8 Song Birds. 



entirely. In this way it is really pleasant to hear 

 those lovely strains, knowing all the time that the 

 sweet little singer is revelling in the intensest happi- 

 ness of its short bird life, poised on a waving branch,, 

 singing in the sunshine, turning and quivering in the 

 ecstasy of its song. 



A German yellow Canary I bought last spring, is in 

 voice the sweetest of Woodlarks ; and as in disposition 

 it is the vainest and most affectionate of Canary birds, 

 it is delightful to see its happiness and to hear its 

 song when it sits bending down, fairly singing at one. 



6. The warbler tribe, as its name implies, includes 

 most of our sweetest songsters ; Nightingales and 

 Blackcaps, Robin Kedbreasts and Jenny Wrens, White- 

 Throats and Garden Warblers ; all these are included r 

 while Larks may be reckoned with them as regards the 

 practical difficulties and objections to their being kept 

 in cages. Neither the Larks, Wrens, nor Robins 

 leave this country, however, in winter, as the others do. 

 For those like the Nightingale, who are birds of 

 passage, it is a great aggravation of their many 

 miseries to be prevented going ; and they die in great 

 numbers when the time of migration comes. I say an 

 aggravation but think of a Lark incaged ! There is- 

 a quiet remark in Bechstein quoted by most bird- 

 writers, that Woodlarks seldom live more than one 

 year in prison ; and that the cause of their death is 

 " commonly a broken leg." This is too suggestive 



