290 



BRITISH SONG BIEDS. 



a little bruised hemp- seed ; the cage should be placed where the 

 birds may not be molested for three or four days, after which time 

 they should be taken out and put into separate cages, which are 

 usually of very small dimensions and trifling value. These little 

 habitations are wired at the front and two sides, and 

 the top and back are made of wood, painted on the 

 outside green, and in the inside white ; the recep- 

 tacles for water and seed are commonly made of 

 lead, but in superior kinds of cages a drawer for the 

 seed, and a glass for the water, are often employed. 

 The food most proper for these birds are the canary 

 and summer rape-seeds (winter rape-seed is poisonous to them when 

 in captivity, although not at all hurtful when they are wild), and a 

 few corns of hemp-seed occasionally ; seeded chick-weed, beet leaf, 

 and lettuce-seed will be found beneficial if the birds be mopish ; and 

 if they are troubled with a looseness, a bit of chalk and some 

 bruised hemp-seed, a stalk of plantain, and saffron in their water, 

 are excellent remedies. If taken from the nest it may be taught to 

 imitate the songs of the canary, woodlark, chaffinch, &c., and if kept 

 by itself, to repeat tunes whistled to it. When they are taken so 

 young, the food most recommended is moistened white bread, hard 

 boiled egg, and soaked hemp- seed. Male linnets will pair with hen 

 canaries, and their mule progeny can scarcely be recognised from 

 grey canaries ; their song is exceedingly beautiful, and they will 

 learn tunes readily, and as we have before remarked, these mules 

 are the best singers of the two. Linnets frequent hedges, bushes, 

 and furze, and the skirts of woods ; but as soon as autumn sets in, 

 they take to the fields, and congregate in large flights ; and in the 

 winter they are wanderers, roving about in quest of food wherever 

 the snow has not enshrouded the earth in its white robe, and are 

 generally found at this season of the year near the sea-side. These 

 binls have usually two broods in the year, and the young ones are 

 sufficiently fledged in April to be taken. Their nest, which they 

 take great pains to conceal, is often found in furze-bushes, the out- 

 side is formed of dry grass, roots, and moss, and the inside generally 

 lined with hair and wool. The female lays four or five eggs, which 

 are white, tinged with faint blue, and sprinkled with brown dots at 

 the larger end. In flocking time the male linnet no longer shows 

 the red on its breast. 



THE BLACKCAP 



We commenced with the common 

 linnet on account of its cheapness, 

 and the readiness with which it may 

 be procured. We now give the 

 crowned king of song, the sweetest 

 singer in the summer band, not ex- 

 cepting, to our fancy, even the night- 

 ingale, and this is the blackcap. If 

 you love real bird-music procure a 

 blackcap at any cost, for he will 



