The Natural History of Cage Birds Part 40

FOOD.--When wild they feed on insects, seeds, and berries, destroy many smooth caterpillars, flies, gra.s.shoppers, gnats, and small b.u.t.terflies, and climb about the trees like woodp.e.c.k.e.rs, seeking in the moss the eggs and grubs of insects. In autumn and winter they eat all kinds of seeds, especially hemp-seed, fir, and pine-seed, oats, kernels of fruit, mast nuts, and occasionally flesh. They hold these things in their claws, tear them with their beak, and skin them with their tongue.

In the house they will eat any thing on the table, meat, bread, cheese, vegetables, sweet almonds, walnuts, filberts, lard, and all sorts of fat, all pastes adapted for other birds; so that we must not attribute their early death to the delicacy of the t.i.ts, but to the want of care in those that have them. The more they eat the more they sing, and the less inclined they are to attack their companions. They drink often, and enjoy bathing.

BREEDING.--The oxeye builds in a hole of a tree or wall, sometimes in the forsaken nest of a squirrel, crow, or woodp.e.c.k.e.r. It lays on an artless bed of moss, wool, and feathers, eight or ten whitish eggs, sprinkled with large and small spots mixed with streaks of dark red, particularly at the large end, where they form a coronet. The young do not quit the nest till they can fly well. The under parts of the body are pale yellow; and the black about them is not glossy as in the old birds.

DISEASES.--In a cage, this species is subject to vertigo or giddiness, occasioned by feeding too much on hemp-seed, which heats it and makes it twirl about too much. To cure the disorder, the bird should be kept for some time in a small square cage, or permitted to range the room. From the same cause often arises atrophy, consumption, and even gout, all which proves the injurious qualities of hemp-seed; but with care on this point and a little attention it may live eight or ten years.

MODE OF TAKING.--The chase after t.i.ts, is, according to bird-catchers, one of the most agreeable, and is pursued in many ways; but I shall confine myself to two or three of the surest methods, specifying the best for taking those birds that are for the house.

In autumn and spring, the bird-catcher should go into an orchard, or any other place much frequented by oxeyes, carrying one with him as a decoy; this must be placed on the ground in a small square cage, and some sticks, with lime-twigs fastened to them, fixed obliquely around it. The t.i.ts, attracted by curiosity, or the desire of approaching one of their own species that calls them, quickly descend, and are caught in the lime-twigs. A whistle made of the bone of a goose's leg succeeds still better; with this instrument all the t.i.ts in the neighbourhood are quickly a.s.sembled; for the tone being stronger than the natural call, it is heard farther; if there are but few of these birds near, they are sure to be all caught.

They are easily attracted, in winter, to a trap, by the kernels of nuts, lard, and oats. This trap should be placed in a garden, with a little oat straw fastened under in such a way that it may be seen at a distance, as the t.i.ts are instantly attracted thereby. It is a small box a foot in length, and eighteen inches in height and width, the sides of which, when not made of small boards painted green, are formed of small elder sticks, tied or screwed to the four corner sticks; in this case only two small boards are required, one for the bottom, the other for the cover, which must be fastened on with packthread, and turn as with hinges; from the middle of the bottom rises a peg supporting a cross stick, with a nut kernel at one end, and a little lard at the other; this cross stick supports a small perpendicular one, which keeps the cover open three or four inches.

When a t.i.t hops on the cross stick and begins pecking the nut or lard, the cover falls, and the bird is caught.

The oxeye, like the other t.i.ts, a.s.sembles in numbers at the water-trap, commonly from seven to nine in the morning, and from four to five in the evening.

In autumn these birds are taken in nooses and common bird-traps, baited with berries, but the snare must be of horse hair, for if of thread, the bird, as soon as it feels itself caught, will try to bite through it, as mice do.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--The sprightliness and activity of these birds are very pleasing, but their gay and lively song still more so: in it are agreeably mingled the call "_fick, fick_" and the shrill "_tzizerr_." Nothing, in my opinion, is more pleasing than to hear repeated fifteen or twenty times following these striking notes, "_sitzida, sitzida, st.i.ti, st.i.ti_." One may judge of the capability of young ones to imitate the song of other birds, from the facility with which the full-grown birds learn detached parts, and particularly different calls.

Some people amuse themselves by making these birds perform many little manoeuvres, such as drawing up their food with a chain, turning a cylinder[110] which has the appearance of being moved by two miners, and hopping after a nut suspended to a thread.

THE COLE t.i.t.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Parus ater, LINNaeUS; La pet.i.te Charbonniere, BUFFON; Die Tannenmeise, BECHSTEIN.

The length of this bird is four inches and one-sixth, of which the tail measures one and three-quarters, and the beak one quarter. The back is black, with the tip lighter; the iris is dusky; the shanks are eight lines high, and lead blue; the upper part of the head and neck are black; there is rather a broad streak of white at the back of the head and down the nape of the neck; the cheeks and sides of the neck are also white, forming, when the bird is at rest, a triangular spot; the back is dark bluish ash grey.

The female is not easily distinguished from the male, unless both are before you; its being a little less black on the breast, and a little less white on the sides, are the only differences.

HABITATION.--When wild these birds are seen in great numbers in pine forests, and seldom, except during their wanderings in autumn, winter, and spring, are they met with in other kinds of woods, groves, and orchards. They often pa.s.s from one pine forest to another in large flights during the winter[111]. They appear to like the society of the gold-crested wrens, which are always found in these flights, as also some crested t.i.ts, which serve as guides.

In the house it is pleasanter to allow them to range with the other birds than to keep them in a cage, yet there is some danger to their companions from their cruelty.

