Various Special Birds. 37 



oatmeal. This should be given at the end of a quill 

 with a notch cut in it a little distance up ; the food 

 must he given very often, from sunrise to sunset, 

 and the nestlings must he between whiles warmly 

 covered up. 



Hemp seed shelled and pounded up with bread 

 is one of the best of foods ; and hard-boiled egg 

 chopped up altogether, and mixed with grated bread. 

 The latter, perhaps, is that which answers most 

 universally for birds taken young from nests. They 

 must be kept also excessively clean ; the best plan is 

 a cage with some moss in it or bran, and a piece 

 of flannel that can be replaced daily. Under the 

 flannel the more feathers there are the better. 



In learning to sing, a Bullfinch is best kept quite 

 alone, and everything should be done to make his 

 lessons pleasant. Whistling a tune repeatedly is the 

 way that answers best ; but a tune slowly played is 

 by degrees picked up, if the little pupil has at all a 

 good ear for music. 



3. There may be sometimes a little doubt about 

 keeping Goldfinches, as they are certainly natives of 

 the English woods ; and yet I always console myself 

 by observing what extremely happy birds they are 

 under favourable circumstances even in what we 

 call their prison. If loose in the room, they very 

 seldom sit upon the window frame, or seem to look 

 out longingly, and when they have got out there 



