der Gerstenammer, Bechstein.
This species, found throughout Europe and the north of Asia, has not so good a title to be admitted into the house as the preceding, not being distinguished either for its song or the beauty of its colours. With a plumage very similar to that of the sky-lark, it surpasses it in size, being seven inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures three. The beak, measuring six lines, is strong, yellowish on the under part in summer; the rest of the year the whole of it is grey brown; the feet the same, which stand six lines in height. The general tint of the plumage is pale, reddish grey on the upper part of the body, and yellowish white on the under, speckled like the lark’k, with blackish brown spots.
In the female the colours are rather lighter.
Habitation.—In its wild state this bird is common in most parts of Europe; in the more northerly parts it does not remain during the winter, and only appears at certain seasons; in March they are met with amongst the larks in the fields, meadows, and on the high roads, often perched on the tops of willows, or on a stake in a hedge, on a milestone, or a clod of earth.
In a room it may occupy a lark’s cage, but is more commonly let run about at liberty.
Food.—Both at liberty and in confinement its food is similar to that of the yellowhammer; it is however a more delicate bird.
Breeding.—Its nest, placed under a bush, does not rest on the ground but on the turf; it is constructed of the stalks of grass, and lined with horse-hair. The eggs are grey, speckled with chestnut and streaked with black.
Mode of Taking.—In autumn these birds may be taken in an area with a decoy bird; in winter, before the barn door, with bird-lime or a clapper; in the spring with a bird-call.
Attractive Qualities.—Their song, shorter and less soft than that of the yellowhammer, has only four or five notes; from their dwelling on the r in the last, they have been given the name of stocking weavers.
THE ORTOLAN.
Emberiza hortulena, Linnæus; L’Lrtolan, Buffon; Der Gartenammer, Bechstein.
It is necessary to give a very exact description of this species, as not only bird-catchers, but even some naturalists, give the name of Ortolan to several very different species. Under this name the former sell all rare birds of this kind. The true ortolan has a wider breast and stronger beak than the yellowhammer; it is six inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures two and a half; the beak, six inches long, is thick at the base, with a bony tubercle at the palate, and is of a yellowish flesh-colour; the iris dark brown. The legs, which stand ten lines in height, are flesh-coloured; the head and neck is greyish olive; the throat and a streak on the neck from the angle of the beak, deep yellow.
The female is rather smaller, of a changeable shining ash-colour on its head and neck, streaked with fine black lines. Its breast, and the upper and under part of its body, are lighter than in the male.
The throat of the young male birds, before the first moulting, is of a light yellow, with a mixture of grey; the breast and belly are of a reddish yellow, speckled with grey, which make them rather resemble young yellowhammers. A bird fancier will distinguish the two sexes even in the nest. There are white, yellow, speckled, and in the house sometimes even black varieties.
Habitation.—In its wild state the ortolan is principally found in the southern and temperate parts of Europe, and is not scarce in some of the provinces of Germany; but if attention were paid to them there, they might be seen in every direction on their passage; for though they may not remain during the summer in a district, yet they make some stay, never passing over a great space of country at a time. Their route is so exact and regular, that when one has been seen in a particular spot, especially if in spring, it is sure to be found there the following year at the same time. They fly rather in families than flocks: the time of their arrival in Germany is towards the end of April, or beginning of May; they are then met with in orchards, amongst brambles or in groves, where they build, particularly if millet is cultivated in the neighbourhood. During harvest they frequent the fields in families, and leave after the oats are gathered in[34].
In the house, if much valued, they are given a cage; but in countries where they are common they are let run about free.
Food.—In their wild state they live on insects and grain. In the house they are fed, if in a cage, on millet, hemp seed, and prepared oats; if at liberty in a room the universal paste suits them very well. These birds, being rather delicate, cannot often be preserved beyond three or four years.
Diseases.—The most common disease of these birds is atrophy, to cure or prevent which it is necessary to know how properly to mix and vary animal with vegetable food; but this calls for a greater degree of attention and care than most persons are willing to give.
Manner of Taking.—In spring these birds are easily attracted to a decoy bush, by a female of their own species, or a yellowhammer. In August a turfy place should be chosen near brambles, to form a small area, as a decoy, like that made for chaffinches. It must be surrounded with a low hedge, with some oat-ears fastened to it. About the area should be placed one or several birds of call, especially a perching bird, that is to say, a bird of the same species, with a band of soft leather round it, and confined by a small string, fastened to a peg-stick in the ground, which prevents its going beyond the prescribed limits. Here it should be given plenty of food and water, in order that the birds to be caught may be the more easily attracted within the area, from seeing one of their own species in a place of abundance. This kind of decoy bird is often more necessary than any other.
Attractive Qualities.—The fine form and colours of the ortolan would be sufficient to render it desirable, but still more so its flute-like warbling, so clear and full, which has some resemblance to that of the yellowhammer, only that the last notes are much deeper.
Ever since ortolans have been known to epicures as a delicacy, they have been fattened with great care. The common way is to keep them in a room only lighted by lanterns, so that they cannot distinguish day from night: they are then plentifully fed on oats, millet, and the crumb of white bread, made up with good spice. In a short time they become so fat that they would be suffocated if not killed at once. An ortolan thus fed is a perfect ball of most delicious fat, weighing about three ounces.
THE CIRL-BUNTING, Lath.
Emberiza Cirlus, Linnæus; Le Zizi, ou Bruant de Haie, Buffon; Der Zaunammer, Bechstein.
Linnæus has described only the female, and by mistake I have called the male Emberizal Eæathorax, and have given a drawing of it and the female, in the second volume of my German translation of the English work of Latham, Synopsis of Birds, printed at Nuremberg, 1794.
Description.—This bird, scarce in many provinces of Germany and in Britain, but well known in Thuringia, is about the size of the yellowhammer, being five inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures two and a half. Its small and flattish beak is of a brownish blue on the upper part, and light brown on the under; the feet, eight lines in height, are flesh-coloured; the upper part of the head and neck olive green with small black strokes, a golden yellow streak extends from the angle of the upper mandible to the middle of the neck, passing under the eyes; another begins from the angle of the under mandible, and descending in a straight line, is crossed by a third, which is black, then curving round behind the yellow streak under the eyes, reunites with the black one on the throat; the back and smaller wing-coverts are cinnamon brown, mixed with black and yellow green; the rump is olive, with black streaks; the breast is a fine olive green, light chestnut on the sides; the rest of the under part of the body is of a golden yellow.
The female is known by its plumage being much paler: the head and upper part of the neck are olive, much streaked with black; the back is pale brown, the rump more streaked with black, the tail rather greyish black than black; two pale yellow lines pass one above the other below the eyes, and cross a black line which unites to the black border of the cheeks; the throat is brownish, with a lighter spot below; the breast is olive, with the sides brownish, the rest of the under part of the body is pale yellow.
The young ones, before their first moulting, have the upper part of the body light brown, speckled with black, the under pale yellow streaked with black; the older they grow the more of an olive tint the breast acquires.
Habitation.—In their wild state these birds dwell chiefly in the southern and temperate parts of Europe, where they frequent orchards, groves, and the skirts of forests.[35] They are birds of passage, which leave in November and return in April; they are then met with very commonly among the chaffinches.
In the house they must be treated in the same manner as the ortolan.
Food.—In their wild state they feed on the cabbage caterpillar in summer, and when corn is ripe, on wheat, barley, millet, oats, and other grain.
Breeding.—They place their nest in a hedge or bush on the road side, and build it of small straws and line it with horse-hair. The eggs are greyish, speckled with chestnut. In the end of July, whole families are met with in the fields, particularly those planted with cabbages, and that have willows in the neighbourhood.
Diseases and Mode of Taking.—These are similar to what is said under ortolan.
Attractive Qualities.—The male surpasses the ortolan in beauty, but does not equal it in its song, as in this it more resembles the yellowhammer.
These birds, however, are very easily tamed, and may be preserved five or six years.
THE FOOLISH BUNTING.
Emberiza Cia, Linnæus; Le Bruant Fou, Buffon; Der Zipammer, Bechstein.
This bird is rather smaller than the yellowhammer, being only six inches long, of which the tail measures two and a half; the beak, five lines in length, is very sharp, blackish above, and greyish below; the iris is dusky; the legs, nine lines in height, are of a brownish flesh-colour. The head is grey, spotted with red, with small black streaks on the top, and an indistinct black line on the sides; the back is reddish brown, speckled with black, the rump light red brown; the throat pale ash-colour.
The female differs very little from the male: the head is grey with a reddish tint and black spots; she has also all the streaks that the male has, but less marked; the ash-coloured throat is streaked with black and has a reddish tint; in short, the whole of the under part of the body is lighter.
Habitation.—When wild, this species, which loves solitude, and prefers mountainous districts, inhabits the south of France, Italy, and the south of Austria. In some winters they quit these countries and proceed even to the middle of Germany, where they are found in March and April in elevated situations.
In the house they are either kept in a cage or left to range a room, and the latter seems to agree with them best, particularly if they have a grated and quiet place to rest in and pass the night.
Food.—When wild, these birds, like others of the genus, feed on insects and grain.
In the house they may be fed on the same food as the ortolan, on which they may be preserved in health above six years, as I have proved by a pair which I kept myself for that time.
Mode of taking.—These birds come without difficulty at the call of the yellowhammer, and enter into every kind of snare so heedlessly, that they have thence been given the name of foolish bunting.
Attractive qualities.—They are very fine and lively birds, whose voice is heard the whole year; in winter their note of call, and from spring to autumn, their cheerful song, shorter indeed, but clearer than that of the yellowhammer. They live very amicably in a room with other species of their genus, especially the yellowhammer; and where one goes the other follows, and if one chooses any particular food, the other prefers the same.
THE BLACK BONNET, OR REED BUNTING.
Emberiza Schœniclus, Linnæus; L’Lrtolan de Roscaux, Buffon; Rohrammer, Bechstein.
This bird is nearly the size of the mountain sparrow, its length being five inches three-quarters, of which the tail measures two and a half; the beak, four lines in length, is black on the upper part, and whitish on the under; the iris is dark brown; the legs, nine lines high, are dark flesh-coloured. The head is black, with reddish spots; a reddish white line extends from the base of the lower mandible quite round the head; the back is black, spotted with white and red, the rump alternately grey and reddish yellow; the throat is black spotted.
The feathers on the head of the male never return to as good a black after moulting, when in the house, as in its wild state, but remain always browner, and clouded with reddish white.
The head of the female is of a rusty brown, spotted with black; her brown cheeks are encircled with a reddish white streak, which, passing above the eyes, unites with another which commences at the base of the beak; a dark streak passes down the sides of the throat, which, with the under part of the body, is reddish white, much streaked on the breast with light brown; the colour of the back is lighter, but less clear than that of the male.
Habitation.—In their wild state this species is found throughout Europe and the north of Asia, flying in small flocks, and returning in March in great flights. The females follow the males, and do not remain behind, as some pretend. During winter some of these birds are met with here and there amongst the yellowhammers; they frequent moist places, the banks of ponds and rivers; they run nimbly up the stalks of aquatic plants, but rarely ascend trees.
In the house it is the custom here to let them range a room; but they may be kept in a cage.
Food.—When wild they feed on the seeds of rushes, bullrushes, reeds, and grasses, as well as on the numerous insects that frequent the water-side.
In the house they seem to relish the first universal paste and poppy seeds, on which food they will live five or six years; but afterwards they droop and die of atrophy or scurf, as I have remarked several times.
Breeding.—These birds make their nests among the reeds and brambles on the water-side. They lay five or six eggs of a dusky light grey, with dark grey spots and dusky lines rather indistinctly mingled.
Mode of Taking.—In autumn they enter the area or decoy with the chaffinch; in spring, when there is snow, they approach the barns and dunghills, and there, as well as in open places in the fields and on the hedges, they are very easily taken with a net or bird-lime.
Attractive Qualities.—Their song is alternately weak and strong. Three or four simple tones, mingled from time to time with a sharp r, distinguish it from every other; it is heard all the summer, even during the night. Of all the buntings, this is the most easily tamed; it is also a great amateur of music, approaching the instrument without fear, as I have observed several times, not of one only, but of many of these birds, testifying its joy by extending its wings and tail like a fan, and shaking them so that, by this exercise the feathers have been much injured. The female sings also, but its tones are weaker than those of the male.
THE SPARROW BUNTING.
Emberiza passerina, Linnæus; L’Lrtolan Passerin; Der Sperlingsammer, Bechstein.
This species must have been confounded with the preceding, or it would have been better known, as it is not rare either in autumn or spring. It is smaller and more slender than the former, being only five inches long, of which the tail measures two and a quarter; the beak is black above and light brown below; the iris is of a dark chestnut; the feet are nine lines in height and of a dusky flesh-colour; but the plumage in general is similar to that of the female of the preceding species.
The male has the top of the head red, with a grey longitudinal streak in the middle, and many black spots arising from the deeper shade of the feathers which appears in every direction; a dusky reddish white line passes from the nostrils above, and also a little under the eyes, and widening behind on the temples, a chestnut brown colour breaks through a deep black, which reaches the sides of the neck and becomes a spot there.
The colours of the female are in general lighter, and the black does not appear on the top of the head; a reddish white streak passes above the eyes, another descends from the base of the beak down the sides of the neck, a third, but of a dusky black, extends from each side of the chin to beyond the middle of the neck.
When kept in the house the black disappears from the head of the male, and the upper part of the neck becomes greyish white, spotted longitudinally with dusky black.
Observations.—Thick woods and bushes in a mountainous country are the favourite haunts of the sparrow bunting. It is a bird of passage, which quits us in October or November and returns in April. It is not rare in Thuringia, particularly at the time of passage; formerly it was only known in Russia. Its food, when wild, is insects and all kinds of grain.
In the house, it is fed on the same food as the reed bunting, which it very much resembles in its song and habits: it is taken in the same manner.
THE WHIDAH BUNTING.