FOOD.--When wild, besides insects and their grubs, they feed on the seeds of different resinous trees; but as they are often deprived of this food in winter from the trees being loaded with snow and h.o.a.r frost, nature has given them the instinct to provide against this emergency: they hide a great quant.i.ty of these seeds in fissures, and under the large scales of the bark of pine trees, to which store they have recourse when in want.

The instinct just alluded to is manifested also in the house, even when they have abundance of all kinds of food; where they are observed to rob the other birds of seeds and bits of nuts, and run and hide them immediately in any crevices they may find, often visiting these stolen stores afterwards to see if they are safe. The blue t.i.t and the oxeye are also accustomed to carry part of their food into a corner, but they do not hide with so much care, or from the same cause, as the cole t.i.t. These birds are commonly fed on the universal paste, but they are accustomed to it with difficulty.

BREEDING.--This species generally places its nest either in some hole deserted by a mole or mouse, or under the overhanging edges of some deep wheel-rut in an old disused road, rarely in holes of trees or walls. The nest is composed of a layer of moss covered over with the fur of the hare, roe-buck, and stag. There are two broods in the year, each of six or eight white eggs, prettily speckled with pale red. The plumage of the young differs from that of the old only in having the black duller and less glossy.

DISEASES.--Decline is the most common disorder of these birds, and it is sometimes prevented by giving them fresh ants' eggs, particularly when moulting. I kept a cole t.i.t six years, and it then died of old age, having first become blind, and been often attacked with vertigo or giddiness.

MODE OF TAKING.--Less timid and distrustful than the oxeye, this species may be caught with greater ease. A limed twig fastened to a pole is often sufficient, with which you approach the tree on which the bird is, and, touching it with the twig, it becomes your prisoner. Its call is "_tzip teune_." Like all the t.i.ts, it is delicate, and, in the house, often dies soon before being accustomed to the common paste.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--This is a very amusing little bird; bold, lively always in motion, hopping and fluttering about continually.

Its song is only a clashing of harsh tones, relieved by a clear sonorous "_tzifi_," repeated twenty times in succession. It sometimes ends, however, with so reflective an air, that you would think it was going to give something very fine.

THE BLUE t.i.t, OR TOM t.i.t.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Parus caeruleus, LINNaeUS; La Mesange bleue, BUFFON; Der Blaumeise, BECHSTEIN.

This pretty bird is four inches and a half long, of which the tail measures two. The beak is three lines in length, and dusky, but whitish at the edges and tip; the iris is dark brown; the shanks are eight lines high, and lead blue; the front of the head and cheeks are white; a white line pa.s.sing from the forehead above the eyes forms a border to the fine sky-blue of the top of the head; a black line crosses the eyes; the black of the throat becomes on the sides of the neck a dark blue band, which surrounds the head.

The female is rather smaller than the male, the streaks about the head not being so clearly defined, while the blue has the appearance of being tinged with ash grey. The line down the under part of the body is scarcely observable.

HABITATION.--These birds, in their wild state, frequent woods, particularly those of beech and oak. During autumn and winter they wander from one place to another, and are often seen in considerable numbers in our orchards.

In the house they may be kept in a cage like the oxeye; but it is preferable to let them hop and flutter about at pleasure, as their plumage is then seen to the greatest advantage. They are as mischievous and quarrelsome as the oxeye, and pursue the other birds in the same manner, even killing them when they are strong enough.

FOOD.--When wild they feed on insects and their grubs, and in autumn on berries[112].

In the house they should be given the same food as the oxeye, accustoming them to it at first by mixing bruised hemp-seed with it.

They like to wash themselves.

BREEDING.--The nest, placed at the top of a tree in an old hollow branch, is built of moss, hair, and feathers. This species lays from eight to ten reddish white eggs, speckled and spotted with brown. The plumage of the young birds differs from that of the older ones, only in being less bright and glossy.

DISEASES.--Most of these birds that are caught in winter, are attacked with vertigo, or giddiness, after being in the house a few days, fall to the right and left, and being unable to find their food, soon die.

MODE OF TAKING.--They may be caught in the same way as the oxeye.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--The blue t.i.t is easily tamed, and lives two or three years. Its beauty and activity are more attractive than its song, which is merely an indistinct warbling, composed of a few strains, amongst which some higher notes are occasionally introduced.

THE MARSH t.i.t.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Parus pal.u.s.tris, LINNaeUS; La Mesange des marais, BUFFON; Der Sumpfmeise, BECHSTEIN.

The length of this bird is four inches and a half, of which the tail measures nearly two; the beak is four lines in length, and black; the shanks are five lines high, and lead blue; the upper part of the head, as far as the nape, is black; the temples and cheeks are white; the upper part of the body is brownish grey; the throat is black.

The female has less black on the throat than the male.

HABITATION.--In their wild state, these birds, during the summer, frequent groves and orchards; in winter, they a.s.semble in flocks, and when they move from place to place, always fly in a line one behind the other[113].

In the house they should be allowed to flutter and hop about freely; they are very delicate, and require a great deal of care at first.

FOOD.--When wild, they feed on insects, seeds, and elderberries, according to the season.

In the house they eat the same things as other t.i.ts; but at first, ants' eggs and elderberries must be added. The seeds of the sunflower (_Helianthus major_) have succeeded best with me, and preserved them in health longest. They will also eat hemp-seed and oats.

BREEDING.--They lay ten or twelve rusty white eggs, spotted with reddish yellow, in a hole of a tree, on a bed of moss, hair, and feathers.