160 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



round ; but they most usually begin to pair 

 in April, and to breed in June and August. 

 Those are said to be the best breeders that 

 are produced between the English and the 

 French. 



Towards the latter end of March, a cock 

 and a hen should be put together in a small 

 cage where they will peck at each other in 

 the beginning, but will soon become thoroughly 

 reconciled. The room where they are kept to 

 breed should be so situated as to let the birds 

 have the benefit of the morning sun, and the 

 windows should be of wire, not glass, that they 

 may enjoy the benefit of the air. The floor 

 of the room should be kept clean, and some- 

 times there should be dry gravel or sand sifted 

 upon it. There should also be two windows, 

 one at each end, and several perches at proper 

 distances for the birds to settle on, as they fly 

 backwards and forwards. A tree in the middle 

 of the room would be the^nost convenient to 

 divert the birds, and sometimes to serve for 

 building their nests upon. 



In Germany they prepare a large room, 

 and build it in the manner of a barn, being 

 much longer than broad, with a square place 

 at each end, and several holes to go into those 

 square places. In those outlets they plant 

 several sorts of trees, in which the birds take 

 great delight to sing and breed. The bottom 

 of the place they strew with sand, and upon 

 it cast rape-seed, chick-weed, and groundsel, 

 which the old birds feed upon while breeding. 

 In the body of the house they put all sorts of 

 stuff for building the nest, and brooms, one 

 under the other, in all the corners-, for the 

 birds to build in. These they separate by 

 partitions from each other, to prevent those 

 above flying down upon, or otherwise incom- 

 moding, such as breed below. The light also 

 is excluded, for no bird is fond of having light 

 come to its nest. 



With us the apparatus for breeding is less 

 expensive ; a little breeding-cage sometimes 

 suffices, but seldom any thing more exten- 

 sive than a small room. While the birds are 

 pairing, it is usual to feed them with soft 

 meat; that is, with bread, maw-seed, a little 

 scalded rape-seed, and near a third part of 

 an egg. The room should be furnished with 

 stuff lor making their nests ; such as fine hay, 

 wool, cotton, and hair. These materials 

 should be thoroughly dry, and then mixed 

 and tied together in such a manner that the 

 birds may readily pull out what they want. 

 This should be hung in a proper part of the 

 room, and the male will take his turn in 

 building the nest, sitting upon the eggs, and 

 feeding the young. They are generally two 

 or three days in building their nests ; the hen 

 commonly lays five eggs: and in the space of 

 fourteen days the young will be excluded. 



So prolific are these birds sometimes, that the 

 furnale will be ready to hatch a second brood 

 before the first are able to quit the nest. On 

 these occasions she leaves the nest and the 

 young, to provide herself with another to lay 

 her new brood in. In the mean time the 

 male, more faithful to the duties of his trust, 

 breeds up the young left behind, and fits them 

 for a state of independence. 



When the young ones are excluded, the 

 old ones should be supplied with a sufficiency 

 of soft food every day, likewise with fresh 

 greens, such as cabbage, lettuce, and chick- 

 weed ; in June, shepherd's purse ; and in 

 July and August, plantain. They are never 

 to have groundsel after the young are ex- 

 cluded. With these different delicacies the 

 old ones will take particular care to feed and 

 bring up their young ; but it is usual when 

 they can feed themselves, to be taken from 

 the nest and put into cages. Their meat then 

 is the yolk of an egg boiled hard, with an 

 equal quantity of line bread, and a little 

 scalded rape-seed : this must be bruised till 

 it becomes line, and then it may be mixed 

 with a little maw-seed ; after which blend all 

 together ; which is to be supplied them fresh 

 every day. 



The canary bird, by being kept in com. 

 pany with the linnet or the gold-finch, pairs 

 and produces a mixed breed more like the 

 canary bird, and resembling it chiefly in its 

 song. Indeed, all this tribe with strong bills 

 and piercing notes, and feeding upon grain, 

 have the most strong similitude to each other, 

 and may justly be supposed, as Mr Buffon 

 imagines, to come from the same original. 

 They all breed about the same time ; they 

 frequent the same vegetables ; they build in 

 the same hedges and trees; and are brought 

 up for the cage with the same food and 

 precautions. The linnet, the bullfinch, and 

 the goldfinch, when we know the history 

 of the canary bird, have scarcely any peculi- 

 arities that can attract our curiosity or re- 

 quire our care. The only art necessary with 

 all those that have no very fine note, is to 

 breed them up under some more pleasing 

 harmonist. The goldfinch learns a fine song 

 from the nightingale ; and the linnet and 

 bullfinch may be taught, forgetting the wild 

 notes of nature, to whistle a long and regular 

 tune. 



CHAP. V. 



OF THE SWALLOW, AND ITS AFFINITIES. 



AN idea of any one bird in the former 

 classes will give us some tolerable conception 