Emberiza paradisea, Linnæus; La Veuve à collier d’dr, Buffon; Der Paradiesammer, Bechstein.
This beautiful and rare species is the size of a linnet. Reckoning from the beak to the end of the side tail-feathers, it is five inches and a half in length. The beak is lead-coloured; the iris chestnut; the feet are flesh-coloured; the head, chin, front of the neck, back, wings, and tail are black; the back of the neck pale orange; the breast, thighs, and upper part of the belly are white, the lower part is black; the two intermediate tail-feathers measure four inches, are very broad, and terminate in a long filament; the two that follow, above three inches long, are very broad in the middle, narrower and pointed at the end, from their shaft springs also a filament more than an inch long; the other side feathers are only two inches and a half in length; the two in the middle amongst the longest a little diverging, and arched like a cock’k, are glossy, and more brilliant than the others.
The female is entirely brown, almost black, and does not acquire its proper plumage until the third year; whilst young it very much resembles the winter plumage of the male.
This bird moults twice in the year. At the first, which takes place in November, the male loses its long tail for six months, its head is streaked with black and white, the rest of its plumage is a mixture of black and red; at the second, which takes place late in the spring, it resumes its summer dress, such as it has been described above, but the tail-feathers do not attain their full length till July and drop in November.
Observations.—This beautiful species comes from Angola, and other parts of Africa, and is particularly common in the kingdom of Whidah, or Juida, in Guinea, and hence it takes its name. Though it was formerly brought in great numbers into Germany, it still costs there thirty or forty rix dollars. These birds are very lively, and constantly in motion, always waving their long tail up and down, often arranging their feathers and amusing themselves with bathing. Their feeble song, though somewhat melancholy, is however very agreeable. They may be preserved from eight to twelve years if fed on canary seed, millet, barley meal, and the like, not forgetting to add from time to time lettuce, endive, or other green food. They must be given a large cage, to prevent their spoiling their fine tail.
THE DOMINICAN BUNTING.
Emberiza serena, Linnæus; La Veuve Dominicaine, Buffon; Der Dominikanerammer, Bechstein.
This species, six inches and three quarters in length, is smaller, more rare, and nearly twice as dear as the preceding. It comes from Africa likewise. The beak is red; the feet grey; the upper part of the head is black, but the top is reddish white, which extends over the whole of the under part of the body, the chin, and temples, and even the under part of the tail; sometimes this tint fades into pure white: the upper part of the neck and the back are black, but the feathers are edged with dusky white; the inner wing coverts being white, give the wings the appearance of being so when folded, but they are black, the quill-feathers alone are edged with white; the tail is also black; the two middle feathers terminate in a point, and are two inches longer than the others, which gradually diminish in length the farther they are from the middle, the three first only have the points white, but the two outer ones have the beard white and the edge pale orange.
The female is entirely brown, and the tail-feathers are of equal length. This species also moults twice in the year: the male loses its tail for six months, and the white of its plumage becomes less pure.
Observations.—This bird requires the same treatment as the former, and sings in the same very agreeable manner.
THE SHAFT-TAILED BUNTING.
Emberiza regia, Linnæus; La Veuve à quatre brins, Buffon; Der Königsammer, Bechstein.
This is also more rare than the Whidah bunting. Its length to the end of the short feathers of the tail is nearly four inches and a half. The beak and feet are red; the upper part of the body black; the sides of the head, the eyes, neck, and under part of the body are orange.
The female is brown, and has no long feathers in the tail. The winter plumage of the male is grey, like the linnet, but rather brighter.
Observations.—This bird comes from Africa, and is not less admired than the preceding.
THE INDIGO BIRD.
Emberiza cyanea, Linnæus; Fringilla cyanea, Wilson; La Veuve bleue, or le Ministre, Buffon; Der Indigo Ammer, Bechstein.
The length of this bird is five inches. The beak dark lead-coloured; the feet brown; the whole plumage is of the most beautiful blue, deeper and still more brilliant at the top of the head; the great quill-feathers are brown edged with blue; the tail brown, with a pale tint.
The female very much resembles the linnet in its colour, as the male does during moulting, for it is only blue when in full feather; but the male may be distinguished easily at all times by the sides of the wings being of a lighter grey than in the female.
Observations.—This species is most commonly found in Carolina, but is not rare about New York, where it arrives the beginning of April. It frequents the orchards when they are in bloom, and appears to prefer mountainous parts. Its agreeable song, which very much resembles that of the linnet, and the beauty of its plumage, render it a favourite with bird-fanciers. Its food is canary seed, millet, poppy seed, and bruised hemp seed.
THE PAINTED BUNTING.
Emberiza Ciris, Linnæus; Le Pape, Buffon; Der gemahlte Ammer, Bechstein.
This bird owes its name to its plumage. It is five inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures two. The beak is greyish brown, the iris nut brown; the feet brown; the head and neck are violet, the circle round the eyes is red; the upper part of the back and the scapulars are yellowish green, the lower part, the rump, and all the under part of the body are of a fine red; the lesser wing-coverts violet brown with a red tinge, the greater of a dull green; the pen-feathers brown, some bordered with grey, others with red; the tail-feathers are also brown, but the two middle ones are of a changeable red, and the outer border of the others is of the same colour.
The upper part of the body of the female is of a dull green, the under part yellow green; her pen-feathers are brown edged with green, as are also the tail-feathers.
As the plumage of this bird does not come to perfection before the third year, there must naturally be several varieties. During the first year the male and female are of the same colour; the head of the male does not become a violet blue till the second year, and the rest of its plumage is then a blue green, as are also the edges of the quill and tail-feathers, which are elsewhere brown.
The female at this time is of a fine changeable blue. If to these differences arising from age are added the two moultings which take place every year, we shall not be surprised rarely to meet with two birds alike. There is besides another variety, having the under part of the body yellowish, except a red spot on the breast; and again another, which in the time of moulting is entirely white.
Observations.—These birds are found from the frontiers of Canada to Guiana and Brazil; none, however, are seen in Carolina less than one hundred and thirty miles from the sea. They only show themselves in summer, and build principally on orange or similar trees. English and Dutch sailors take home many of these birds, and it has been said that in England they have succeeded in making them breed in aviaries in gardens, spacious enough to contain orange trees, on which they have constructed their nests. When in a cage they are fed on millet, canary-seed, endive, and poppy-seed, on which they may be preserved from eight to ten years. Their song is soft and agreeable.
THE CHAFFINCH.
Fringilla Cœlebs, Linnæus; Le Pinson commun, Buffon; Der Buch-Fink, Bechstein.
This delightful songster of spring, famed for the sprightliness of its warbling,—this favourite of most of our bird-fanciers, is so generally known that I should be tempted to suppress its description if the uniformity of this work and the wish to render it complete, did not impel me to give it. This will also offer some particulars worthy the attention of the naturalist.
The passion for this bird is carried to such an extent in Thuringia, and those which sing well are sought for with so much activity that scarcely a single chaffinch that warbles tolerably can be found throughout the province. As soon as one arrives from a neighbouring country whose notes appear good, all the bird-catchers are after it, and do not give up the pursuit till they have taken it. This is the reason why the chaffinches in this province are so indifferent songsters: the young ones have only bad masters in the old ones, and they in their turn cannot prove better.
This bird is six inches and one-third in length, of which the tail measures two and three quarters. The beak is conical, pointed, and white in winter; but as soon as spring, the season of pairing and song, arrives, and till the time of moulting, it is of a deep blue, and one may know by this whether it has sung or not. The iris is chestnut brown; the legs, nine lines high, are dusky; the claws are very sharp, and grow so fast in a cage that it is necessary to cut them every six weeks, if you do not wish to see the poor bird some day caught by them, and perish miserably unless rescued. The forehead is black, the top of the head and nape of the neck are greyish blue, in very old males deep blue, and then thick downy hairs are perceived.
After moulting, at the beginning of winter, the colours become lighter, the front of the head is only deep brown; the top and the nape of the neck a changeable greyish and olive brown; the red brown of the breast is brighter; this is also the plumage of the young ones in the second year, particularly if of the last brood; they are called grey-heads, by bird-catchers, who can easily distinguish, in the spring, the young from the old males, and very much prefer them, because, if properly caught, they may be taught to improve their song when confined in the house; while the others never learn, or change very little, at least rarely, the song they have acquired in their wild state.
The female is very different, being smaller, while the head, neck, and upper part of the back are greyish brown, and all the under part of the body is a dusky white, rather reddish grey on the breast; and the beak, greyish brown in spring, becomes greyish white in winter.
There are some remarkable varieties of this species, one quite white, another with a white collar, a third streaked, spotted, &c. There is no distinction between the wood chaffinches and those of the gardens and orchards, as has been alleged.
Habitation.—In its wild state, the chaffinch frequents forests, copses, and orchards, and ought to be reckoned among birds of passage, though there are always some that remain the winter with us. The time of passage, in autumn, continues from the beginning of October to the middle of November, and in spring during the month of March. These birds perform their journey in large flocks. In the spring the males arrive in separate flights, fifteen days before the females; our bird-catchers know this so well, that as soon as they perceive these they put up their implements, their sport being then over.
In the house, though each may vary the form of the cage to his taste, the best, in my opinion, is an oblong cage nine inches long, seven in depth, and seven in height, with the food and water at the two farthest sides, and the perches placed opposite. A bell-shaped cage does not suit the chaffinch, as it prefers jumping down in front, and swinging itself round, to remaining at the top. If there are several in one room they must be placed so as not to see each other, or their song will be injured. Those only are allowed to range whose song is very inferior, and must be provided with a grated place to retire to, or some branches to perch on. These never sing so well as those in cages, their song appearing to require the greatest attention, and hence there should be nothing to distract them.
Food.—When wild, their food in spring is all sorts of insects, which they carry to their young in their beaks; later in the season they eat various kinds of seeds, pine and fir seeds, when they inhabit forests that contain them, linseed, oats, rape, cabbage, and lettuce, which they know well how to procure and shell.
In the house they are fed all the year on rape seed, dried in summer, or, which is better, soaked and swelled in water, on which food they appear to thrive. Every day a sufficient quantity should be soaked for the next, and given them fresh every morning. In the spring they are allowed a little hemp-seed, or the seed of the nettle-hemp (Galeopsis Tetrahit), to excite their song, and this plant is therefore very much prized in Thuringia; but these seeds should not be mixed with the rape, as in trying to find them they soon scatter their food; it is best to put it in a separate drawer fastened to the iron wires of the cage, between which it may be slipped. It must not be omitted to supply them with green vegetables, chickweed, lettuce, and the like; and in winter a piece of apple, meal-worms, and ants' eggs agree with them. They must have fresh water regularly every day, both to drink and bathe in.
Those that range the room live on the different sorts of food they meet with, bread, meat, and all sorts of seeds.
Breeding.—The nest of the chaffinch is one of the most beautiful of birds’ nests, and formed in the most skilful manner. It is the shape of a half globe flattened on the upper part, and so perfectly rounded that it has the appearance of having been turned on a lathe. Cobwebs[36] and wool fasten it to the branch, bits of moss with small twigs entwined form the ground-work; the lining is composed of feathers, thistle-down, the hair of horses and other animals, whilst the outer covering is formed of the different lichens that grow on the tree in which it is placed, the whole firmly united and well cemented. This outer finish is no doubt intended to deceive an enemy’s eye; in fact, it is very difficult, even with great attention, to distinguish the nest from the bark of the branch on which it is fixed.
The female has two broods in the year; she lays from three to five eggs, of a pale bluish grey, spotted and streaked with brown: the first brood (and this is confirmed in general by observations of other birds) rarely produces any but males, the second only females. Bird-fanciers can distinguish the one from the other before they leave the nest; the breast of the male already discovering a reddish tint, the circle round the eyes being yellower, the wings blacker, and the lines that cross them whiter, though in other respects it resembles its mother. If you wish to be quite sure, pluck some feathers from the breast of the bird you have taken from the nest, in a fortnight they will be replaced, and the presence or absence of red will infallibly decide whether it is male or female. As soon as the tail-feathers begin to appear they must be taken from the nest, to prevent the possibility of their ear being injured by hearing an imperfect song, for scarcely are the wings and tail half grown than these birds begin to warble, and to imitate the song of those around them.
They must be fed on rape seed soaked in water and the crumb of white bread; it is very easy to rear them and preserve them healthy till the time of moulting, but then numbers perish, particularly if not quickly relieved by being given meal-worms and ants’ eggs, or any other animal food, as bread boiled in or soaked in boiled milk.
Chaffinches that have been reared with care become very familiar, and sing at command, or when one approaches their cage in a friendly manner. If they are wished to learn quickly and accurately, they should be kept in an obscure corner of the room, and only hung up at the windows in May; this is the surest way to prevent their learning any thing imperfect. By these means chaffinches that have been taken full grown have forgotten their former song and adopted a better. The whole artifice consists in keeping the bird in such retirement as will remove everything that might distract it when listening to a fine songster, and take away the wish to sing itself.
There have been examples of chaffinches pairing with female canaries, and it has been said with a female yellowhammer. The distinction between wood and garden chaffinches is unfounded, at least as to species; the eggs of both are of the same whitish pink colour.
Diseases.—The disorders to which the chaffinch is most subject are the obstruction of the rump gland[37] and diarrhœa. To cure this an old nail or a little saffron should be put in the water.
When the scales on the feet become too large, the upper ones must be cut skilfully with a sharp knife, or else the bird would either lose the use of his limbs or become gouty; but this operation must be performed with great care.
Blindness also is not uncommon, particularly where they are fed much on hemp seed. This does not, however, injure their song, and as it comes on gradually, it does not prevent their finding their food and hopping about the perches. By means of proper care a chaffinch may be preserved twenty years.
