62 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. 



After leaving each house, your train of followers is increased by one : for, when 

 a bird is bought, the former owner constitutes himself one of the guard of honor : 

 and you are thus escorted from house to house. The district is sparsely settled ; and 

 in early winter few birds are far enough advanced in training to pipe the air without 

 a break, therefore special care has to be exercised in selecting only those most 

 thoroughly taught. A great many miles have to be walked, and the buyer has per- 

 formed a hard day's work if he finishes in the evening with ten birds. 



The clay which the buyer selects for his coming is celebrated as a holiday ; and 

 the men interested in the training forego all work, and don their Sunday clothes, and 

 give themselves up to the pleasure of a trip from dorf to dorf, comparing notes, 

 and exchanging their views on the different birds and trainers, making it a sort 

 of annual market-day. The taverns are not forgotten on the route ; and, by the 

 time work is completed, the majority of the party feel quite happy, and are alto- 

 gether funny. At the completion of his day's work, the buyer always puts up at the 

 nearest Wirtclischaft. This, in the evening, is the rendezvous for all the natives. 

 All shapes and sizes are represented, with costumes antique but not unique ; the 

 " abbreviated " jacket and " high- water " pantaloons predominate ; caps with 

 abbreviated peaks, and some without any, form a diminutive head-gear, which, in 

 some cases, seem lost amid the long and bushy unkempt locks. The guests' room 

 at these wayside inns is by no means elaborately furnished : a few very plain board 

 benches and tables, and a high sideboard in a corner for bottles and glasses, and 

 the regulation porcelain stove, complete the list. The walls are devoid of decora- 

 tions. After finishing the lunch, the trainers compete for the bottle of whiskey 

 which the inn-keeper has offered. Our sketch of the Whistling Match is made just 

 as the last competitor has " struck an attitude : " he is not quite so fully under the 

 influence of the ardent as is the party in the background, who feels as if the wall 

 must be propped up. This tailor and famous trainer last year taught forty Bull- 

 finches to pipe " Polly Perkins." He is minus two front teeth ; so, when he arose 

 to compete, the gentleman on the right ridiculed the idea of his trying for the prize : 

 but, placing two fingers where the teeth were missing, he whistled with such accu- 

 racy and sweetness and smoothness, that all agreed he was easily first. So he had 

 the pleasure of calling the bottle his, and of treating the rest. 



Great attention is now paid to the popular English airs ; and, as the attention of 

 the American bird-lovers has been strongly attracted toward the trained Bullfinches, 

 American airs are becoming popular with the Bullfinch trainers. The " Star- 

 Spangled Banner" and "Yankee Doodle" have been taught with great success. 

 Before many years the inhabitants of the Bullfinch district expect to have a railroad 

 put through ; and by that time we may expect to have "Pinafore." As it is now, 

 the bird-importers, if given the sheet-music before the regular training season com- 

 mences, will furnish a bird trained to order. 



It is much better to have a trained bird to pipe one or two long songs thoroughly 

 than to have his number credited with three airs, when perhaps he can pipe at most 

 only parts of each. A Bullfinch which pipes three perfect songs is, indeed, a rarity, 

 and seldom obtained. Birds which pipe two good songs thoroughly are highly 

 prized ; and, when they remain through the season perfect in the songs which they 

 have been taught, they are not apt to forget them through a life of years. Of 



