FOR CAGES AND A VI ARIES. 131 



will regain their rosy vesture, at least to a certain extent: 

 from this it may be inferred that the loss of it is due 

 less to food than to want of a proper amount of air and 

 exercise, without which the bird soon falls into a decline, and 

 as a correspondent recently complained, "develops exces- 

 sive corpulency," meaning thereby that the poor creatures 

 puffed their feathers out until they looked like balls of fluff, 

 while in reality they had wasted to mere skin and bone. 

 But we are all so prone to judge by outward appearance only ! 

 A Linnet has an exceedingly sweet natural note, which it 

 trills forth from dawn to dusk pretty well all the year 

 round in the house, where it will live for ten or twelve 

 years, when correctly managed. 



The Common or Lesser Redpoll. 



This is a pretty little bird, that is a great favourite, 

 especially with the poorer class of fanciers, who tame it 

 and teach it to play a great many little tricks, among others 

 that of drawing up its drinking-water with a thimble for 

 a bucket from a teacup placed below its stand for a well. 

 Special stands are made for the purpose, sometimes of 

 very elaborate design, and to these the Redpoll is chained, 

 by means of a band of chamois-leather, technically a 

 "brace", that is fastened round its body under the wings, 

 the little chain hanging down between the bird's legs. 



It might be thought that such restraint would be very 

 irksome to the Redpoll, but it does not seem to be so 

 after the first day or so, as the little captive makes no 

 attempt to escape even when anyone goes near him, but 

 keeps on drawing water and opening his seed-box when 

 he wants to eat or drink, as if it were the most natural 

 thing in the world to do; singing away in the intervals 

 between his meals as if he had not a care, but was per- 

 fectly happy and contented. And when it is added that a 

 Redpoll so chained has been known to pair with a female 

 of his own species that flew freely about the room, it 

 will probably be conceded that he had not much to com- 

 plain about, as she made her nest close to him and he 

 could hop on to the edge of it and peep at the little light 



