HABITATION. 13 



lameness, but often attracts to itself the diseased humours 

 necessarily engendered in the body by the unnatural habit 

 of life. The feet, indeed, are the seat of most of the diseases 

 incident to cage-birds ; and it is often necessary to examine 

 them minutely as a hair twisted round a claw eats so deeply 

 into the flesh, as frequently to result in the drying and drop- 

 ping oif of the part. Attention to this point is rendered all 

 the more important, and may be enforced by the fact, that it 

 is rare to see a cage-bird of any age, which has its full com- 

 plement of claws. It cannot, however, be denied that there 

 is not only a difference between species, but between in- 

 dividual birds in this respect ; some carefully keeping them- 

 selves clean others not even taking the trouble to cleanse their 

 feet, beak, or wings. I have always found Yellow-hammers, 

 Reed-buntings, Bullfinches, and Eedpoles exceedingly clean 

 birds ; whereas, on . the contrary, Larks and Pauvettes allow 

 their feet to be constantly full of dirt, and even suffer them to 

 ulcerate and drop off, before they will take the trouble to re- 

 move the offending matter. 



Many lovers of birds find pleasure in rendering them so 

 tame, that they may be taken on the hand into the open air ; 

 or be let fly, and again recalled. One of my friends, who has 

 succeeded in taming not only birds, but also otters, adders, 

 weasels, foxes, and martins, so that they follow him wherever 

 he goes, and obey the slightest sign of command, makes use 

 of the following method, which, from my own experience, I 

 can assert to be easy and certain. If the object of the experi- 

 ment be a bird, he opens the door of the cage, and teazes it 

 with a soft feather. 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 its feathers 

 down, caresses it, and offers it some favourite 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 pre- 

 sence of other persons and animals, the same experiment is 

 cautiously repeated in the open air, till at last it is rewarded 

 with complete success, and the bird refuses to forsake its 

 master, either in a large company, or among the temptations 

 of the garden. This process is particularly adapted for young 



