6 Song Birds. 



general favourites for the outside of windows; but 

 none of these are exactly room birds, they require to 

 be out of doors so much, and in such airy quarters. 



2. We have, however, song birds enough, amongst 

 which to choose ; and though, I think, generally, each 

 person is fond of one kind particularly, yet even thus 

 the many " Warblers" (as the soft-billed tribes are 

 called), and the numerous hardy English or Canary- 

 finches, give scope for choice to those who do not wish 

 to keep up a foreign aviary. Of the Finch class, and 

 those immediately resembling it, we have a goodly 

 number; the many kinds of each, too, differing 

 widely in their song and plumage, as, for example, 

 the Green Canary a little sober, greenish brownly 

 dressed bird, and the brilliant Jonquille, with his jet- 

 black tuft. 



There are Goldfinches with their tricks and Bull- 

 finches with their tunes, the sweet-voiced Linnets of 

 many sorts and colours, Chaffinches, more rarely met 

 with, at least in English aviaries, than they deserve 

 to be, and the pretty, black-headed Aberdevines or 

 Siskins, which pair with the Canaries. 



3. The soft-billed birds, or Sylvia, are almost still 

 more numerous ; their very names are tempting, and 

 one longs to have a room of " Warblers," including 

 the universal favourites, the Woodlark and the Night- 

 ingale. There is, however, a wide starting-point from 

 which tastes may diverge. Some, for instance, delight 



