178 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



same may be said of woodpeckers, cuckoos, 

 warblers, and, in fact, of any species that subsists 

 in a state of nature on a particular kind of animal 

 food. Still, when we find that even the excessively 

 volatile humming-bird, which subsists on the 

 minutest insects and the nectar of flowers, and 

 seems to require unlimited space for the exercise 

 of its energies, can be successfully kept confined 

 for long periods and conveyed to distant coun- 

 tries, one would imagine that it would be hard to 

 set a limit to what might be done in this direction. 

 We do not want hard-billed birds only. We re- 

 quire, in the first place, variety; and, secondly, 

 that every species introduced, when not of type 

 unlike any native kind, as in the case of the 

 pheasant, shall be superior in beauty, melody, or 

 some other quality, to its British representative, 

 or to the species which comes nearest to it in 

 structure and habits. Thus, suppose that the in- 

 troduction of a pigeon should be desired. We 

 know that in all temperate regions, these birds 

 vary as little in colour and markings as they do 

 in form; but in the vocal powers of different 

 species there is great diversity; and the main ob- 

 jects would therefore be to secure a bird which 



