218 



PIPING BULL FINCHES. 



two thousand, which they carried all the way in cages on their 

 backs, and made a good livelihood by selling the best at five 

 shillings a-piece. Since then the trade has, we have reason to 

 believe, still further increased. 



Though not very hardy, Canaries might possibly be natura- 

 lised in our country, by putting their eggs in the nests of Spar- 

 rows, Chaffinches, or other similar birds. The experiment has 

 been partially tried in Berkshire, where a person for years kept 

 them in an exposed aviary out of doors, where they seemed to 

 sutler no inconvenience from the severest weather. 



But this singing-bird trade is not confined altogether to Can- 

 ary birds ; Piping Bullfinches, so called from being taught to 



branch of it. In 

 the month of June the 



pipe different tunes, forming a considerable 



The Bullfinch. 



young ones, which are 

 sought for in the nests 

 of wild birds, are taken 

 when about ten days old, 

 and brought up by a per- 

 son who, by care and 

 attention, so completely 

 tames them that they 

 become perfectly docile 

 and obedient. At the 

 expiration of about a 

 couple of months they first begin to whistle, from which time 

 their education begins ; and no school can be more diligently 

 superintended by its master, and no scholars more effectually 

 trained to their own calling, than a seminary of Bullfinches. 

 They are formed first into classes of about six in each — and 

 after having been kept a longer time than usual without 

 food, and confined in a dark room, the tune they are to learn 

 is played over and over again on a little instrument called a 

 bird-organ, the notes of which resemble as nearly as possible 

 those of the Bullfinch. For a time, perhaps, the moping birds 

 will sit in silence, not knowing what to make of these proceed- 

 ings, but after a while they will one by one begin to imitate 

 the notes they hear. As soon as they do this, light is admitted 



