CAGED BIRDS 95 



bars ; and should perchance the song of a caged 

 bird receive answer from some more fortunate, 

 unfettered songster of its kind, the efforts to 

 escape are still more frantic and piteous to 

 behold. 



I never pass by the shop of a bird-fancier with- 

 out experiencing a longing to purchase the entire 

 stock of birds, if only for the infinite pleasure 

 which it would afford me to open the prison doors, 

 release the captives, and demolish the cages. 

 The reflection that it would but too well en- 

 courage the trade has hitherto restrained me from 

 so doing. Those people who keep British birds 

 in cages cannot be lovers of Nature ; they cannot 

 love bird, or beast, or flower, for were they 

 capable of so doing they could never, for the sake 

 of the selfish pleasure to be derived from its mere 

 possession, deprive a living creature of its lawful 

 liberty. I most heartily wish that the law pro- 

 hibited the keeping of birds, other than falcons 

 and hawks which are permitted to soar, and so 

 cannot justly be regarded in the same light in a 

 state of captivity. 



There are but very few of our British birds 

 which really do more harm than good. Indeed, I 

 think I may say that the bullfinch is the only 

 culprit, with which I am acquainted, which may 

 be said to be a hopeless sinner in this respect. 

 Yet it would be a sad day which saw its extinc- 

 tion. He can play the very mischief in a kitchen- 

 garden, for he is not satisfied with abstracting 