Mode of Taking.—With good baits the chaffinch may easily be drawn within the area or decoy from Michaelmas to Martinmas, and in spring throughout March. Those that remain the winter, or return early in the year, may be taken in a net baited with oats.
bird-catchers use in spring lures and lime twigs, and the sport lasts as long as the time of flight, which begins at daybreak and ends at nine o’olock. These birds employ the rest of the day in seeking food in the fields, in resting, and singing. In the same manner are taken linnets, goldfinches, siskins, yellowhammers, and bullfinches.
Some make use of the excessive jealousy of the males to procure those whose song is very superior. As soon as a bird-catcher who likes this way discovers a fine songster wild, he immediately seeks another male that is in the habit of often repeating its natural cry, fink, fink, ties his wings, and fastens to his tail a little forked stick, half a finger long, well covered with bird-lime; thus prepared, he fastens him under the tree on which the one he is watching is perched; this no sooner sees and hears the false rival than he becomes enraged, pounces on him like a bird of prey, and is caught with the bird-lime; his attack is often so violent that sometimes the bird of call is killed by the stroke of its adversary. The following is a surer method:—a soft, narrow leather band is fastened round a male, to which is attached a string a foot long, fastened by a peg, which allows it but a short space to range. This bird, as we have already said, is called, in bird-catchers’ language, a percher. A circle of bird-lime is made just beyond its reach, and a cage with a chaffinch, accustomed to sing either in the shade or exposed, is placed under a neighbouring bush; as soon as this last begins his song, which should be a natural one, not any learned in confinement, the chaffinch that is to be procured darts from the tree like an arrow on the percher, which it mistakes for the songster, and remains fixed by the bird-lime. This new prisoner will sing the same year if it is caught before Whitsuntide: if after, it will never sing, but will die, evidently from grief at being separated from its female and young ones. A bird-catcher, cruel as he is stupid, who, without the least reflection, only thinks of gratifying his ridiculous passion for bird-catching, may in an hour deprive ten or twelve females of their beloved companions, their protectors, and numerous young ones of their father, purveyor, and support: such thoughtless cruelty is, alas! only too common in Germany. As soon as the young chaffinches have left the nest, the bird-catchers are very active in discovering the places where at noon they are accustomed to drink; there they set perches covered with bird-lime, and by this means many of these little unwary creatures are taken. However little memory one of these birds may have, it is capable of learning a good song, and being more robust than those brought up from the nest, bird-dealers make a good deal of them. They collect a great many, being sure that some will succeed amongst them.
Attractive Qualities.—The first of these is undoubtedly the song of the bird; but our amateurs are not less attentive to the different notes that express its passions and wants. The note of tenderness, and which is also thought to indicate a change of weather, is trif, trif: its call, or the rallying note it makes use of on its passage, and which so often draws it within the snares of our bird-catchers, is ïak, ïak, repeated several times; the cry fink, fink, which it often repeats, and from which its German name is derived, appears, if we may so call it, to be mechanical and involuntary. But what makes it appear to still more advantage among other birds are its clear and trilling tones, that seem almost to approach to words; in fact, its warbling is less a song than a kind of battement, to make use of a French word, and is expressed in German by the word schlag (trill), which is used to designate its song as well as the nightingale’e. Some chaffinches have two, three, four, and even five different battemens, each consisting of several strains, and lasting several minutes. This bird is so great a favourite in Germany, that not a single tone of its voice has escaped the experienced ears of our bird-fanciers. They have observed its nicest shades, and are continually endeavouring to improve and perfect it. I confess I am myself one of its warmest admirers; I have constantly around me the best songsters of its species, and if I liked I could write a good sized volume on all the details of its music, but I will confine myself to that which bears most on this subject.
The song of the chaffinch bearing an evident relation to articulate sounds, its has been thought to distinguish its different variations by the final syllable of the last strain. The most admired in Thuringia are the following, which I shall give in their order, and in their different degrees of superiority.[38]
1. The Double Trill of the Hartz in Lower Saxony is composed of six strains, rather long, the last of which is ended by dwelling on the two final syllables, which I shall express here by the word “weingeh[39].” I doubt if ever a bird in its wild state has executed this so perfectly as I heard it at Ruhl[40] and at my own house. Art has certainly created it. It is with difficulty that a chaffinch attains it, if, with the best abilities, it has not been instructed from its earliest youth. Rarely can it give it complete without leaving any part out. On this account a high price must be given for the little prodigy that sings it through, full, entire, and in all its strength.
2. The Reiterzong, or rider’s pull, first heard among the mineral mountains of Saxony and Voigtland, has been known but a short time in Thuringia. It may be heard from a chaffinch in its wild state, but those that have been instructed execute it in a fuller, stronger, and less precipitate manner. This song consists of four strains, the first of which commences in a high key, and gradually descends. When in perfection there is a cadenced pause before the two last syllables, which articulate tolerably clearly reitzing with a zap or clapping, as our amateurs express it. An amateur who has never heard the double trill of the Hartz would not believe that a chaffinch could sing in a superior manner to this; however, in this, as in many other things, each has his taste.
3. The Wine Song is divided into four kinds, 1. the fine, or Längsfeld wine song[41], is very beautiful, but little known except in two or three places in Thuringia. It is composed of four strains, and to be perfect ought to resemble a hautboy, the two last syllables articulating “weingeh.” This song has never been heard from a wild chaffinch, but is one accidentally produced in the house, and endeavoured to be propagated by education.
2. The bad wine song is not in itself disagreeable, but it is so named when compared with the former. It is composed of three strains, of which the penultimate ought to sound zap five times, and the two last syllables articulate “weingeh.” When once a wild chaffinch has been heard to utter this in Germany it is not long ere it is caught. 3. The sharp wine song is not ended by “weingeh,” but “weingieh.” It is subdivided into the common sharp, such as is sometimes heard in the woods, and the Ruhl sharp, which is an entirely artificial song, confined to Ruhl and a few other villages of Thuringia. It has but two strains, of which the first syllables ought to sound as though flowing into each other, and the penultimate to have an accent.
4. The Bräutigam, or bridegroom song, is also divided into good and bad: the good is only heard in the house, and consists of two simple strains; it begins piano, afterwards forte, and, continuing crescendo, ends in the most brilliant sound. After the double trill of the Hartz it appears to my ear the finest of all. The bad is occasionally heard in the woods, and is composed of three strains; but though not devoid of sweetness, does not please so much as the former.
5. The Double Trill is formed of two long strains, divided by a cadenced pause, which is named the shake. They distinguish, 1. the common, subdivided into four; a, the strong, b, the clear, c, the long, and d, the short. These are heard sometimes in the woods and orchards; but chaffinches that sing a or b soon become the prey of our bird-catchers. 2. The double trill of Iambach[42]; this is only to be acquired in the house, and is so deep and powerful that one can scarcely conceive how the larynx of so small a bird can produce such sounds. It begins piano, and swelling its tones successively in crescendo, makes of the trilling a strain of five piercing tones, afterwards repeats “pfaff” four or five times, and ends by dwelling on “Rüdidia.” A chaffinch that possesses this song, either alone, or united with the good bridegroom’s song, such as are educated in Iambach, sells here for eighteen French francs.
6. The Gutjahr, or good year song, is so named from the two last syllables, and is also divided, 1. into the common, that has but two strains, of which the second ought to roll five times before articulating “gutjahr.” It is not uncommon in our woods. 2. The good year of the Hartz, which has been acquired in the house, and consists of two very singular strains, in my opinion not very agreeable. Chaffinches are very rare now which sing this, united to that of the wine song of Ruhl, or the sharp song, and their price is consequently high. They are rarely found but at Ersenach and Ruhl.
7. The Quakia song is so called from its last syllables, and is double or single, one with one strain, the other with two. This song was formerly very much admired. It was heard in the woods and house, but it is now lost, as all the wild chaffinches that sung it have been taken, and those in confinement have been taught in preference the good wine song: I believe I possess the only bird that is now to be found which sings this. To be admired, the quakia must be united with the double trill. This my chaffinch sings also.
8. The Pithia or Trewethia, is a very uncommon and agreeable song, which is never heard but in the depths of the Thuringian mountains. The bird-catchers of the villages about the forests of Hesse seek for birds that possess it, and actively pursue the songsters. It is first a sonorous strain, followed by several repetitions of the word “zack.” Some birds unite to it the common sharp wine song, and are more valued. The last syllables ought to sound “trewididæ.”
These eight varieties, or rather melodies, are those most thought of in Saxony and Hesse. I have said that some of them are heard in the woods; but it is very rarely that they are sung with so clear and strong a voice, or that they are so long and perfect. A chaffinch that knows only one of these varieties generally sings it slowly, and introduces a greater number of syllables. Its voice, in fact, executes it with more strength and depth; if it adds to the last strain the sound “fink,” which our bird-catchers translate by amen, it is of the highest value, no price will be taken for it.
There are a dozen varieties in all; but as they are not uncommon, and what are everywhere heard, they are less admired; they have even been given in contempt the name of plain.
One thing worth remarking is that the song of the chaffinch varies almost as much as the countries it inhabits. It is not the same in Thuringia as in the Hartz, and the taste of amateurs differs equally[43]. In Austria several named melodies are admired, but I have never heard them.
The chaffinch has so great a facility in learning, that it not only imitates perfectly the song of another chaffinch near which it has been placed from youth, but being hung near a nightingale or canary it learns several parts of their songs, and would no doubt give them completely if its larynx were so formed that it could render notes so long and sustained; in fine, a great difference in memory is observed in these birds, as well as in all others of the singing species. Some require six months to learn an air that others catch on first hearing, and can repeat almost immediately; these can scarcely retain one of the songs given above; those can imitate three, four, and, should you wish it, five different ones. There are also some that cannot give one song without a fault, and we find others that will add to it, perfect it, and embellish it.
One thing peculiar to chaffinches is the necessity of teaching them their song every year, and this in the manner proper for them, during the four or five weeks this exercise lasts. They first utter a murmur, or weak warbling, to which they add at first, in an under voice, one or two, and afterwards several syllables of their song; they are then said to record. A chaffinch that takes only a week or fortnight to repeat this lesson for fully bringing out its voice, is reckoned among the geniuses of its species. It is known that other birds whose power of singing is confined to a particular season, also warble feebly, and mingle with their warbling some foreign notes, especially harsh and confused sounds; but none produce sounds so peculiar, and that have so little relation to their own song. If we pay a little attention, however, we shall find that this exercise is intended less to awaken the memory than to render the throat, stiffened by a tolerably long state of inaction, more pliant, and to bring back its natural flexibility.
Wild chaffinches, on their return in spring, do not delay to record; those in the house soon learn, but they are obliged to exercise themselves for nearly two months before they can execute their song to perfection. The singing season does not generally extend beyond June, but young chaffinches brought up in a room prolong it to October, and sometimes later.
Some amateurs of the song, rather than friends of the bird, to procure the pleasure of hearing it night and day in all its strength, employ a very cruel and inhuman contrivance. They first place the cage in a very obscure place, and accustom the poor little creature to find its food in the dark; they then blind it, either by destroying the pupils of the eyes with a red hot iron wire, or by passing it over the edges of the eyelids, unite and paste them completely together.
Others shut up these poor mutilated creatures in a cool place, almost without air, during the summer, in order that when in autumn they are brought to the window, and breathe the fresh air, they may express their joy by their lively and repeated song. What can we think of the heart and morals of people who for a slight amusement thus enjoy the sufferings of a sensitive being that is unfortunately in their power?
THE MOUNTAIN FINCH.
Fringilla montifringilla, Linnæus; Le Pinson d’drdenne, Buffon; Der Bergfink, Bechstein.
This bird is six inches and a quarter in length, of which the tail measures two and a half and the beak half an inch; this is yellow, with a black tip. The feet, nine lines high, are dark flesh-coloured; all the feathers of the head and cheeks are black with reddish edges, wider and more distinct in young males, and becoming fainter from age, almost disappear in old ones, whose heads become quite black; the tail rather forked, and black.
The colours of the female are more uniform; she is brown where the male is black, and only a rusty colour where he is red.
Independently of the varieties produced by age, and which are tolerably numerous, without being very remarkable, there are some more remarked, such as those with a white head, a back quite white, &c.
Habitation.—In their wild state this species is scattered throughout Europe; however, it is most probable that in the summer they only inhabit the northern parts. During the three other seasons they are found everywhere in Germany, particularly where there are large forests. When beech-mast is plentiful in Thuringia the mountain finches assemble in immense numbers, it is supposed more than 100,000.
In the house they are kept in a cage or not, according as they are esteemed; where they are common they are not thought worthy of one, but allowed to range at will.
Food.—Wild, and in confinement, it is the same as the chaffinch’h.
Mode of Taking.—This bird’s note of call is ïak, ïak, quääk, and as the two first sounds are the same as that of the chaffinch, they will come at its call, and fly in its company. They also afford the best sport with a net, for in autumn hundreds may be taken at one cast. In winter they are caught near barns under nets, or even under common sieves; and in spring on a decoy bush, at the call of the chaffinch, if one of its own species cannot be procured.
Attractive Qualities.—We cannot boast of sweetness in the song of this bird, as it consists of low whistling, or a kind of warbling, intermixed at intervals with a shrill “raitch,” the whole somewhat resembling the first exercises of the chaffinch; but this wretched warbling may be improved by education. A mountain finch placed by the side of a chaffinch that sung well, learnt to imitate it tolerably, but I must confess that it never attained great perfection. I should warn bird-fanciers who wish to keep these birds for the beauty of their plumage, not to let them range with many companions, for they are quarrelsome, and very lavish in distributing severe pecks, especially if food is not very abundant. In Thuringia they are kept in cages to be employed as lures in the area or decoy enclosure. It is said that it is easier to teach them to go and come than the chaffinch.
THE HOUSE SPARROW.
Passer domestica, Ray; Le Moineau franc, Buffon; Der Haussperling, Bechstein.
Though this and the following species cannot be reckoned among those that are pleasant in a room, yet I must not omit them on account of their being easily preserved, and though distinguished neither for their song nor their colours, yet they make up for the want of these by agreeable qualities, that many, much more admired, do not possess.
