I20 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



lover. This antiphonal love-song is original, sweet, flute- 

 like and unpremeditated, and, like the dove's song, seems to 

 me to be the natural voice of the covert, the very essence of 

 natural music, having the great qualities of freshness of 

 variety and sweetness. And as he sings in a restrained 

 manner, for very joy he at times flies up a few inches from 

 his green seat and flaps his beautiful wings, resuming his 

 courting walk amid the rustling leaves, finally lapsing into 

 his sweet call-note. 



In Mona's Isle they are very numerous, and generally 

 build in the holly-tree, the hen being a very close sitter, 

 so fond is she of the dear little spotted eggs. But with all 

 his dignity and aristocratic looks, he is a sad fruit-thief 

 and destroyer of buds, and his deadly enemy is the wise 

 gardener ; for he does nothing in return for his buds but sing, 

 and the gardener is not swayed by such aesthetic emotions, 

 so that I have known one boast of having killed five score 

 of these beautiful birds in a season. That was in Anglesea. 



Withal his strong parrot-like beak, he loves the strawberry, 

 cherry, gooseberry, and grape. He is a tender bird and will 

 not live long in confinement ; but he is deservedly one of 

 the familiar cage-pets, and to my thinking his song of 

 beauty and dignified bearing make him the most desirable 

 of all English birds. He is quite a character too. Forget 

 to give him his green elm-shoots, or give him only a dish of 

 canary-seed as a change, and he will sulk for a day, refusing 

 the food with dignity, 'tis true, but still refusing it. 



And what a termagant his wife is ! She will chase him 

 away from every cherry or strawberry thrust into the cage, 

 gobbling it with true feminine selfishness for the good things 

 of this life, and he bears it all meekly, even if she chases 

 him from the bath, which he dearly loves, or sends him to 

 roost below on a lower rung of the cage. He is long- 

 suffering, but at times, when she goes too far, his crest rises, 

 and his strong parrot bill makes a dig at her, and she is 

 quiet, as feminine nature always is before force; for, like the 



