MODES OF CAFIURE. 23 



and die. Those which, are confined in cages are most subject 

 to it ; the reason of which may readily he discovered in the 

 uniformity and tediousness of their way of life, and the un- 

 gratified sensual desire. I have cured many "birds of this 

 disease by merely hanging their cages before the window ; by 

 which simple remedy they seemed at once enlivened, and forgot 

 their inclination for freedom and a mate. 



VII. AGE or CAGE-BIRDS. 



THE Age to which Cage-Birds attain, depends chiefly on the care 

 which is taken of them. We read of Parrots which have lived 

 100 years, and there are well-authenticated cases of Nightin- 

 gales, Goldfinches, and Chaffinches, which ha,ve been confined in 

 cages for twenty-four years. The age of Cage and Tame Birds 

 is the more worthy of notice, as it forms the only satisfactory 

 data for conclusions respecting the Age of Birds in general ; so 

 that in this, as well as in many other respects, our feathered 

 favourites are worthy of the naturalist's attention. It is re- 

 markable that birds, although attaining their full growth in a 

 much shorter period, yet on the average live much longer than 

 the mammalia. The age of the latter is equal to six or seven 

 times the period which they take to grow, while birds live from 

 fifteen to thirty times the same period. One reason for this is 

 said to be the different density of the bones, which in birds is 

 comparatively very small, so that the open structure remains 

 porous and light during a much longer period. 



VIII. BIRD CATCHING. 



WE generally obtain the inmates of our aviaries from bird- 

 sellers and fowlers ; the former supplying us with foreign, the 

 latter with indigenous birds. For the success of the latter, it is 

 essential that they should be acquainted, not only with the various 

 methods of catching birds, but also with the several calls and 

 cries, which, as is well known, differ according to the difference 

 of species, and according also to the various desires and emo- 

 tions which they are intended to express. As, however, there 

 is a peculiar method best adapted to the circumstances of every 

 case, I shall, in my account of each bird, give particular direc- 

 tions as to the best means of catching it. The following 

 remarks will therefore be understood to be only generally ap- 

 plicable. 