It is almost superfluous to describe a species so well known. The total length is five inches and three quarters; the beak thick and blue black; the feet greyish brown; the top of the head and cheeks greyish ash-coloured with a broad chestnut streak behind the eyes, elsewhere surrounded with black.
The female differs a good deal, the upper part of the body being greyish red, spotted with black on the back, and the under part of a dusky greyish white.
The young males before their first moulting very much resemble their mothers.
The varieties known here are the white, the yellow, the tawny, the black, the blue, the ash-coloured, and the streaked.
Habitation.—In its wild state, it haunts the vicinity of houses; when confined, it is allowed to range the room.
Food.—If, unfortunately, it is too true that the sparrows cause great injury in ripe fields of wheat, barley, and peas, it must be acknowledged that they are very useful in our orchards and gardens, by destroying, in the spring, thousands of insects, on which they feed their young ones as well as themselves[44]. In the house, they feed on any kind of food: oats, hemp seed, or rape seed.
Breeding.—Small openings under the tiles, crevices in walls, empty martin’s nests, are the places they appropriate for breeding, and they line their nest thickly with feathers. The female has two or three broods every season, and has from five to seven young ones at a time.
Mode of Taking.—Sparrows are so cunning that it is difficult to attract them within the net or on lime twigs. They may be caught in numbers however on the brambles in a field where sheep are kept, by sticking plenty of bird-lime about them. They may be taken also by placing a net before those that have retired to cherry trees and under the tiles to sleep for the night.
Attractive Qualities.—The bird-fancier who enjoys seeing several birds running about the room, will, with pleasure, admit the sparrow among them, and may amuse himself especially by observing it breed and produce mules with the hen tree-sparrow. A jar or cup placed in a corner will serve as their nuptial bed. A male tree-sparrow with a hen sparrow does not succeed.
The sparrow may be easily taught to go and come at command, by choosing winter as the time to effect it. It is necessary first to keep it a month near the window in a large cage supplied with the best food, such as millet, meal, or white bread soaked in milk. It will even go there to deposit its eggs if a small box is placed in the cage, with an opening for it to enter at. Finally, no bird becomes more familiar, or testifies more attachment to its master. Its actions are very lively, confiding, and delicate. A soldier, says Buffon, had a sparrow which followed him every where, and knew him in the midst of the regiment.
THE TREE SPARROW, Lath.
Passer montana, Ray; Friquet, ou Moineau des haies, Buffon; Der Feldsperling, Bechstein.
This species is more beautiful than the preceding. In length it is five inches and a half; the beak is dusky; the feet are bluish flesh-coloured; the upper part of the head as far as the nape of the neck is reddish brown; the cheeks are white with a black spot; a white ring surrounds the neck; the back is spotted with black and red; the lower part of the back and the rump are grey brown; the throat white, the breast light ash-coloured; the belly dusky white; the quill feathers and tail are dark brown; the lesser wing-coverts rust-red; the greater, black with red edges and white tips, which form two transverse bars.
Two varieties are known, the white and streaked.
Habitation.—In their wild state, they are not only found throughout Europe, but also in the north of Asia and America. In Germany and England it is not so common as the house sparrow, for in some provinces it is never seen. It frequents gardens, orchards, and fields abounding with trees and hedges. In September, large flights are seen to fall upon the ripe fields of barley and oats.
In the house it is let run about like the former, which it does very awkwardly from having short legs, and this gives it the appearance of dragging along on its belly. It is only kept in a cage in countries where it is very rare.
Food.—This is the same as that of the preceding.
Breeding.—The nest must be sought in the holes of fruit trees, or in hollow willows at the water’s edge; it breeds twice in the year.
Mode of Taking.—This is the same as the preceding; but being less distrustful and cunning, it is easily enticed under a sieve placed before a barn in winter.
Attractive Qualities.—Its plumage is prettier than the preceding, its song is also less short and monotonous; but it is weak, and when it might be sweet, it is lost among the other songs in the room. The tree sparrow might be accustomed in the country to go and come at command by treating it in the manner described with respect to the house sparrow. It is more difficult to preserve it, and it generally dies of decline.
THE COMMON LINNET.
Fringilla cannabina, Linnæus; La Linotte, Buffon; Der Lanning, Bechstein.
The length of this well-known bird is more than five inches, of which the tail measures two inches and a half. The beak, six lines long, is dusky blue in summer, and in winter greyish white, with the point brown; the iris dark brown; the feet, eight lines high, are black. There are some very striking varieties produced by the season and age in the plumage of the male, which are not observed in the female, and these have caused great confusion in works on birds, so much, that bird-catchers are still persuaded these birds, in a different dress, are distinct species.
Instructed by long experience and the observations of many years, I hope to show in my description that our common linnet (Fringilla Linota, Linnæus), the greater redpole (Fringilla cannabina, Linnæus), and, according to all appearance, the mountain linnet (Fringilla montana, Linnæus), are one and the same species. A male three years old or less, is distinguished in spring by the following colours, and by the name of redpole. The forehead is blood red, the rest of the head reddish ashcoloured, the top rather spotted with black; the cheek, sides of the neck, and the circle round the eyes, have a reddish white tint; the feathers of the back are chestnut with the edges lighter; the upper tail-coverts are black edged with reddish white; the throat and under part of the neck are yellowish white, with some dashes of reddish grey; the sides of the breast are blood red edged with reddish white, the sides of the belly are pale rust-coloured; the rest of the under part of the body is reddish white; the greater wing coverts are black, bordered with reddish white, the others are rusty brown with a lighter border. The quill-feathers are black tipped with white, the first are edged with white nearly to the point, the narrow beard forms a parallel white streak to the quill-feathers; the tail is black and forked, the four outer feathers on both sides have a broad white border, that of the two middle feathers is narrower, and reddish white.
After moulting, in autumn, little red is seen on the forehead, because the feathers become coloured from the bottom to the top; the breast has not yet acquired its red tint, for the white border is still too wide; but when winter comes its colours appear.
Males one year old have no red on the head, and more dashes of black; the breast is pale red waved with pale and dark, the under part of the feathers on the breast is only a bright reddish grey brown, the edges of these feathers are of a reddish white; the back rust-colour has some detached spots of dark brown and reddish white. These birds are known under the name of grey linnets.
After the second moulting, if the reddish grey feathers are blown aside, blood red specks may be discovered on the forehead, and the red of the breast is only hidden by the wide yellowish white borders to the feathers; these are the yellow linnets, or the rock linnets, as they are called in Thuringia.
I have myself taken linnets whose foreheads and breasts have been bright reddish yellow instead of blood red, a colour, in fact, that sometimes, in the house, becomes blood red. Bird-catchers give these also the name of yellow linnets. It is a deterioration of the red caused by illness during moulting, or by old age, and they are not wrong in regarding them as the best and the finest singers. I have taken several, but on account of their scarcity, I have always kept them for myself. Their song was very fine and clear, but they cannot be tamed, and have generally died soon of sorrow and melancholy, from which I conclude that they were very old.
Besides these three different varieties of plumage of the males, there are several clouded, produced by the seasons and old age; for instance, the older they become, the redder the head is. I have in my cabinet all the gradations of this change. Birds brought up in the house never acquire the fine red on the forehead and breast, but remain grey like the males of one year old; on the other hand, old ones, red when brought into the house, lose their beautiful colours at the first moulting, and remaining grey like the young ones, are no more than grey linnets.
This difference of colour does not take place in the females, which are smaller than the males; the upper part of the body is grey streaked with dusky brown and yellowish white, on the rump with greyish brown and reddish white; these spots are more numerous on the breast; the wing-coverts are a dusky chestnut. The females are distinguished in the nest by the back being more grey than brown, and by the number of streaks on the breast, which resembles that of the lark; bird-fanciers leave these in the nest and take only the males.
Habitation.—In its wild state the linnets are spread throughout Europe. In the summer they frequent the skirts of large forests, thickets, hedges, and bushes, particularly furze; but as soon as September arrives, they pass in large flights to the fields. They are wandering birds, that in winter go hither and thither seeking food in places free from snow, but in March they return to their native places.
In confinement it is best to keep them in square cages, as they are less subject to giddiness in these than in round ones, and sing better. They are not often allowed to range the room, as they are very indolent, remaining immoveable in the same place, and running the risk of being trodden on; but if a small tree or a roost be placed in a corner, they may be let out of the cage with safety, as they will remain perched there, only leaving it to eat or drink, and will sing all day long.
Food.—When wild, their food is all kinds of seeds that they can shell, and these remain in the crop some time to be moistened before passing into the stomach. In the house, it is only summer rape seed,[45] which need not be soaked in water for them, as for the chaffinch, since, having a much stronger crop and stomach, they can digest much better. It is not necessary always to give them hemp seed with it, and they must not be fed abundantly, for taking little exercise, they easily become fat, and sometimes die from this cause; but a little salt mixed with their food is useful, as it preserves them from many diseases, and they like it. When linnets are allowed to run about, they will feed with the other birds on the common universal paste; but they must be given green vegetables, water, and sand, as they are very fond of bathing and dusting themselves.
Breeding.—Linnets have two broods in the year. They lay from four to six eggs for each, of a bluish white, speckled with reddish brown, especially at the large end. Their nest placed in a hedge, a white or black-thorn, or, if in a country where they are common, on a vine, or a furze bush, is composed of small twigs, dried grass and moss, and lined with wool, the hair of horses, and other animals. The parent birds feed their young ones from their beaks, and do not discontinue it if prisoners in the same cage. If the young ones are to be taught a new song, they must be taken from the nest when the shafts of the feathers are just appearing, that they may have no idea of their parents’ song. The males may be easily distinguished by their white collar, and from having the most white about the wings and tail.
Diseases.—The most common disorders of this species are constipation, atrophy, and epilepsy. A linnet, however, will, in general, live from ten to twelve years in the house.
Mode of Taking.—These birds are distrustful and suspicious, and, notwithstanding decoys and perching birds, it is very difficult to entice them within the decoy or area, and never many together. In the spring, by means of a good decoy-bird, a few may be taken on a decoy-bush. In the autumn, by fastening snares or lime twigs to the stalks of lettuces, of the seeds of which the linnets are very fond, several may be taken. Our shepherds turn and support the cribs, used to feed the sheep from, in such a manner, that the linnets, coming to gather the grains of salt, easily overturn them on themselves. The call of the linnet is “gäcker.”
Attractive Qualities.—The agreeable, brilliant, and flute-like song of the linnet, consists of several strains, succeeding each other very harmoniously. Our amateurs consider its beauty to depend on there being often mingled with it some acute and sonorous tones, that a little resemble the crowing of a cock, and have made people say that this bird crows. Its song is only interrupted during the year by moulting. A young one taken from the nest, which may be easily brought up on a mixture of the wetted crumb of white bread, soaked rape seed, and eggs boiled hard, not only learns the songs of different birds that it hears in the room, such as nightingales, larks, and chaffinches, but if kept by itself, airs and melodies that are whistled to it, and will even learn to repeat some words. Of all house birds, this, from the softness and flute-like sound of its voice, gives the airs that it is taught in the neatest and most agreeable manner. It is also one of those that pay best; some here cost from three to five rix-dollars when they can warble an air preceded and followed by a grand flourish as of trumpets. The weavers and shoemakers often bring up many of these birds. It is very pleasing and surprising to hear a young linnet that is well taught by a nightingale. I have one, whose imitations are as perfect as possible. It amuses me throughout the year, but especially when my nightingales are silent.
Linnets may be accustomed to go and come at command, by treating them in their youth, or in the winter, as I have directed for the house-sparrow; but as they are more timid, it is necessary to be more careful.
It is common for a male linnet to pair with a hen canary, and their progeny can scarcely be distinguished from the grey canary. They sing delightfully, and learn different airs with great facility.
It is well known, that among linnets, some are finer warblers than others, and that, as with many other birds, the old ones sing better than the young; on which account, yellow linnets, being the oldest, are the most valued.
THE LESSER REDPOLE.
Fringilla Linaria, Linnæus; Le Sizerin, ou Petite Linotte des Vignes, Buffon; Der Flachsfink, Bechstein.
In its plumage this bird resembles the linnet; but in its actions and shape it more resembles the siskin. It is five inches and one quarter in length, of which the tail measures two and one quarter; the beak, four lines long, is very sharp and yellow; its shanks, eight lines high, are black; the top of the head is a brilliant crimson; the upper part of the body is dark brown, spotted with white and rust yellow; the rump is rose-coloured; the throat black; the feathers on the under part of the neck and breast are bright rose-coloured, edged with white; the rest of the under part is white. The plumage of the female is lighter; the breast is not rose-coloured, except that when very old it acquires a slight tint, as well as the rump; the upper part of the body is spotted with white and deep brown, and the breast is rather speckled with the same colours. The latter characteristics serve to distinguish the females from young males, that also are without the rose-colour on the breast, but have the rust-coloured and dark brown back of the older birds. The males, confined to the house, lose, at the first moulting, the fine rose-coloured breast, and, at the second, the crimson of the head, which generally changes to a greenish yellow. I have a male bird, the top of whose head became, at the third moulting, of a fine golden yellow, and has retained its brilliancy for six years.
Habitation.—In its wild state the lesser redpole is found in every part of Europe; yet we must consider the north as its native home, Scotland, Sweden, Lapland, Norway, and Greenland. Great flights arrive amongst us at the end of October, and leave us in March and April. In winter, they frequent places planted with alders, the seeds of which they appear very fond of. They are principally found in company with siskins.
In the house, it shows off its beautiful plumage, which, alas! does not retain that beauty long, it is often placed in a pretty cage, but most commonly allowed to range through a room.
Food.—When at liberty, the seed of the alder is what these birds seek most eagerly; but they do not despise the seeds of flax, hemp, and even fir, and many other kinds. Being entirely grain-eating birds, their crop has the power of softening the food before it passes into the stomach.
