10 THE GOLDFINCH. 



our translation of the Latin word,) are included, 

 amongst Sparrows, Goldfinches, and Canaries, tribes 

 of small birds, each exhibiting, in its own domestic 

 habits and arrangements, as much sound philosophy 

 and wisdom, in the management of their concerns, 

 as the wisest of human kind. 



Some of these little birds, moreover, seem occa- 

 sionally to have something like a reasoning, as well 

 as an instinctive faculty. A gentleman had a Gold- 

 finch, which was chained to a perch, instead of being 

 kept in a cage. Its food was put into a box, resem- 

 bling a water-fountain used for cages, and the little 

 opening at which the bird was fed, had a cover 

 loaded with lead, to make it fall down. The bird 

 raised this by pushing down a lever or handle, with 

 its^bill, which raised the lid of the box, after which, 

 by putting its foot on the lever, it could feed at 

 leisure. He had also a Redpole, chained on a 

 nearly similar perch; this bird fed from an open box, 

 without the trouble of having recourse to the lifting 

 power, like his neighbour, the Goldfinch. But though 

 the Redpole could have known nothing of the use of 

 the handle, from his own experience, as his food was 

 to be got at without such trouble, yet it seems he 

 must have taken notice of it, and seen, that by 

 touching this handle, he could get at the Goldfinch's 

 food, were he within reach; and this he kept in mind 

 for the day of need; for, one morning, when loose, 

 and his own seed-box empty, he flew at once to the 

 perch of his friend, raised the lid of the seed-box 

 with his bill, and then laying hold of it with one 

 foot, kept it open, till he had made a good breakfast. 

 This apparently trifling circumstance clearly shows 



