" WE ARE SEVEN " 

 A Unique Photograph of a Nest of young Canaries belonging to Mr. Thos. Adamson. 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH 

 BIRDS IN CAGE AND AVIARY 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



The longing for something to protect and 

 care foi* is one of the strongest feelings 

 implanted within us, and one outcome of 

 it is the desire to keep animals under our 

 control, which in its due place is, undoubt- 

 edly, one of our healthiest instincts. From 

 what it arises, other than being a wise 

 gift, we will not stay to inquire ; but that 

 the desire does exist, in a greater or less 

 degree, in all of us, and that in many it 

 is a strongly-marked peculiarity, few will 

 venture to deny. It is true that the lower 

 animals are all placed in subjection to 

 man ; but the disposition to which we 

 refer is not born of any desire to subdue 

 or destroy, but is rather the offspring 

 of some tenderer chord in our nature 



which impels us to make friends of them, 

 to break down some of the barriers 

 which separate us, to study their 

 habits and attend to their wants, sub- 

 ordinating the whole to their and our 

 advantage. 



We know that man is to a certain degree 

 a predatory animal, and that an element 

 in his character, different from the higher 

 trait to which we ha\'e referred, enters 

 into the case of those who indulge in 

 what, for want of a better word, is known 

 as " sport " ; but even in the field some- 

 thing very like an intimate friendshi]) and 

 intelligent confidence is cemented between 

 him and animals which are made to subserve 

 the pursuit of what is, possibly, a legitimate 