In the house, if in a cage, they eat poppy, rape, and hemp seed; when at large, the first universal paste.
Breeding.—Occasionally a few stragglers breed with us, but this is rare.
Diseases.—The disorders of this species are the same as those of the siskin; but their feet are oftener diseased, and the toes skin off one after the other. They may be kept from eight to ten years.
Mode of Taking.—In the spring and autumn, the lesser redpoles may be taken in flocks in the area, or barn-floor trap, with a decoy of their own species, or even with a siskin. Many may also be caught with such a decoy on a decoy-bush. They are so silly, or so confiding, that they will even allow themselves to be taken close by the bird-catcher, who is collecting their entrapped companions. This stupidity, or simplicity, is common in all birds that come from the more remote northern parts. Brought up far from man, and out of reach of his pursuit, they know not that fear and distrust which is felt by those that inhabit populous countries. Their call is “peweet” and “crec, creck hewid.”
Attractive Qualities.—The lesser redpole pleases the eye more than the ear; its feeble warbling being only, if I may thus express it, a low continued clicking. It may be taught to draw water more easily than the goldfinch, and it will also learn many other little manœuvres, for it becomes very familiar, and will eat as soon as it is let loose after its capture. The mutual tenderness of the male and female is very pleasing. They are continually caressing each other with their bills, and even do the same to siskins, linnets, goldfinches, and canaries, from which it appears very likely that they would pair with these birds.
THE GOLDFINCH.
Fringilla Carduelis, Linnæus; Le Chardonneret, Buffon; Der Distelfink, Bechstein.
“Beauty of plumage,” says Buffon, “softness of voice, quickness of instinct, remarkable cleverness, proved docility, tender affection, are all united in this delightful little bird; and if it were rare, or if it came from a foreign country, it would then be valued as it deserves.” It is five inches and three quarters in length, of which the tail measures two. The beak, five lines long, very pointed, and rather flattish at the sides, is whitish, with the point horn-coloured. The shanks, six lines high, are delicate and brownish. The front of the head is a fine crimson, sometimes scarlet; a wide border of the same colour surrounds the under base of the beak; the bridle, as it is called, is black; the top of the head is black, which colour extends downwards, from the nape on each side, dividing the white on the cheeks from the white spot on the hinder part of the neck; the under part of the neck is white; the hinder part and the back are fine brown.
The female is rather smaller, and has not so much red round the bill; the bridle is brownish; the cheeks are mixed with light brown; the lesser wing coverts are brown; the back dark brown. The size, or the want of some white spots at the tips of the feathers, do not serve to distinguished the male from the female, as some bird-catchers say; nor ought we either to imagine that the size or number of these spots constitute different varieties; for all these distinctions are accidental, and depend on physical strength and age. Our bird-catchers think the large ones that are nearly the shape of the greater redpole form a distinct species, and they give them the name of Fir Goldfinches, because they say they always build in fir forests. Those that do not exceed the size of the red-breast, they call Orchard Goldfinches, because they suppose they always build in orchards. But these differences and pretences are imaginary, because both are found of different sizes, the orchard goldfinch large, and the fir, or wood goldfinch, quite small. The young ones that are hatched first are always stronger and larger than those hatched last, because they often carry off the food intended for the latter, and, therefore, being better fed, they become larger and stronger. This is sufficient to explain the difference of size in different individuals of the same species.
The following varieties are better established:—1. The goldfinch, with a yellow breast; 2. With a white head; 3. With the head black—four young ones of this variety were found in the same nest; 4. The white goldfinch; 5. And the black goldfinch, this being either entirely black, which often happens in a cage, from giving it too much hemp seed, or from old age; or it only retains the yellow spot on the wings, which is also occasioned by captivity. M. Schilbach, superintendant of the menagerie of Cassel, tried an experiment on a whole brood. He deprived the birds of the light of the sun, even covered the cage with a piece of cloth, and, by these means, obtained very black goldfinches, with only the yellow spot on the wings; but they changed colour after moulting. Those in which the black does not change are very old. It is, in fact, a sign of approaching death.
Habitation.—In their wild state goldfinches are found in all parts of Europe, frequenting orchards, brambles, thickets, and mountainous districts, interspersed with wood and fields, during the summer. These birds are stationary, not changing their haunts in winter; they merely assemble in the autumn in families, or rather in little flocks of fifteen or twenty, seeking here and there places abounding in thistles, and only when the snow becomes too deep leaving such localities for others more accessible.
In the house, if kept in a cage, this should be a square one, because these birds do not like hopping about the upper part, as they would be forced to do, if in a bell-shaped cage, and also inclined to swing round. When they run on the floor they should be given a small artificial tree for a roost; for they like to perch on this whilst singing as well as sleeping.
Food.—Their food, when wild, consists of all kinds of small seeds, such as lettuce, goats'-beard, scorzonera, thistle, radish, and canary seed.
With us, in the house, they are principally fed on poppy, hemp seed, properly varied with lettuce, rape, and canary seed. If allowed to range, the second universal paste agrees very well with them. I have a goldfinch, which appears in good health, and eats not only of all the vegetables brought to table, but also meat, though, in their wild state, these birds never touch insects[46]. They must have green food occasionally, such as chickweed, water-cresses, lettuce, or endive. These birds feed largely, when loose in the room, rarely leaving the food-dish, and driving off, if they can, with loud cries, any of their companions who wish to approach. They will allow those birds, however, to feed peaceably with them, that bear some analogy to their species, at least, in the nature of the stomach, such as the canary, siskin, and especially the lesser redpole, without distinction of male or female.
Breeding.—The goldfinch prefers building in large orchards, at the tops of trees, on weak and terminal branches. It makes the most beautiful nest of any of our birds, except the chaffinch, it being finely rounded, very elegant and firm. The outer part is constructed of fine moss, lichens, stalks of grass, and slender twigs; the whole being interwoven with the greatest nicety. The interior is lined with wool, horse-hair, and the cotton or down of the thistle[47], or willow. The female has rarely more than one brood in the year, unless she has been disturbed, and, in this case, the number of eggs is always diminished; on this account goldfinches never appear to increase in number. On a sea-green ground, the eggs have pale red spots and speckles, mingled with streaks of reddish black, which often form a circle at the large end. The parent birds disgorge the food into the young ones’ throats. Before the first moulting the heads of the young birds are grey. If it is only wished to take male birds from the nest, all that have a whitish ring round the root of the beak, must be left. They must be brought up on poppy-seed and the crumb of white bread, soaked in milk or water. Of all the natural songs of birds, they imitate most easily and perfectly that of the canary; they also pair with the canary, and produce together fruitful young ones. For this purpose, a male goldfinch is paired with one or two female canaries, which succeeds better than by placing a male canary with a female goldfinch; the former being more amorous, most favours this union, particularly if educated from youth. The fruit of this union are not less distinguished for the beauty of their plumage, often yellow, with the head, wings, and tail, of the goldfinch, than for the sweetness of their song, whether natural or acquired.
If you are afraid that a pair of canaries you value, may not hatch their eggs as you wish, place them in the nest of a goldfinch in your orchard, and you may be certain that they will be properly matured, and the young ones brought up in the best manner. When they are ready to fly, place them in a cage, and suspend it by the side of the nest till they can feed themselves. By this means you will have no trouble with their education.
CANARY CAGE FOR PARLOUR.
Diseases.—Epilepsy is one of the commonest disorders of this bird. If the eyes are weak and swollen, anoint them with fresh butter. Stupor and giddiness being very properly attributed to too great a use of hemp seed, it is best to suppress it entirely, and supply its place with the seed of lettuce and thistles. This latter is so beneficial, that it would be well to give them, from time to time, a head to pluck the seeds for themselves.
Old age makes them blind, and deprives them of their beautiful colours; yet, notwithstanding all the evils with which they are afflicted, in a cage a goldfinch has been known to live sixteen years, and even twenty, or twenty-four years.
Mode of Taking.—In spring these birds are taken on a lure bush, with a decoy bird of their own species. They will also enter the area, or barn-floor trap, with chaffinches, if bundles of thistles are placed there; but it is not without difficulty, for they are very watchful to avoid nets and lime-twigs. In the winter, by building up bundles of thistles, and placing snares and traps on them, several may be caught; but in autumn and spring lime-twigs should be placed on them in preference. It is a still better plan to place bundles of thistles in a tree stuck about with lime-twigs. The goldfinch’s call is “tziflit,” or “sticlit,” which is its name in Bohemia.
Attractive Qualities.—The goldfinch is a very beautiful, lively, active bird, always in motion, and turning continually to the right and left. Its agreeable song, which is only discontinued during moulting, is a mixture of tones and harmonies, more or less dwelt upon, and the oftener the sound “fink” is introduced the more it is admired amongst us. There are some goldfinches that utter it only once or twice in their strains, whilst others will repeat it four or five times following. This species learn with difficulty to repeat airs from the flageolet, or other birds’ songs, and in this respect is inferior to canaries and linnets; but it is remarkable for its docility. Goldfinches have been seen to let off a small cannon, and imitate death. When properly instructed they will draw up their food and water. They are taught this by means of a chain or pulley, furnished with a soft leather band, two lines wide, pierced with four holes, through which the wings and feet are to be passed; the two ends meeting under the belly, and are retained there by a ring, to which is fastened the chain that supports the bucket containing the water or food. Whenever the little waterman wants either, he draws up the chain with his beak, fixing it at intervals with his foot, and thus succeeds in obtaining what he wishes; but if his little buckets are suspended to a pulley, raising one makes the other descend, and he can only enjoy his food and water in turn.
I have also seen goldfinches and siskins, placed in different cages, that have little bells fixed to the seed drawer in such a way that the bird cannot take its food without ringing them; the bells being harmonised, tolerably agreeable chimes are produced, but one is soon tired of such trifles.
The goldfinch is taught to go and come at command, without any danger of losing it, much sooner than the linnet, though the latter learns quite as soon to build in the room. To accomplish this feat the winter should be chosen, and the cage, containing a goldfinch that has not been rendered tender by having been too long accustomed to the heat of the room, must be placed on the outside of the window every day, or on a shelf intended for it, and where the mice cannot reach it. Hemp seed must be scattered round, and a bunch of thistle heads fastened by the side, the seeds of which should be mixed with the hemp seed. Presently one or more goldfinches, attracted by the call of the prisoner, collect, to take advantage of the scattered food; as soon as you have succeeded so far it is useless to let the decoy remain any longer exposed to the cold, which may injure it. It will be quite sufficient to place the cage within the window, and to put on the outside a cage as a trap, not for the sake of catching these birds, but to scare away the sparrows, that would soon eat up all the seed unless thus prevented; and in order that the trap may only close when you wish, the door should be supported by a string, passing into the room, and loosened, to catch the sparrows, but the goldfinches should be allowed to go in and out at pleasure, till the snow is on the point of disappearing, then close the trap on those you wish to keep: the birds thus captured should be placed in a cage, where they will soon grow tame, and learn to go and return to it. Whatever form this cage is of, the door should be hung so as to remain open as long as is required, and be closed without noise or alarming the bird, either by means of a spring, that may be acted on by the bird, without his perceiving it, or by his pushing the door of it open on the inside. When a goldfinch has been thus trained it may be let fly without fear the following August, at the time of moulting. It is true that it will be lost for some time, but it will not fail to return in December, when the ground is covered with snow, and it will sing much more sweetly than it would had it been kept prisoner. As soon as it has flown, a cage should constantly be hung outside the window, and seeds placed in it, that, if it should chance to return, it may find food; but it is rarely seen again till winter: at that time the cage should be so arranged that the door may be closed as soon as the bird enters, as it used to do in the room; the surest way is to attract it by a call bird. It must not be allowed to come out so often as before, and it will remain, without injury, shut up till the season arrives for giving it its liberty again. The same course may be pursued for the tit, and with still more success for the chaffinch, which does not enter the snares of the bird-catcher as easily as the others. If it is feared that it may be caught in a neighbouring area or barn-floor trap, it may be frightened from this snare in future, by stretching a net once, in the orchard or garden near. The greenfinch is the best for this manœuvre, as it is extremely fond of hemp seed, is more rarely taken, and returns less wild than the chaffinch. The birds that enjoy their liberty in the summer sing more finely than without this advantage, and, what is almost incredible, though taken to a distance of several leagues, they have always found their master’s house again[48].
THE SISKIN.
Fringilla Spinus, Linnæus; Le Tarin, Buffon; Der Zeisig, Bechstein.
This bird is four inches and three quarters in length, of which the tail measures one and three quarters. The beak, four lines long, becomes narrower towards the tip, which is very sharp and brown; the rest is light grey, and in winter white. The shanks, eight lines in height, are dusky; the top of the head and throat are black; the cheeks, the back of the neck, and back are green; the latter streaked with a dusky colour; the rump, breast, under part of the neck, and the line that passes over the eyes, are greenish yellow.
The throat of the male rarely becomes black till the second year; the older it becomes the more of yellow and beauty it attains.
The varieties are the black siskin, the white siskin, and the speckled siskin. I have occasionally killed these birds with a breast entirely black.
Habitation.—In its wild state it is found throughout Europe; it is very common in Germany, where it remains all the year[49], but in winter it wanders about in search of food, and most frequents the parts well planted with alders. In the house, whether in a cage or not, it soon becomes very familiar.
Food.—When wild it varies according to the season; in summer it eats in the woods the seeds of the pine and fir; in autumn, of hops, thistles, burdock; in winter, of the alder and the buds of trees.
In the house its food is poppy-seed and a little hemp-seed bruised. If allowed to range, the first universal paste suits it. It is a complete glutton, and, though so small, eats more than the chaffinch; it is at the seed drawer from morning till night, constantly eating, and driving off all its companions. It does not drink less, and requires abundance of fresh water; yet it bathes but little, only plunging the beak in the water, and thus scattering it over its feathers, but it is very assiduous in arranging them; it may be called a fop, always engaged with finery.
