212



Correspondence.



they are called ‘ Serins de Canarie,’ although we obtain a supply of them from

Inspruk (Innsbruck), the capital of the (Austrian) Tyrol, and from many other

towns in Germany, which some Swiss (dealers) bring us twice a year.”


M. Pichot has also kindly sent me an article he wrote for ‘ Le Chenil ’ on

the trade in Canaries, in which he mentions that the prices obtained in Paris at the

beginning of the eighteenth century ranged from £2 10s. for a “ serin gris

commun ” to £45 for a “ serin plein et parfait.” No wonder that Gesner and

Aldrovandus have recorded that in the sixteenth century the Canary was only to be

found in the houses of the wealthy !


M. Pichot writes as follows: “ I thought you might be interested to hear of

Hervieux’s ancient work on Canary-culture. We have some books more ancient

still, such as an anonymous work published in 1074 on cage-birds, how to breed,

feed, train, and heal them—84 pages, published by Charles de Sercy in Paris.

From the same editor there is a treatise on the Nightingale published in 1697.


“ I think the first edition of Hervieux’s work on Canaries was published in

1709. So says l)r. Loisel in his ‘ History of the Menageries,’ vol. ii, p. 212.

Hervieux styled himself ‘ Governor of the Princesse de Conde’s Canaries.’ I wonder

if he had some official uniform or Court-dress—yellow, I should say! The book

has had numerous editions up to 1802, and has been translated in Dutch (Amster¬

dam, 1762), in Italian (Venice, 1724), and, I think, also in German, but, as bird-

fanciers are not always book-lovers, the work is very scarce and seldom met with.

It is a very able work and very pleasant to read. My copy is the second edition,

1713.


‘‘I have again quoted from Hervieux in the copy of ‘ Le Chenil,’which I

enclose. You will find in the book that bird-rooms were already appropriated for

Canaries and styled ‘ cabinets.’ ”


* * * *


“ Aviculture has always been a favourite pursuit in France, though specialists

have been long without writing about it. Pet animals were quite common in the

middle ages, as one may judge from Alexander Neckam’s ‘ De Naturis rerum libri

duo ’ (1211), and there is a very pleasant story in Gaces de la Bigne’s ‘ Roman des

Oiseuax’ of a trained Sparrow-Hawk catching and bringing back alive to its mistress

a tame Starling, a very good talker, which had escaped from its cage :


“ ‘ La Dame eut grande joie et le prist

Qui en sa cage le remist

Mais j’ ai depuis oui raconter

Qu’il fut bien un mois sans parler.’


“Gaces de la Bigne was Chaplain to King John during his captivity in

England (1396).”


The history of cage-birds is probably as old as the history of man. The little

feathered “ drawer of water ” looks modern enough as we see him hauling up his

bucket in Sclater Street, but he is mentioned by Pliny in the first century.


W. E. Teschemaker.



