82 Bird-keeping. 



have a great love for man, and to court his notice, and 

 attach himself to his habitations, especially in the 

 winter, when a very little encouragement will place him 

 on a most familiar footing. He is not a good inmate 

 of a bird-room or aviary, being so pugnacious in dis- 

 position, that he is perpetually at war with his own 

 species, as well as with other birds. .An old Redbreast, 

 too, will pine in captivity. The only hope of keeping 

 a tame Robin happy is by allowing him to come and 

 go at pleasure, providing him with a warm habitation 

 in winter, but not obliging him to remain a prisoner. 

 Then he will be a regular attendant at the breakfast- 

 table, will pick up the crumbs, and devour bread and 

 butter and scraps of fat, with the greatest delight, and 

 sing a merry song of gratitude in return. He is not 

 happy caged, unless he has been brought up from the 

 nest, and is too restless and lively to submit to close 

 quarters ; and when we can enjoy his friendly com- 

 panionship in a much pleasanter fashion, by attaching 

 him to us as a familiar guest, it seems a useless piece 

 of selfishness to keep him a prisoner. If, however, a 

 young nestling comes into our keeping from any acci- 

 dent, and we desire to rear him from the nest, he must 

 be fed on bread soaked in milk, and ants' eggs or meal- 

 worj^is chopped up with it ; and when older, on Night- 

 ingale's food. The young birds are grey, with a dingy 

 yellow stripe or dull red spots on their feathers, and do 

 not acquire the red breast and throat till after their 