Breeding.—The siskin rarely builds its nest among the alders, but generally in the pine forests, placing it at the extremity of the highest branches, and fixing it there with cobwebs, the threads of insects and lichens. The outer part is well formed of small twigs, and the lining is formed of finely divided roots. It has two broods in the year, each of five or six eggs, of a light grey, strongly spotted with purplish brown, particularly at the large end. The young males become finer each year till the fourth.
The mules, produced by the siskin pairing with the canary, partake of the two species, and are very prettily spotted if the canary is yellow; but this union is not so easy as that with the green canary, which appears to bear a nearer relation to the siskin.
Diseases.—To the other maladies common to the birds of this family we must add epilepsy, of which these birds often die[50]. They may, however, be kept from eight to twelve years.
Mode of Taking.—With good traps and nets made for this purpose, several dozen of these birds may be taken at once in the winter. They also collect in numbers, in the spring, on the decoy bush, and they are so fearless, that in the villages a person, who has his house situated near a stream bordered with alders, need only place a siskin in the window, near a stick covered with bird-lime, and he may catch as many as he wishes. I have caught some at my window in a cage strewed with hemp and poppy-seed, by letting the door fall by means of a string, when the birds had entered, one of the decoy birds in my room serving to attract them. When the place where they drink at noon is discovered amongst the alders, numbers may be caught by merely laying across the stream some branches covered with bird-lime.
Attractive Qualities.—Their plumage and song are both attractive, though with the latter several tones are mingled, that somewhat resemble the noise made by a stocking-loom. This makes them great favourites with stocking-weavers. They imitate tolerably the song of other birds, such as that of the tit, the chaffinch, and the lark; but they cannot give a musical air. Their carolling is only interrupted during moulting, and very much tends to excite their companions to warble in their turn. The loss of their liberty affects them so little, that they will eat as soon as let out of the hand, after being caught, and on the second day will allow any one to approach their cage without alarm. They are soon taught to draw up little buckets, and many other little manœuvres that they execute gaily; there is no difficulty in accustoming them to go and return if the winter is chosen; the cage should be kept open at the window, and hemp and poppy-seed scattered at the entrance; they will return there in general, and bring several companions with them. This plan will not succeed so well in March, September, and October, the time when these birds roam through the country in search of food, though I have seen some tamed in this manner return after a long absence.
THE RING SPARROW.
Fringilla petronia, Linnæus; La Soulci, Buffon; Der Graufink, Bechstein.
Independently of the beak, this bird may be taken for a female yellowhammer, as it resembles it so much in its shape and plumage. Its length is five inches three-quarters, of which the tail measures two. The beak, five lines long, is thick at the base, grey brown above, and white below. The feet, ten lines high, are grey brown; the whole head is of a reddish ash-colour, but a dirty white ring surrounds it from one eye to the other.
The female is greyer on the upper part of the body, and the front of the neck is only pale yellow.
Observations.—Ring sparrows are found in most European forests, or woods; they are common enough in several parts of Germany[51], those that inhabit the northern parts removing in winter; but the others are stationary.
They live on seeds and insects like the house sparrow, and make their nests in hollows of trees. In the house they are fed on rape and poppy-seeds; they also readily eat the first universal paste. They are less prized for their warbling, which is insignificant, than for their beauty or rarity.
THE SERIN FINCH.
Fringilla serinus, Linnæus; Le Serin vert, ou le Cini, Buffon; Der Girlitz, Bechstein.
This bird is smaller than the siskin, its length not exceeding four inches and a quarter, of which the tail measures one inch and a third. The beak is short and thick, brown above and white below; the iris is dark chestnut. The shanks are six lines high, and are of a flesh colour. The plumage of the male very much resembles that of the grey canary; the front of the head, the circle round the eyes, a kind of collar, the breast and belly, are pale jonquil-coloured, mixed with a little green; the nape of the neck, the cheeks, the temples, and lesser wing-coverts, are of a canary green, mingled with rust colour and black.
The spots scattered over the plumage are not isolated, but united to each other by an undulating line; they are so small on the head, that it is only speckled.
It is necessary to examine the female very closely to distinguish it from the siskin, for, with the exception of a reddish grey tint, the colours are the same; but its beak is shorter, its tail longer, and its shape freer.
From my latest observations this bird appears to be the same as the citril finch; comparing them together in cabinets has confirmed my opinion; but that which has decided me is the testimony of my friend, Dr. Meyer, of Offenbach, who has often seen and even fed in his house several of these birds. From him I derive the rest of this article.
SERIN FINCH.
Habitation.—It is not more than ten years since the serin was observed between Frankfort and Offenbach. They arrive every year in large flights, during March, and depart in October; but there are always some that remain all the winter. Several were taken in January, 1800, when the thermometer was at twenty-one degrees Réaumur, and I myself have seen some near Offenbach at the end of February. They appear to prefer fruit trees, yet in woods they also appear attached to beech and oak trees; but I have never met with them by the sides of rivers or streams planted with willows.
Food.—They feed on all the small seeds found in fields and orchards, particularly groundsel, plantain, garden pimpernel, and others of the same kind.
In the house, rape, mixed with a little poppy seed, agrees very well with them; a few grains of hemp seed and husked oats may be added from time to time.
Breeding.—Their nest is generally placed on the lower branches of apple and pear trees, sometimes on beeches and oaks, but never on willows by the water-side. It is constructed of fine and divided roots, mosses, lichens, principally of those which are farinaceous, the whole being entwined with great nicety, and lined with a thick bed of feathers, horse-hair, and pigs’ bristles. They lay three or four, rarely five, eggs of the form of, but rather smaller than, those of the canary; white, but having at the large end a circle of spots and dots of a bright reddish brown. The hen sits on the eggs thirteen or fourteen days, during which time the male feeds her. He also helps to feed the young ones, which is done by disgorging the food; the young perfectly resemble the grey linnet; they may be reared easily on soaked rape seed; but it is best to take the parent birds, and place them in the cage with their little ones, which they will continue to feed. The young birds remain grey till after moulting, they then attain their full plumage, as described before, but are never so beautiful in the house as in their wild state. After being kept a few years in a cage, the yellow in those taken full grown becomes pale, and fades at length to nearly white. This bird will pair with the canary, siskin, linnet, or goldfinch.
Mode of Taking.—These birds are easily taken in the area, or barn-floor trap, on a decoy bush, and with lime twigs placed near the stalks of plantain.
Diseases.—With the exception of consumption, of which one I had died, I know of no disease they are subject to.
Observations.—Of all house birds, these are the most sprightly and indefatigable songsters. Their voice is not strong, but it is very melodious. The song, with the exception of a few passages, is like the lark’k, and might be mistaken for the canary’y. In their wild state they sing incessantly, either perched on the outer branches of a tree, or whilst rising in the air, and gently sinking again to their former situation, or whilst flying from tree to tree. Their call resembles that of the canary, and their habits are also similar to that species.
They are of a very affectionate character; when allowed to range the room with siskins, linnets, and similar birds, they will caress all with the beak, but seem to prefer the company of the goldfinch, whose tones they will imitate, and improve their warbling by it. They are indeed very attractive birds.
THE CITRIL FINCH.
Fringilla citrinella, Linnæus; Le Venturon, Buffon; Der Citronenfink, Bechstein.
This bird very nearly resembles the canary in its colour, shape, song, and habits; but it is smaller and its notes weaker. Its resemblance, however, is so marked, that I should be inclined to suppose it the primitive wild stock, if the canary had not its representative in those islands from which it takes its name. The length of the citril finch is five inches, of which the tail measures two. The beak is short, the feet flesh-coloured, the plumage on the upper part of the body yellowish green, streaked with brown; the under part of the rump greenish yellow; the principal tint on the breast yellow.
The female is less spotted, and the general shade of colour is lighter.
Observations.—This species, inhabiting the south of Europe, occasionally strays into the southern parts of Germany[52], and the sweetness of their song makes them much sought after. They should be treated in the same manner as canaries.
THE LAPLAND FINCH.
Fringilla Laponica, Linnæus; Le Grand Montain, Buffon; Der Lerchenfink, Bechstein.
This would be mistaken for a lark at first sight, as much from its plumage as from the length of its spur. We should also see them much oftener in Germany if the bird-catchers, who catch them in their lark’s nests, did not take or kill them both indifferently. Their decoys are the same as the buntings (Emberizæ, Linn.), for though we cannot observe them much whilst alive, we cannot be deceived as to their pairing with finches (Fringillæ, Linn.) buntings and larks. They are about the size of the yellowhammer, six inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures two. The beak is yellow, with a black tip; the feet dark brown; the head blackish, spotted with reddish white, sometimes quite black; a white line passes from the base of the bill above the eyes, down each side of the neck, curving towards the breast; the upper part of the body is red, with brown spots; the throat and breast are pale red; some males are black in the middle of the lower part.
The female is paler in its colours; its breast is spotted with grey and black; in fact its plumage resembles the field lark’k.
Observations.—This bird is always found in the north, both in the old and new world, and goes towards the south in winter. It is met with by us on its arrival with the larks, and on its return with the snow bunting, but it is oftenest taken with larks. Its call is a kind of shrill whistle, and its song is very similar to the linnet’t; the female also warbles, but only in the bullfinch’s style. It ranges the room like the lark, and if in a cage hops about its perches like the chaffinch. It is fed on rape, hemp, and poppy seed, which appear to agree with it very well. It may be fed at less expense on the first universal paste, as it also likes meal worms. I think that in its wild state it lives, like the chaffinch, on seeds and insects.
THE SNOW FINCH.
Fringilla nivalis, Linnæus; Le Niverole, ou Pinson de neige, Buffon; Der Schneefin, Bechstein.
The name has been given it as much from its being found on high mountains and the colour of its plumage, as for its resemblance to the snow bunting. Its total length is seven inches and a quarter, of which the tail measures two and a half; the beak six lines long, very pointed, but thick at the base, and of a glossy black; the feet ten lines high, dark chestnut colour: its plumage is pretty; the top of the head, cheeks, temples, nape, back, and sides of the neck are dark ash-coloured.
The female only differs from the male in the grey of the head having a reddish tint, and the whole of the under part of the body, being white; the breast has also a dirtier shade, and the sides are spotted with black.
Observations.—The snow finch inhabits the southern Alps, but is found as far north as the middle of Germany. I have even seen them in Thuringia, in company with the mountain finch; it is a sprightly bird, and very fearless in a cage. It may be fed on rape, millet, and hemp seed; but it appears to prefer the seed of the fir and nettle hemp (Galeopsis cannabina): one would think that in its wild state it also fed on insects, as it readily takes meal worms when offered them. Its call is “kipp, kipp.” It sings a great deal, but its song is not more agreeable than the mountain finch’h, to which it appears allied, and like that is only kept in the house for its beauty and rarity.
THE CANARY.
Fringilla canaria, Linnæus; Le Serin de Canarie, Buffon; Der Canarienvogel, Bechstein.
This pleasing bird had its origin in the pleasant climate and delightful valleys of the Canary Islands, and is now spread throughout Europe, part of Asia, and as far as Siberia. The beauty of its form, its plumage, and its song, united with its great docility, soon gained it admittance into the most magnificent abodes, where every one delights in rearing and preserving it, whilst the fairest hands are often eager to present it with the most delicate food. It was brought into our climate as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century. The arrival of the canary in Europe, is thus described:—A vessel, which besides its merchandise was bringing a number of these birds to Leghorn, was shipwrecked on the coast of Italy, opposite the island of Elba, where these little birds, having been set at liberty, took refuge. The climate being favourable, they increased, and would certainly have become naturalised, had not the wish to possess them occasioned their being caught in such numbers, that at last they were extirpated from their new country. From this cause Italy was the first European country where the canary was reared. At first their education was difficult, as the proper manner of treating them was unknown; and what tended to render them scarce was, that only the male birds were brought over, no females.
The grey of its primitive colour, darker on the back and greener on the belly, has undergone so many changes from its being domesticated, from the climate, and from the union with birds analogous to it (in Italy with the citril finch, the serin; in our country with the linnet, the green finch, the siskin, and the goldfinch), that now we have canaries of all colours. If we had not sufficient proof that canaries came originally from the Fortunate Islands, we should think the citril finch, the serin, and the siskin, were the wild stock of this domesticated race. I have seen a bird, whose parent birds were a siskin and serin, which perfectly resembled a variety of the canary which is called the green. I have also seen mules from a female grey canary, in which was no trace of their true parentage. The grey, the yellow, the white, the blackish, and the chestnut, are the principal varieties, and it is from their combination, and from their tints, that we derive the numerous varieties that we now possess.
Those canaries, that have the upper part of the body of a dusky grey or linnet brown, and the under part the yellowish green of the green-bird, with dark brown eyes, are the strongest, and most nearly resemble the primitive race[53]. The yellow and white often have red eyes, and are the most tender. The chestnut are the most uncommon, and hold a middle rank for strength and length of life between the two extremes. But as the plumage of the intermediate ones is a mixture of these principal colours, their value depends on the pretty and regular manner in which they are marked. The canary that is most admired amongst us now, is one with the body white or yellow, the head, particularly if crested, wings and tail, yellowish dun; the second in degree is of a golden yellow, with the head, wings and tail black, or at least dusky grey. Next follow the grey or blackish, with a yellow head and collar; the yellow, with a blackish or green tuft, which are very much valued. As for those that are irregularly spotted, speckled, or variegated, they are much less sought after, and are used to pair with those of one colour, white, yellow, grey, brown-grey[54], and the like.
The female can scarcely be distinguished from the male, but the male has generally deeper and brighter colours, a head rather larger and longish, a longer body, a more elegant form, neck not quite so short, and higher shanks. There is a feather under the beak, of the shape of a bean, placed lower than the rest, and the temples and circle round the eyes are of a deeper yellow than the other parts of the body.
