14 Song Birds. 



a bird to take a seed or fruit when offered it, after a 

 I 



day's acquaintance ; but to have it talk to us, and 

 flutter towards us, and hop about upon us, and try for a 

 game of play, is a great deal more agreeable ; and I 

 had rather see my birds tug at my lace or ribbon, 

 and dash away and come back again by another road, 

 looking very naughty, than have any amount of 

 tameness shown by accepting hempseeds. 



Knowing that how to tame birds is a question of 

 so much interest to all who keep them, perhaps I 

 may venture to write about my own pets more than 

 I would do otherwise, in the hope that the descrip- 

 tion of some of their ways and of how they have 

 been managed may bring the same pleasant interest 

 into the easy reach of many other persons. In 

 the summer, when it can be managed easily, the 

 birds without doubt do better out of doors protected 

 by a shady tree during the day, and some water- 

 proof kind of curtain at night, and during rain : 

 while if in a room, the more the windows can be 

 kept open the better they will thrive. It is chiefly 

 in winter, therefore, and in early spring that I have 

 them generally flying about my room. For an hour 

 or two daily, it is a great amusement to all parties 

 concerned ; their number being from two or three to 

 about a dozen ; for it is difficult to study the charac- 

 teristics, and have special acquaintance with the 

 personal peculiarities of a much larger tribe. 



