BEHIND THE BARS 291 
life, those of the caged bird have only begun as the door 
closes behind him. 
A few exceptional cases, where birds in care of those who 
are both able and willing to make their surroundings 
endurable, count as nothing against the general condem- 
nation of the practice of caging birds born wild. 
Those of us who have known, by experience, in caring for 
wounded or sick birds, exactly what incessant watchful- 
ness is necessary to keep them alive, realize how impos- 
sible it is that this care should be given them by the 
average purchaser. 
Birds born and reared in captivity, like the Canary, 
are the only ones that real humanity should keep behind 
bars. There is no more condemnable habit than taking 
nestlings of any kind, and trying to rear them, unless 
disaster overtakes the parents. 
Nominally, the traffic in caged wild birds has ceased; 
actually, it has not; nor will it until every bird-lover 
feels himself responsible for staying the hand that would 
rob the nest, whether it is that of the ignorant little 
pickaninny of the South, who climbs up the vine outside 
the window where you are wintering, and sees, in the four 
young Mockers, in the nest just under the sill, a prospective 
dollar; the child at home, who likes to experiment for a 
few days with pets, and then forgets them; or the wily 
dealer, who sells secretly what he dares not exhibit. No 
quarter to any class who make prisoners of the wild, outside 
of the zodlogical gardens or the few private outdoor 
aviaries, where the proper conditions exist. 
Any free citizen prefers death to loss of liberty, and 
even the most material mind will, at least, allow this 