The length of the canary is five inches, of which the tail measures two and a quarter: the beak, five lines long, is strong, very pointed, and whitish; the shanks, eight lines in height, are of a flesh-colour.
I shall end this description with an account of the different mule birds obtained from the canaries.
Mule Canaries.—1. Mules between a Canary and a Goldfinch, present in their plumage an agreeable mixture of the colours of their parents. The most beautiful which I have seen was greyish ash-colour in the middle of its crest, and silvery white on the rest of its head and nape; a broad orange border surrounded the beak, and the neck was adorned with a white collar; the back was a dusky grey, with black streaks; the rump white, the under part of the body of a snowy whiteness; the under tail-coverts, the wings and first quill-feathers white, but the others, as well as the coverts, black, edged with yellow; the middle of the wing was also adorned with a beautiful golden yellow spot; the white tail had a black spot on the sides, the white beak was tipped with black, the feet were white. The mother of this beautiful bird was white, with a greenish grey crest. In general, one may be sure of fine birds when yellow or white females are paired with goldfinches.
2. Mules between the Canary and the Siskin.—If the mother be a green canary, the mules will resemble a female siskin; but, if she is white or yellow, their colours are lighter, yet without differing greatly from those of the siskin, which they always resemble in shape.
3. Mules between a Canary and a Green-bird, or a Citril Finch.—If the hen canary is neither white nor yellow, the mules differ little from the common grey or green canary, except in being more slender, and having the beak shorter and thicker.
4. Mules between a Canary and a Linnet will be speckled if the mother is white or yellow, but if she is grey they will be like her, except that the tail will be longer.
The other mules are rarer, because more difficult to obtain, as we shall see elsewhere.
Habitation.—Except in the breeding season the male canaries are kept alone in separate cages, which, whatever the shape, ought not to be less than eight inches in diameter and a foot in height, with two sticks placed across for the bird to perch on. The females may be allowed to range the room with one wing clipped, or, what is better, kept in large cages, where, from having plenty of exercise, their health and strength are better preserved. In the small cages, glass vases should be placed on the outside, at the extremities of the lower stick, to hold the food and water. These may be surmounted with a cap of tin, or something of the kind, to prevent the seed from being so easily scattered. It is for this reason that the large seed drawers in an aviary are covered with iron wire-work, leaving only sufficient spaces for the heads of the birds to pass through. Cleanliness being a great preservative against most of their disorders, the bottom of the cage should be made to draw out, that it may the easier be cleaned and covered with sand. This should be done every day, or at least several times a week. These tender birds, being natives of a warm climate, and becoming more delicate instead of hardier from being kept in the house, require a temperature analogous to that of their native climate. They must be protected from the cold, and never allowed to remain in winter in a cold room, which would occasion many diseases, or even death. But, in summer, it is proper to place them in the open air, and they enjoy it very much. Never do they sing so gaily as on fine days, and their cages should therefore be placed at the open window, that they may have the advantage of the light and heat of the sun, which is particularly serviceable to them whilst bathing.
Food.—This is an important point, for, in proportion as it is simple and natural, it will be wholesome; and, on the contrary, the more it is mixed and rare, the more injurious and productive of disease will it be. What I have found the best is summer rape-seed; I mean that which is sown at the end of spring, which is small and brown, in distinction from the winter rape-seed, which is sown in the autumn, and which is large and black. This seed alone agrees with canaries as well as with linnets: but to give them the pleasure of variety, a little bruised hemp or canary, or poppy-seed, is added to it, especially in the spring, when they are intended to breed. Indeed a mixture of summer rape-seed, oatmeal and millet, or canary-seed, may be given them as a great treat. But whatever seeds they may have, they equally require green food, as chickweed in spring, lettuce and radish leaves in summer, endive, water-cress, and slices of sweet apple, in winter. As to that whimsical and complicated mixture, prescribed and used by many people, of rape, millet, hemp, canary seed, whole oats and oatmeal, poppy, lettuce, plantain, potentilla, and pink seeds, maize, sugar, cake, hard biscuit, cracknels, buns, and the like, so far from being wholesome, it injures the birds in every respect. It spoils their taste, weakens their stomachs, renders them feeble, sickly, and incapable of bearing moulting, under which they most frequently die. It is true, they may be accustomed to eat of everything which comes to table, but to teach this habit is also to prepare a poison for them, which though slow is not the less sure, and brings them to a premature death; whilst every day we see bird-fanciers who are poor, who hardly know the names of these delicacies, rear, on the simplest food, a considerable number of the healthiest, cleverest, and strongest canaries. We must, however, be guided in a great measure by the constitutions of the birds. They should be daily supplied with fresh water, as well for drinking as bathing, in which they delight. In the moulting season, a nail or bit of iron should be put into the water, in order to strengthen the stomach. Saffron and liquorice are in this case more hurtful than useful. Grains of the sand, with which the bottom of the cage is strewed, afford the birds a help to digestion. What has been said above, refers solely to the food of full-grown canaries; the young, which cannot feed themselves, require a different diet.
Breeding.—A very important branch in the history of the canary is its education, which is not without difficulties, but these are augmented by all the refinements and artificial plans which some persons follow with so much parade. A male of from two to five years of age should be chosen for pairing; for experience has taught, that if a young male is placed among older females, they will produce more males than females. A bird is known to be old by the blackish and rough scales of his feet, and by his long and strong claws.
Good males are valuable and scarce. Some are dull and melancholy, always sad, and seldom singing; indifferent to their mates, which are equally so to them; others are so passionate, that they beat or even kill their mates and their young; others are too ardent, and pursue their mates while they are sitting, tear the nest, destroy the eggs, or excite the females so much that they voluntarily abandon them.
The females have also their defects. Some, too ardent, only lay without sitting; others neglect to feed their young, beat them, and pick out their feathers, so that the wretched little creatures die miserably; to others, laying is so painful that they are too much fatigued to sit, or they lay each egg only after a long interval. Quacks (for we find them on this subject as on others) pretend to have specifics for the cure of these defects; but their pretended remedies are mere deceptions, and the use of them causes much trouble. The best plan is to remove the vicious birds, and to retain only those which have none of the above-named bad qualities.
To obtain the most brilliant colours, those birds which have them clear, and whose spots are distinct and regular, are paired together. This, of course, can only be done in separate cages. In aviaries, where the birds pair by choice, the offspring are generally mixed and blotted. A greenish or brownish bird, placed with a bright yellow one, often produces dim white, or other admired colours. It is better never to place together two crested birds, because the offspring is apt to have a part of the head bald or otherwise disfigured.
The best time for pairing canaries is the middle of April. Either one male, and one or two females, are placed in a large cage, or many of both sexes are united in a room or aviary, having the advantage of a south aspect. Nests made of turned wood, or osiers, are given them, as straw ones are too easily torn. It is a good plan to place in the room or aviary slips of pine, which being cut in February do not lose their leaves. If a little enclosure of wire-gauze can be fixed over the window, where the birds can enjoy the fresh air, nothing will more effectually contribute to render the young healthy and robust.
Birds, which are to be paired for the first time, should be previously placed in the same cage for seven or eight days, in order to become acquainted and accustomed to live together. If two females are to be caged with one male, it is especially necessary that they should be together long enough to leave off quarrelling, and the pairing cage should be divided into two equal parts, communicating by a sliding door. This being done, a lively male and one of the females should be placed in the first division; as soon as she has laid, the male should be moved into the other division, the door of separation being shut; but as soon as the other has also laid, the door may be left open: the male will then visit the females alternately, and they will not trouble themselves about each other; but without these precautions jealousy would incline them to fight, and destroy each other’s eggs. When it is intended to place a great many females, double or treble the number of males, in a room or aviary, the latter should always be first paired with a single female, which will ever after remain the favourite; and it will only be when she is about to sit that he will pair with the others, and this is all the notice he will take of them, for afterwards he will only notice their young. It is from these mothers, however, that the most and the best birds are generally procured.
If the floor of the room or aviary is well covered with moss, little else need be added for making the nests, otherwise they should be supplied with the hair of cows and deer, hogs’ bristles, fine hay, lint, wool cut two or three inches long, paper shavings, and the like. That which is coarsest serves for the outside, and the softest and finest for the inside. If they have shrubs, traces of the natural instinct of the canary are soon observed in the nests which they construct without the help of the turner or basket weaver; but they are of an inelegant form, and the outside is not very carefully finished. The females alone, as is usual among birds, are the builders, the males only choosing the situation and bringing the materials. It is in the nest, where the female is in continual motion, that the pairing takes place; she invites the male by constant little chirpings, repeated more quickly the nearer she is to laying. Seven or eight days are generally reckoned from the first pairing to the laying of the first egg; the other eggs, whose number varies, without exceeding six, are laid successively every following day, and often at the same hour. The laying ended, pairing continues during the first days of incubation.
If the pairs agree, they must be left entirely to themselves, without endeavouring to use art to help nature, as many do. It is usual to take away the first egg and substitute an ivory one, which is repeated with the others to the last, preserving them in the mean time in a box filled with fine dry sand; they are afterwards restored all together to the nest to be hatched[55].
The females lay three or four times a year, from April till September; there are some even so prolific that moulting does not stop them. The eggs, of a sea-green colour, are at one end more or less spotted or marked with maroon or violet. The period of incubation is thirteen days.
If, owing to the weakness of the male or female, it is suspected that some of the eggs are barren, they should on the eighth day be examined by holding them lightly between the fingers in the sunshine or before a candle; the good ones will be already filled with blood-vessels, while the bad will continue clear, or even be already addled: these must be thrown away. It is rare for the male to sit in his turn during some hours of the day, the female seldom allowing it, for as soon as she has eaten she flies back to the nest. If the male gives up his place readily, so much the better; if not, she drives him away by force and by pecking him. She appears to know his want of skill in this employment.
The near discharge of a gun, a door slammed with violence, and other similar noises, will often kill the young in the shell; but their death happens generally through the fault of a bad sitter.
As soon as the young are hatched, a small jar is placed beside the usual feeding trough, which contains a quarter of a hard egg minced very fine, white and yellow together, with a bit of white bread steeped in water, and afterwards well pressed; another jar should contain rape seed which has been boiled, and then washed in fresh water, to remove all its acrimony. Some persons, instead of white bread, use biscuit, but this is unnecessary; what, on the contrary, is very essential, is to take care that this food does not turn sour, for it would then infallibly destroy the young nurslings. This food I find by experience to be the best.
Now is the time when the male assumes his important duties of nursing-father. These he fulfils indeed almost alone, in order to give his mate time to rest before a new sitting. When it is necessary to bring up the young by hand, a bit of white bread, or some biscuit, should be pounded very fine, and this powder should be mixed with well-bruised rape-seed. This composition serves, with a little yolk of egg and water, to make a paste, which is given to the young birds on a quill cut like a spoon; each nursling requires for a meal four beakfuls, well piled upon the quill, and these meals must not be fewer than ten or twelve a day.
The young should remain warmly covered by the mother as long as they continue unfledged[56]; that is to say, generally for twelve days: on the thirteenth day they begin to eat alone. In four weeks they may be placed in other cages of a sufficient size; but they must still for some weeks be fed with the above-mentioned paste, conjointly with the food of full-grown birds; for the sudden privation of this nourishment often occasions death, especially when moulting.
Experience proves that generally those canaries which are hatched in a large garden aviary, where they enjoy fresh air, and considerable space for the exercise of their wings, are more vigorous, more healthy, and more robust than those which are bred in rooms, and it is easy to understand the reason.
I must not omit to mention here an important observation, which has been often made, that if two females are given to one male, and one of them happens to die, the other immediately takes charge of the abandoned eggs, and assumes so completely the duties of foster-mother, that in order rigorously to fulfil them she avoids and even repulses the caresses of her mate.
Canaries pair not only among themselves in our aviaries and cages, they also form connexions foreign to their species, and, provided the analogy is not too remote, produce fruitful mules. Serins, citral finches, siskins, goldfinches, or linnets, are the species which succeed best[57]. To succeed, however, it is necessary that the birds should have been brought up from the nest. The custom is to give an old male of one of the above-named species to a female canary, the principal reason being that an old female of one of those species, though she would not object to the union, could never be induced to lay in an artificial nest, like a female canary. The offspring of these mixtures combine the colours of the father and mother, learn well enough if they descend from a linnet or goldfinch, but sing badly if they come from a siskin or lesser redpole.
They are easily brought up with the paste mentioned above for canaries. It is asserted that the mules of serins, citral finches, and goldfinches, are fruitful. It is remarked, however, that their first eggs are very small, and the young hatched from them very weak; but the next year the eggs become larger, and the young stronger and more robust.
No sooner can the young canaries eat alone, which happens on the thirteenth or fourteenth day, and sometimes even before they leave the nest, than the males begin to warble, and some females also, but in a less connected manner, which serves to point them out. As these pretty birds are so docile as to neglect entirely their natural song and imitate the harmony of our instruments, it is necessary immediately to separate from his companions and from every other bird the young one which is to be instructed, by putting him aside in a cage which is at first to be covered with a piece of linen, and afterwards with a darker cover. The air which is to be taught should be performed five or six times a day, especially in the evening and morning, either by whistling, or on a flageolet, or bird-organ; he will acquire it more or less readily, in from two to six months, according to his abilities and memory; if his separation from the other birds is delayed beyond the fourteenth day, he will retain some part of his father’s song, which he will always intermingle with his acquired air, and consequently never perform it perfectly. The opinion of some, that the grayish canaries have more facility in learning than the yellow or the white, is unfounded, their only advantage over those of a different hue being that they are generally more robust and vigorous. I have not either found that the true No. 3 suits them better than No. 1 or No. 2; these latter, on the contrary, have appeared to me to please them best.
