FOR CAGES AND A VI ARIES. 3 



The Bullfinch is one of Nature's pruners, be it remem- 

 bered; nor does he live on buds alone, he also consumes 

 a variety of pernicious seeds. Now let us inquire, who 

 knows most about birds and their ways, the person who 

 keeps and studies them, in confinement if you will, or 

 the persons who consider them such sacred beings that 

 they must only be looked at from a distance? 



Then again, how many people — men and women whose 

 lives are one unceasing round of miserable drudgery, or 

 whose health debars them from participating in the 

 amusements and outdoor recreations of the leisured and 

 healthy favourites of fortune — derive the utmost gratification 

 and pleasure from the society of a pet bird or two ? It 

 is to be feared that the advocates of "freedom for all 

 birds" wilfully shut their eyes to these facts, or imagine 

 the convenience of a bird to be a superior consideration to 

 that of one of their own species ; but again we have the 

 very highest authority that one man is of more value than 

 many sparrows. 



It is impossible to know birds without keeping them, 

 and even if they are caged merely for the benefit of the 

 owner, they are fulfilling a part that is certainly worthy 

 of attention. 



However, we have no sort of hope that any amount of 

 argument in favour of keeping birds in cages and aviaries 

 will have any weight with the objectors, and so we leave 

 them, to turn our attention to those who, like the writer, 

 are never happier than when surrounded by birds of all kinds. 



Some species, certainly, are more fitted for domesticity 

 than others, and a great deal will depend upon the 

 season of the year when they are taken, on the food 

 offered to them, on the situation and nature of their 

 lodging, if their keeping is to mean pleasure to the owner. 



It is not attempted to furnish an exhaustive history of 

 British Birds in the following pages, but to mention such 

 facts connected with those that are suitable for caging 

 as will enable a tyro in the art to keep them with the 

 minimum of inconvenience to the birds themselves, as 

 well as the maximum of pleasure to himself, or herself, 

 for it is pleasant to think that so many women now 



