60 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. 



custom him to his new mode of life, and afterwards put in a small wicker cage, 

 so commonly seen in the bird-shops. This cage is set into a box of dimensions 

 just allowing its admission, and having a small swinging-door in front, which is 

 kept closed, except during lesson-hours. A professional trainer's house has, as its 

 chief furniture, probably fifty or seventy-five of these study-boxes, placed in rows 

 around the wall, as far apart as the space will admit. As the houses are usually 

 one room en-suite structures, the space separating the boxes is limited. When a 

 trainer has two or more rooms, the number of airs taught accords with the number 

 of rooms ; for only one air can be taught in a room, as the birds would get two 

 songs mixed. But a bird having learned thoroughly one air is taken to another 

 room, and taught a second piece. 



The Bullfinches vary in intelligence the same as persons ; some birds having sur- 

 prising faculty for learning, while others are so mulish, or dull, that no amount of 

 training will call forth even a single musical note : hence a trainer's success de- 

 pends on securing intelligent birds. From twelve birds taken out of the nest, and 

 put in training, should six prove intelligent enough to learn a tune, the trainer 

 thinks himself fortunate. While some have the ability to learn three airs, others in 

 the same room, under the same instruction, acquire but a portion of a single air. 

 A trainer is quick to perceive the difference in his pupils ; and the most promising 

 are selected, and thoroughly taught. 



The lessons are given five times each day, and at each lesson the air is whistled 

 through from beginning to end : it is never whistled in parts. Some of the scholars 

 commence by catching a portion at a time, and from constant repetition gradually 

 acquire the entire air : the lessons cannot end here, but must be repeated day after 

 day, even after the bird whistles the song perfectly, in order to thoroughly fix it in 

 his memory. Some of the pupils appear to waste valuable time, and, like many 

 wise men, are content to listen. These get their lessons as regularly as the most 

 promising ones, but the only sign they give the trainer are the chirps of recogni- 

 tion. After four or five months of untiring care, they delight the teacher by piping 

 the air complete: these are held at the highest value, as they remain fast, i.e., 

 never forget, and are the ones always sought after by the Bullfinch lover. 



The trainer commences the lesson before breakfast by opening the bird's stall, 

 and bestowing a few pet names (the smartest birds being usually inflicted with a 

 large number) , and in a slow, crooning tone repeating the name over and over : at 

 the same time the trainer sways his head slowly from side to side until he hears the 

 call of recognition. The swaying continues as long as the bird continues to pipe : 

 then the box is closed, and the trainer passes to the next bird, and so on until each 

 one has received his lesson. 



The trainers, or professional whistlers, are shoemakers, tailors, or schoolmas- 

 ters : the latter always produce the best-trained birds ; their education, however 

 slight, fitting them exactly for the task. I can safely say that the Bullfinch pupil 

 always gets more thorough care and severer lessons than the boy pupil ; for the 

 schoolmaster's labor with the birds is more remunerative and satisfactory, as he has 

 no slow-paying, bad-tempered parents to satisfy, because these scholars have not 

 been trained up properly. 



The music formerly taught was of the old style of German hymns, and slow- 



