The Natural History of Cage Birds Part 14

DISEASES.--The acc.u.mulated vapour from a room with a stove has such an effect on the const.i.tution 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 superst.i.tious extravagance carries them so far, that they are persuaded a bird whose upper mandible bends to the right, has the power of a.s.suming 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 surpa.s.s 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Loxia pyrrhula, LINNaeUS; Le Bouvreuil, BUFFON; Der Gimpel, BECHSTEIN.

This is one of the indigenous tame birds which is a favourite with the rich and n.o.ble. 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 princ.i.p.al 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's 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-b.r.e.a.s.t.s, 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 pa.s.sages; 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 t.i.t-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, diarrhoea, 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 pa.s.s 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, LINNaeUS; Le Verdier, BUFFON; Der Grunling, 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 const.i.tution 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 surpa.s.sing 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 t.i.t 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, LINNaeUS; Le Durbec, BUFFON; Der Fichtenkernbeisser, BECHSTEIN.