PEIMCIPLES OF TAMING BIRDS 187 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE ART OF TAMING BIRDS. 



ALTHOUGrH birds are naturally of a timid disposition, 

 very easily alarmed, and from their delicate structure 

 unable to endure any but the most gentle handling, they may 

 be made very tame and become quite attached to their trainer. 

 We propose to tell our readers how to tame their birds, but to 

 malie these instructions successful they must be carried out 

 with the greatest gentleness and patience. The utmost pains 

 should be observed not to frighten the bird, as a single fright 

 may render him so shy as to defeat all your efforts to gaiu his 

 confidence. The following .plan is the simplest and most uni- 

 formly successful that we have seen tried ; The trainer opens 

 the door of the cage and teases the bird gently with a soft fea- 

 ther. This he does till the bird pecks at the feather, then at 

 his finger, and at last comes out of the cage and perches upon 

 his hand. He then smooths his feathers down, caresses it, and 

 offers it some favorite article of food, which it soon learns to 

 take from his hand. He then begins to accustom the bird to a 

 particular call or whistle ; carries it upon his hand or shoulder 

 from room to room, in which all the windows are carefully 

 closed, lets it fly and calls it back. As soon as the bird becomes 

 obedient to the call in the presence of other persons and animals, 

 the same experiment is cautiously repeated in the open air, till 

 at last it is rewarded with complete success. This process is 

 well suited for nearly all young cage birds, especially linnets, 

 bullfinches, and canaries, but it is dangerous to take these 

 tame birds into the open air during pairing time, as they are 

 liable to be enticed by the cries of wild birds. 



Birds that are caught in winter often take to ^he cage more 

 kindly than would be expected, but after their capture some 

 days should be allowed them to become accustomed to their 

 new situation, before expecting them to respond to your kind- 

 ness. Newly caught birds should be put into a quiet place, 

 shaded with a green woolen cover, so that the inp^ate may not 

 see persons moving about the room, and it should be supplied 

 with abundance of whatever is supposed to be its fa^^orite food. 

 Hemp seed generally fulfills this requirement. It is an im- 

 mense advantage to have a large cage made like the ^' trap " or 

 store cages in which canaries are generally sold. The wooden 

 bars are less liable to hurt new comers than those made of 

 wire. 



