24 BRITISH BIRDS 



a good deal, some being much better performers in this 

 respect than others ; but they have no great variety of note, 

 and until within comparatively late years were seldom kept 

 in this country, although long the rage in Germany, where 

 they are scarcely held inferior to the Nightingale. 



Blindness is not uncommon among them in confinement, 

 and is due to the too generous use of hempseed: it is 

 of course incurable. A good deal of nonsense has been 

 uttered and written on the subject of mules between 

 this bird and the Canary, or some one of the other 

 Finches proper, but when a moment's reflection is 

 bestowed upon the widely divergent habits of the two 

 species, especially in the matter of food, and manner in 

 which they nourish their young, it will be seen, or should 

 be seen, that a fruitful alliance between them is out of 

 the question, for to breed mules, there must be a certain 

 amount of analogy between the parents, while between the 

 Canary and the Chaffinch there is absolutely none, except 

 that they are both small birds, which is not by any means 

 sufficient. Therefore the gentleman who offered 10 for 

 a cross between a Chaffinch and a Canary would have 

 been perfectly safe in increasing his offer to a thousand or 

 even to a million pounds ; but apparently he was of 

 opinion that the smallest premium was enough to stimu- 

 late amateurs of mule breeding, and it is certain that 

 although nearly twenty years have elapsed, the reward has 

 never been claimed. 



Before attaching any importance to the assertion of 

 the recent occurrence of Canary-Chaffinch hybrids, it 

 would be requisite to ascertain whether the person 

 making it knew a Chaffinch when he saw one, for a good 

 deal of confusion exists in the minds of many people 

 with regard to the proper names for different birds ; thus 

 in some parts the Goldfinch is known as the Red Linnet, 

 and in other quarters he is called a Robin ! Therefore 

 until we know who the supposed possessor of the marvel 

 is, judgment must be suspended. 



