229 



CHAPTER X. 



Passerine Order continued. Conirostras. Conical Beaks. 

 Orioles. Starlings. Habits of. Finch Tribe. Goldfinch. 

 Anecdotes of. Nests rapidly completed. Curious Nests in 

 Africa. Age of small Birds. Canary Birds. Trade in. Bull- 

 finches, Piping. How trained. Boldness of, Affectionate and 

 social Habits of. Also of Linnets. Use of small Birds in des- 

 troying Insects. 



Table X. Order 2. PASSERINE. 



THERE are seven genera of this tribe, of which four are 

 foreign; it is the most numerous, perhaps, of all the 

 divisions, including, as it does, that host of hard-billed, 

 birds, of infinite variety, from the Starling down to the 

 Sparrow, which is scattered so widely over the face of 

 the globe. To pretend to enumerate them in a work of 

 this kind would be impossible, and we shall therefore 

 confine ourselves to a few anecdotes, illustrating the 

 habits of some of those species which are most famili- 

 arly known. We have placed the Starling at the head 

 of them, as being one of the connecting links between 

 the Grackles and Thrush genera of the preceding table, 

 and those of the present. There is one other bird, the 

 Golden Oriole, indeed, which is a more closely connecting 

 link, and might, without impropriety,* be placed among 

 the crenirostral birds, inasmuch as the point of its upper 

 mandible is slightly notched ; but we mention the Starling 

 as the best known, the Oriole, or Golden Thrush, being 

 a bird of great rarity in this country, though, when once 

 seen, it cannot fail of being recognized and remembered, 

 the whole plumage, with the exception of the wings and 

 tail, being of a bright orange or golden colour. 



The Starling, although closely resembling the Thrush 

 and Blackbird in some respects, differs from them essen- 

 tially in others ; and as its beak, on examination, will be 



