398 THE1B SONG. [CHAP. xi. 



wild in Great Britain. We may believe that all the in- 

 dividuals so taken at large have escaped from some 

 cagefull of imported captives, and have managed to 

 slip through the poulterer's fingers, just as he was 

 about to prepare half-a-dozen of them for a nice little 

 roast : and as we have kept a pair of these poor little 

 creatures incaged for some months, not to eat them 

 when a hungry fit came on, but to see how they would 

 behave themselves, we will recommend any one in 

 search of a harmless quiet pet, to look in at the Lon- 

 don poulterers' shops, and rescue from butchery a pair 

 or two of Ortolans. They have no stunning song, to 

 convert them into parlour nuisances whenever a nerv- 

 ous friend drops in ; all that we have heard from them 

 is a low monotonous song, which may be thus expressed 

 in musical notation : 



They are so little quarrelsome, that they may be 

 admitted harmlessly into a general aviary, or even into 

 a large cage occupied by a variety of small birds. 

 Mine have lived in happy companionship with a 

 pair of Siskins, birds much smaller and weaker than 

 themselves, in quite a small space. Although their 

 plumage is quietly russet-coloured, the light yellowish 

 marks under the chin, and the dark brown patches on 

 the back, give it some variety ; and the brownish 

 pink-tinted bill during their fat phase, and the 

 naked yellow skin round the large, mild eye, quite 

 save them from any cock-sparrow-like vulgarity of ap- 

 pearance. Sleek good nature is their principal charac- 

 teristic ; they look fat, and are fat. Their obesity of 



