PAIRING. 145 
saw ; while the siskin, independently of his less gay 
colours, had lost his tail, and was, besides, quite bald,. 
from the habit he had of rubbing his head along the: 
wires of the cage. With all these disadvantages, 
nevertheless, in the personal appearance of the sis- 
kin, added to his inferiority of song (rendered worse 
by the harsh cackling note which he seldom failed 
to give as a finale to his most melodious passages, 
contrasting strongly with the merry musical twinkle 
- of the goldfinch’s finale), the latter received no- 
thing for his assiduities but a loud scolding, or, 
sometimes, a hearty drubbing, the canary being by 
far the most powerful bird, and being never loath to 
let him feel the sharpness of herbeak. The siskin 
being evidently the favourite, we had the goldfinch 
removed ; but as his cage was hung up near the oth- 
er, he continued to give himself all the airs which 
had already proved so unavailing. But the siskin, 
precisely like the wild black-cap already mentioned, 
almost immediately relaxed in his assiduities to 
please; and, though he was not inattentive during 
the incubation which followed, yet he seldom strove. 
to outsing the goldfinch, but warbled in a subdued, 
under tone of voice, as much as to indicate that he 
cared not how well or how loud his old rival might 
now sing. 
Montagu was of opinion that birds which have 
not paired wander about continually till they find a 
mate, in support of which he adduces several cu- 
rious facts which fell under his observation. In the 
instance of the nightingale, if by accident the fe- 
male is killed, the male, who has become silent 
about the end of June, will resume his song and . 
will continue to sing late in the summer or till, he 
finds another mate. ‘‘ This,” continues Montagu, 
“we have proved by taking the female on her,nest, 
when the mate assumed his usual vociferous notes, 
which attracted another female.” It would.appear, 
indeed, that in: birds a pair, nature, has, pro- 
