FINCHES. 



Hitherto I have written of soft-billed birds, feeding 

 on insects ; I come now to those which have hard bills, 

 the seed-eaters, which are much more adapted to a 

 cage life. The Larks appear to hold a middle rank 

 between the two kinds, as they eat seeds as well as 

 insects ; but they are often classed amongst the great 

 tribe of Fringillidae, perhaps because their beaks are 

 not toothed like those of the soft-billed birds; yet 

 they require soft food, like the Nightingale and other 

 warblers. 



The extensive family of Finches comprehends 

 Grosbeaks, Buntings, Weaver-birds, Tanagers, and 

 Finches proper, and most of the little foreign seed- 

 eating birds. 



The first of which I shall treat is the Canary, the 

 cage bird par excellence, a thoroughly domesticated 

 bird, perfectly happy in confinement, and breeding 

 and rearing its young both in the cage and aviary 

 without difficulty. 



The CANARY (Fringilla Canaria). The green bird 

 of Teneriffe and the Canary Isles has become greatly 