There is too much trouble and risk in allowing canaries to go in and out of their cages for it to be worth the trouble of teaching them this. Notwithstanding all my attention, and the care which I have taken to follow exactly the prescribed rules, I have never succeeded; and the cleverest bird-fanciers have assured me that it should never be attempted but when they have young ones, and above all, there must be no canaries in the neighbouring houses, which might entice them away. Indeed it is no easy matter to accustom a bird to go and come. There, as in many other cases, conclusions in regard to the species have been drawn from individuals. It is certain that very few tame birds easily acquire this trick, and as I show in their histories, with respect to others, probabilities are too often stated as truths.
Diseases.—Birds which seldom enjoy the benefit of fresh and pure air, prisoners destitute in their confinement of the means of exercise, must be particularly subject to the common diseases which have been named, and also to many other peculiar ones. The following are some of the disorders incident to canaries.
1. Rupture, or Hernia: this is very common among young birds, and is a kind of plethora, which produces inflammation in the bowels. The symptoms of this disease are, thinness, the skin of the belly transparent and distended, covered with little red veins surcharged with blood, the bowels are black and knotted, and descend to the extremity of the body; there are no feathers on the diseased part; the invalid does not eat, and dies in a few days. Too nutritious, or too much food, being the cause of the disease, the only remedy is a very severe regimen, and even then it can be cured only in its first stages. The diseased birds must be immediately removed, and fed with nothing but lettuce or rape-seed, in very small quantities. A bit of iron should also be put in the water, and everything be done to invigorate and purify them. It is very rare for young birds which are brought up by their parents to suffer from this disease, as they never over-feed them. In bringing up by hand this moderation should be imitated, and they should neither be over-fed nor pampered.
2. The yellow gall in the head and eyes, arises from over heat; a cooling diet is therefore the only remedy. If the tumour has grown to the size of a grain of hemp-seed, it must be cut off, and the wound be anointed with a little fresh butter, or bathed with urine.
3. Sweating.—There are some females which, during the time of incubation, or while they are on their young, are subject to profuse perspiration; the feathers of the belly are in consequence so wet as to destroy the brood: as soon as this indisposition is perceived the invalid must be washed with salt water, and after a few minutes be plunged into pure water, to wash off the salt, and be dried in the sun as quickly as possible. This operation is to be repeated once or twice a day till recovery; but as relapses are frequent, it is better to separate the female, and not allow her to sit.
4. Asthma, or hard breathing, which arises from an oppressed stomach, generally yields to plantain and rape seeds moistened with water as the sole food.
5. Sneezing, produced by an obstruction in the nostrils, is removed by passing a very small quill up them to clear them.
6. Loss of voice.—It sometimes happens that after moulting a male suffers the loss of its voice; it must then be fed with the same paste as is prepared for young birds, adding some lettuce-seed, and, according to some bird-fanciers, a bit of bacon should be hung to the cage, for it to peck.
7. Constipation.—The remedy for this is plenty of green food, as lettuce leaves, water-cress, &c., not forgetting bread and milk.
8. Epilepsy, which is common among many kinds of birds, may be produced in canaries by particular causes, as great delicacy and timidity. We should therefore avoid alarming them, either by catching them too suddenly or violently, or by tormenting them in any way. They are to be cured as has been already directed in the Introduction.
9. Overgrown claws and beak.—When the claws or beak want paring, sharp scissors must be used, and care taken to avoid drawing blood, lest the bird should be maimed. They often injure themselves when their claws are too long, and get hooked in the wires of the cage, and continue thus hanging. The females, in the same way, get entangled in their nests.
10. Lice.—The parasite insects by which these little prisoners are often tormented, are generally produced by slovenliness. Besides frequent bathing, the cages must be cleaned with much care and vigilance, and have plenty of very dry sand strewed over the bottom. These lice, like bugs, retire during the day to cracks and crevices, which accounts for old wooden cages being often infested. To get rid of them, hollow sticks or stalks of rushes are used, which must be examined and changed every day. The plan is good, but by using only tin cages, which may, more easily than any others, be passed through boiling water, the object is more certainly attained.
It is rare for canaries which are kept for breeding to live longer than from seven to ten years; while others, if well used, may be preserved for eighteen or twenty years.
Attractive Qualities.—The plumage, pretty form, and docility, the charming familiarity which disposes it to nestle without fear or reserve beside us, as well as its melodious song, have long introduced the canary to all classes of society. Always before our eyes, the object of the most assiduous care, and constant attention, it has afforded a thousand occasions for studying its character, or rather the character and dispositions of the different individuals of its species. It has been discovered that among them, as among quadrupeds, and even man, some individuals are gay and others melancholy; some quarrelsome, others mild; some intelligent, others stupid; some with quick memories, others lazy; some greedy, others frugal; some petulant, others gentle; some ardent, others cold.
Its singing, as strong as varied, continues uninterrupted during the year, excepting at the time of moulting, and even this exception is not general. There are some individuals which sing also during the night[58].
Those which introduce into their melody some passages of the nightingale’e song are the most esteemed of all canaries; they are called Tyrolean canaries, because they are considered natives of the Tyrol, where they breed many of these birds. The second are the English canaries, which imitate the song of the wood-lark. But in Thuringia the preference is generally given to those which, instead of a succession of noisy bursts, know how, with a silvery sonorous voice, to descend regularly through all the tones of the octave, introducing from time to time the sound of a trumpet. There are some males which, especially in the pairing season, sing with so much strength and ardour that they burst the delicate vessels of the lungs, and die suddenly.
The female, particularly in the spring, sings also, but only a few unconnected and unmusical sounds. Old ones which have done breeding often sing in this way at all seasons.
Canaries are particularly remarkable for quickness and correctness of ear, for the great ease with which they exactly repeat musical sounds, and for their excellent memory. Not only do they imitate all the birds in whose neighbourhood they have been placed when young[59], mixing agreeably these songs with their own, whence have arisen those beautiful varieties which each family transmits to its descendants; but they also learn to repeat correctly two or three airs of a flute or bird-organ, and even to pronounce distinctly some short words. Females also have been known to perform airs which they had been taught.
I shall conclude this article on canaries by pointing out the best rules for obtaining and preserving good singers. The most essential is to choose from among the young that which promises a fine tone, and to seclude it from all other birds, that it may learn and remember nothing bad. The same precaution is necessary during the first and second moulting; for being likely to re-learn (if I may say so) its song, it would introduce into it with equal ease foreign parts. It must be observed whether the bird likes to sing alone, or in company with others, for there are some which appear to have such whims, liking to hear only themselves, and which pout for whole years if they are not humoured on this point. Others sing faintly, and display their powers only when they can try their strength against a rival. It is very important to distribute regularly to singing birds the simple allowance of fresh food which is intended for the day. By this means they will sing every day equally, because they will eat uniformly, and not pick the best one day and be obliged to put up with the refuse the next.
About two spoonfuls of the dry food mentioned above, is sufficient for the daily nourishment of a canary; what he leaves may be thrown to the birds which are free in the room, and will serve as a variety to those which have only the universal paste to satisfy their appetite.
THE GLOSSY FINCH.
Fringilla nitens, Linnæus; Le Moineau du Brésil, Buffon; Der glänzende Fink, Bechstein.
This bird is smaller than the house sparrow, being only four inches and a half long. The beak and feet are flesh-coloured; the iris is white. All the plumage is of a bluish black, or black with a hue of burnished steel; the female has the upper part of the body covered with blackish feathers, bordered with a yellowish brown; the rump gray, the under part of the body dark yellowish brown; the tail-feathers black with gray edges; the feet reddish; in some males the beak and feet are black.
Observations.—This bird is found in the woods of Cayenne, and the neighbourhood of Carthagena in America. Its clear note is very agreeable. It appears to sing with so much energy as to ruffle the feathers of the head and neck. Its food consists of all kinds of seeds and fruits. Though bread appears to be sufficient when caged, it is better to add rape, millet, and poppy seed. It is easily tamed.
THE PURPLE FINCH.
Fringilla purpurea, Linnæus; Bouvreuil violet de la Caroline, Buffon; Der Purpurfink, Bechstein.
The size of this bird is that of the common chaffinch, the length being five inches and a half; the plumage is of a deep violet, or reddish purple, mixed with a little dark brown; the quill-feathers are brown on the inside; the belly is white; the tail is rather forked.
The female is all over of a deep blue, except the breast, which is speckled.
Observations.—These birds are very numerous during the summer in Carolina, which they quit in the winter in small flights. Juniper berries are their principal food; and they eat them with pleasure when caged. They are generally fed with rape and canary seed; but are soon accustomed to all the food of the aviary. They are more admired for their plumage than their song.
THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH.
Fringilla tristis, Linnæus; Le Chardonneret jaune, Buffon; Der Gelbe Stieglitz, Bechstein.
This bird is as large as a linnet, its length being about four inches and a third. The beak and feet are whitish; the iris is nut-brown; the forehead is black, and the rest of the body yellow.
The female has no black on the forehead; the upper part of her body is of an olive green; the throat, breast and rump of a bright yellow; the belly and vent white; the wings and tail blackish.
The young males at first exactly resemble the females, the only difference being the black forehead.
These birds build twice a year, in spring and autumn. Edwards says that they also moult twice, so that it is only during the summer that they are of the colours described above. In the winter the top of the male’s head is black; the throat, neck, and breast, yellow; the rump also yellow, but of a whitish hue; the feathers of the back olive brown, lighter at the edges; the wings and the tail black, with white edges to almost all the feathers.
The female is generally of a lighter colour, and the top of the head is not black: thus we perceive that in winter these birds very much resemble our siskins.
Observations.—These American birds repair in the summer in great numbers to the state of New York; they live on the seeds of different kinds of thistles, like our goldfinches, and eat the same food when caged. They are easily tamed, and sometimes even lay in captivity. Their eggs are of a pearl gray, but I am ignorant whether they are ever productive in confinement.
THE BRAZILIAN FINCH.
Fringilla granatina, Linnæus; Le Grenadin, Buffon; Der Brasilische Fink, Bechstein.
The length of this bird is four inches and three quarters, the beak is coral red; the iris is dark brown; the eyelids are scarlet; the feet are light gray; the sides of the head round; the eyes are purplish; the upper base of the beak is blue; the throat, the lower part of the belly, and the thighs, are black; the lower part of the head and the rest of the body are chestnut, with a varying brown on the back and shoulders.
The female has a red beak, and a little purple under the eyes; the top of the head orange; the back grayish brown; the throat and lower parts of the body light orange; the lower part of the belly whitish; the rest of the colours differ from those of the male only in being less brilliant.
Observations.—This beautiful species comes from Brazil, and is always very expensive. The form of the beak is nearly the same as that of the goldfinch; the food is also the same; its motions are quick, and its song very pleasing.
THE BLUE-BELLIED FINCH.
Fringilla Bengalus, Linnæus; Le Bengali, ou Fringille à ventre bleu, Buffon; Der Blaubäuchige Fink, Bechstein.
The length of this bird is four inches and a half, one and a half of which belong to the tail, which is wedge-shaped; the beak is one third of an inch long, flattish at the sides, very sharp, and flesh-coloured; the iris is nut-brown; the feet are light brown; the upper part of the head and body are ash-coloured, varying to purple; the sides of the head, the lower part of the neck, the breast, the belly, and the rump, are light blue. The female has no mark under the eyes. The varieties which are observable among these birds probably arise from difference of age: some are found gray on the back, and others on the lower parts of the body; and some in which the belly inclines to red.
Observations.—The blue-bellied finch is a native of Africa, and comes principally from Angola and Guinea: it is a pretty lively bird, with a sweet agreeable song. It is fed with canary-seed, bruised hemp, and poppy-seed.
THE LIVER-BROWN FINCH.
Fringilla hepatica, Linnæus; Der Leberfarbene Fink, Bechstein.
This is about the same size as the last, which it somewhat resembles in plumage; but its air and manner are very different. Its length is four inches, of which the wedge-shaped tail measures one and three quarters. The beak is like that of the sparrow in form, of a blood-red colour, tipped with black; the eyelids are yellowish and bare; the iris is reddish brown; the feet are flesh-coloured; on the cheeks is a dark purple spot; the throat, half the breast, the sides, and the rump, are of a dirty greenish blue: the upper part of the body is of a dark liver-brown, the belly of a lighter shade of the same colour; the wings are of a deep brown, with the edges of the pen-feathers of the same colour as the back; the under side tending to blue, with black tips. I do not know the female.
Observations.—This species inhabits the shores of Africa; it is very lively, and its call is “tzä.” Its weak but sweet song resembles that of the wood wren. It is fed on canary-seed.
THE ANGOLA FINCH.
Fringilla Angolensis, Linnæus; La Vengoline, Buffon; Der Angolische Hänfling, Bechstein.
This, in form and habits, very much resembles our redpole. Its length is four inches and a half, of which the forked tail contains one and three quarters. The beak is short, and not flattish, blunt at the tip, and of a dingy flesh-colour; the feet are flesh-coloured; the circumference of the beak is black; that of the eyes, with the sides of the throat, is spotted with white; the top of the head, the upper part of the throat, the back, and the little coverts of the wings, are of a brownish ash-colour.
Observations.—Angola is the native country of this bird. As to the song, it is sweet and flute-like, very like that of the linnet, but more melodious. It is fed with rape and canary seed. The young males have the same plumage as the females.
THE GREEN GOLDFINCH.
Fringilla Melba, Linnæus; Le Chardonneret vert, Buffon; Der grüne Stieglitz, Bechstein.
This bird is exactly of the form of our common goldfinch. Its length is four inches and a half, of which the tail measures one and a half. The beak is half an inch long, and of a carnation colour; the iris is chestnut; the feet gray; the front of the head, the back of the eye, and the throat, are of a bright red; the bridle is ash-colour; the upper part of the head, the neck, and the back, are yellowish green.
The female has a light yellow beak, the top of the head and the neck ash-colour; the little coverts of the wings and rump yellow-green; the feathers of the tail brown, edged with pale red; the rest like the male.
Observations.—This species is found in Brazil. The male pleases the ear by his song, as much as the eye by his plumage. It appears that by feeding them simply with rape and canary seed they may be preserved healthy for many years.
