232 mi'. uouu'UNC'ii. 



I want, in concluding this first paper on the goldfinch, to point out 

 in a few words the value of the goldfinch to three classes of society. 



To the farmer, the value of the goldfinch lies in its feeding for 

 nearly the whole of its residence in England on the seeds of thistles, 

 knapweed, dandelion, the males also on teazles, &c. At the same 

 time, the goldfinch commits no kind of injury, to outbalance the good 

 thus done. 



To the commercial public, the goldfinch stands in the light of one 

 of the most important birds of British trade. I do not wish to give 

 you positive data on this point to-day. I would rather wait until my 

 statistics are complete. But whether or not London birdcatchers 

 have numerically increased, since Meyrick estimated their numbers, a 

 quarter of a century since, at about two hundred, the fact remains 

 that besides the birdcatchers, the " middlemen," to whom they sell 

 their goldfinches, and the dealers who buy them for a third time in 

 Scotland and the provinces, do each in turn add considerably to their 

 incomes by their traffic in goldfinches. 



Goldfinches are taken by bird lime, by trapcages. and spring traps, 

 but especially by clap nets made on the same principle, so Wilkinson 

 tells us, as those used by the ancient Egyptian fowlers, who salted and 

 dried some small birds, as well as large ones, for food. 



The social value of the goldfinch, as a pet that will live for ten or 

 fifteen years in full health with care, is too obvious for me to dwell 

 upon. I wish only to point out to those who sentimentally decry the 

 caging of birds, that Skelton's poem on the death of Philip Sparrow, 

 — than which imaginary bird 



" Was never bird in cage 



More gentil of corage 



In doing his homage 



Unto his Soueraine " — 



shows, with all possible clearness, how fond Englishmen were of small 



cage birds, even before the Reformation. But if it be argued that our 



progress in civilisation should have thrown bird-keeping into disuse, 



we have only to point to two of the first scientific minds of the present 



century, to find grounds for a passionate love of domesticated birds. 



Thus Mrs. Mary Somerville, in her ninetieth year, wrote : " We 

 are fond of birds and have several, all very tame. Our tame nightin- 

 gales sing very beautifully, but, strange to say, not at night. We have 

 also some solitary sparrows, which are, in fact, a variety of the thrush 

 (Turdus cyaneus), and some birds which we rescued from destruction 

 in spring, when caught and ill-used by the boys in the streets ; besides 

 we have our dogs ; all of which afford mo amusment and interest." — 

 " Memoirs of Mary Somerville," p. 357. 



The delight which George Stephenson took in birds is so well 

 known, that I need only refer members to Smiles' " Lives of the 

 Engineers " for details of his pets, particularly of that blackbird which, 

 bred in the woods, yet slept on his master's bedpost every night. 



But I have already kept you too long, and must sum up my paper 

 rapidly. 



