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 her beak. 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 which pair, nature has pro- 

 N 



