94 THE BULLFINCH. 



corn, all kinds of berries, the buds of the oak, beech, and pear trees, and 

 even linseed, millet, rape, and nettle seed. 



In the house those which run about may be fed on the universal paste, 

 and, for a change, rape seed may be added ; those which are taught must 

 be fed only on poppy seed, with a little hemp seed, and now and then a 

 little biscuit without spice. It has been remarked that those which are fed 

 entirely on rape seed soaked in water live much longer, and are more 

 healthy. The hemp seed is too heating, sooner or later blinds them, and 

 always brings on a decline. A little green food, such as lettuce, endive, 

 chickweed, water-cresses, a little apple, particularly the kernels, the berries 

 of the service tree, and the like, is agreeable and salutary to them. 



BREEDING These tenderly affectionate birds can hardly live when 



separated from one another. They incessantly repeat their call with a 

 languishing note, and continually caress. They can sometimes be made to 

 breed in the house, like the canary, but their eggs are rarely fruitful. In 

 the wild state they breed twice every year, each time laying from three to 

 six eggs, of a bluish white, spotted with violet and brown at the large end. 

 Their nest, which they build in the most retired part of a wood, or in a 

 solitary quickset hedge, is constructed with little skill, of twigs which are 

 covered with moss. The young ones are hatched in fifteen days. Those 

 which are to be taught must be taken from the nest when the feathers of 

 the tail begin to grow ; and must be fed only on rape seed soaked in water 

 and mixed with white bread ; eggs would kill them or make them blind. 

 Their plumage is then of a dark ash-colour, with the wings and tail blackish 

 brown ; the males may be known at first by their reddish breast ; so that 

 when these only are wished to be reared they may be chosen in the nest, 

 for the females are not so beautiful, nor so easily taught. 



Although they do not warble before they can feed themselves, one need 

 not wait for this to begin their instruction*, for it will succeed better, if one 

 may say so, when infused with their food ; since experience proves that 

 they learn those airs more quickly, and remember them better, which they 

 have been taught just after eating. It has been observed several times, 

 that these birds, like the parrots, are never more attentive than during 

 digestion. Nine months of regular and continued instruction are necessary 

 before the bird acquires what amateurs call firmness, for if one ceases before 

 this time, they spoil the air, by suppressing or displacing the different parts, 

 and they often forget it entirely at their first moulting. In general it is a 

 good thing to separate them from the other birds, even after they are per- 

 fect ; because, owing to their great quickness in learning, they would spoil 

 the air entirely by introducing wrong passages ; they must be helped to 

 continue the song when they stop, and the lesson must always be repeated 

 whilst they are moulting, otherwise they will become mere chatterers, 



* I do not recommend the employment of bird organs for instructing birds, because 

 they are rarely accurate, and their notes are harsh and discordant ; for bullfinches 

 repeat the sounds exactly as they hear them, whether harsh or false, according to 

 the instrument used. The good and pure whistling of a man of taste is far pre- 

 ferable ; the bird repeats it iu a soft, flute-like tone. When one cannot whistle 

 well it is better to use a flageolet TRANSLATOR. 



