Breeding in Aviaries. 77 



"bags of network should be prepared, filled with small 

 tufts of soft dry moss or grass, free from stalks, a 

 little soft hair or wool, which is better short, as a long 

 hair sometimes gets caught about a bird's foot ; a few 

 nice little feathers, also, are a great boon, and some 

 soft down or thistle-down is best for the lining. I 

 should observe here, too, that birds are particular in 

 their tastes : one prefers a white lining, and another 

 a brown, and so far are they from conforming their 

 tastes to their means, that if they cannot have the one 

 preferred they often will not have any. As, however, 

 it is very much safer for the young to be warmly 

 housed, a little trouble in humouring their mamma 

 will not be thrown away. Feathers, I always fancy, 

 answer best for Canaries, many of the Warblers, Tit- 

 mice, Wrens, &c. ; their own little wild nests are 

 perfect depths of warm, soft, downy feathers. But in 

 all these things birds differ : Goldfinches prefer hair, 

 and Thrushes think mud more suitable, and a dis- 

 honest Sparrow, living on our lawn, once stole a 

 piece of flannel from the nursery window, and we 

 afterwards found it nestling with it in a large clipped 

 yew-tree ! 



I think it better to give two bags, putting that with 

 the moss in first ; but if the birds are in cages the 

 bags should be hung outside the wires, to prevent, 

 not only entanglements, but considerable waste of 

 strength ; as in the case of two of mine, when they 



