30I 



observe the building of the nest. He knows by liis daily 

 visit when the clutch of eggs is laid, when the young are 

 being hatched, and when they must be, on the average, 

 ten days old : the time for liim to possess himself of the 

 treasure. 



These men watch the process of building because 

 the trees are then sufficiently devoid of foliage to allow 

 the nest to be visible, which is not likelv to be the case 

 three or four weeks later ; and b}' following up six or 

 eight pairs, catchers can look forward to collecting at 

 least three dozen youngsters for rearing by hand. But 

 oh! for the wickedness of human nature. With all his 

 earh' rising, all his concealment of his movements, all 

 his careful counting of the weeks and days for the young 

 to be just at the riglit age, he is often disappointed— he 

 cannot guard against the sneak who robs nests on the 

 ninth day ! 



Now, it must not be supposed that because a first- 

 class piping Bullfinch fetches easily five pounds sterling 

 in London, or as much as forty dollars in New York, 

 that a royal road to fortune has been found. The 

 general result of a season's Bullfinch training is not 

 always so lucrative as this might lead one to believe; 

 for when visiting Fulda, Gelnhauseu, and other places 

 in the training districts, I ascertained that scarcely two 

 nestlings in a hundred attain the perfection requisite to 

 command such high figures, and the dealers have, of 

 late years, displayed such eagerness to ol)tain their 

 stock early, that the birds have not always time to 

 complete their studies and become valuable. 



But, even if that were not so, there is much to 

 contend with. A large proportion of the young birds 

 are females ; some die early ; some learn only a part 

 of their lesson, say the first line out of four; some 

 learn just one short ditty, whereas, a really good piper 

 should master two airs correctly and finish his perform- 

 ance with a military bugle call. Extraordinary specimens 

 will even do more than that, but they do not make 

 their appearance every year. The majority have to be 



