276 OUR NATIYE SONGSTERS. 



that bird is prized by those who keep it in a cage. 

 Many of the least difficult of these tricks are 

 taught by those who are able to bestow time and 

 attention on their little favourites, and are quite 

 unaccompanied by any practice of cruelty. Thus, 

 the siskin soon learns to come to its master or 

 mistress at the sound of a little bell ; and to draw 

 up the water for its own refreshment, by means of 

 a small bucket. When kept in an aviary it is one 

 of the liveliest of birds, always awaking among 

 the earliest, and singing so as to invite the others 

 to a chorus ; while it is so mild in its temper, that 

 it never quarrels with the other birds. It seems 

 constantly in a gay singing mood, and when not 

 thus occupied, it is to be seen with its bill arrang- 

 ing its feathers, so as to be always cleanly and un- 

 ruffled. No birds are easier tamed tlian these, for 

 they will begin to eat directly after being made 

 captives, and will build in a room and rear their 

 young amid the boughs hung there for their use 

 or pleasure. !Mr. Gardiner mentions that a friend 

 of his kept a pair of siskins, which built their nest 

 of moss and cotton, with which they were sup- 

 plied. They, however, showed so decided a pre- 

 ference to the cotton, tliat on a quantity of this 



