The Natural History of Cage Birds Part 15

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, princ.i.p.ally 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 pa.s.ses the fifty-third degree of lat.i.tude. 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 bra.s.s wire fixed to the end of a long pole, to which are fastened some horse-hair rings, which are simply pa.s.sed 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, LINNaeUS; 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 pa.s.sage, 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, LINNaeUS; Cardinal huppe, 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 princ.i.p.al food is the seed of the Indian corn and buck-wheat; it collects a considerable quant.i.ty 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, LINNaeUS; 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 pa.s.ses 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, LINNaeUS; Le Senegali raye, 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 sh.e.l.l of a gourd, and cut like a bowl, on which some millet is scattered.

THE AMANDAVA.

Fringilla amandava, LINNaeUS; Le Bengali Piquete, 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 cla.s.s 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, LINNaeUS; Le Cardinal d'Angola, 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, LINNaeUS; Le Becsanguin, BUFFON; Der Rothschabliger 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.