2 Ca.yaries and Cage-Birds. 



overhanging eaves of barns, and the still richer preserves of ivy-clad walls. But the lad has a 

 warm corner in his heart for all that. The friendly robin, enticed by crumbs, takes its morning 

 meal at his window, and is allowed to come and go, hopping in and out from under the treacherous 

 stable-sieve, delicately poised over the baited spot to which he wishes to lure other birds, and is 

 a privileged visitor. The half-frozen thrush, captured in the snow on one of the lad's hunting 

 expeditions, or some wounded sufferer with broken wing, appeals to his sympathies, is cared for, 

 tenderly nursed, and, though a captive, becomes a pet. The young rabbits, taken from their downy 

 bed — a short burrow in some fallow — find a home in his hutch, and when grown — well, the lad has 

 not the heart to kill them, and so sets them at liberty, himself scarcely less happy than they. The 

 nest of young birds, long marked down and daily visited with furtive steps lest other watchful 

 eyes should discover them, carefully carried home in his cap, become objects of extreme solicitude, 

 and are, possibly, actually killed with kindness. A strange medley is the lad — a compound of 

 thought and thoughtlessness, but good at the core. Nothing which appeals trustingly to his better 

 nature appeals in vain ; and so it is, we believe, that this desire to have something to love and care 

 for overcomes the other and lower tendency. It grows with our growth and strengthens with our 

 strength, and when satisfied, teaches many a lesson of abnegation of self. 

 The love of pets insensibly leads us to the study of Nature — 



" An effect 



Whose cause is God " — 



even though very partially and without turning up the ground to any great depth. The volume 

 lies open before us replete with interest, and the study is alike absorbing whether the subject be 

 our own wonderful anatomy or the structure of a mollusc ; the oak which has seen the summers 

 and winters of a century or the fungus which springs up in a few hours. Cage-birds are on 

 our particular leaf of this inexhaustible volume, and we propose to look at them from a homely 

 point of view — homely in every sense of the word. This will not be an abstruse work, but one 

 in which the every-day life and management of the most popular and attractive cage-birds will 

 be exhaustively treated. It is not intended for the naturalist or the ornithologist proper, though 

 even they may, perhaps, dip into its pages and learn something — for we are ever learning — of 

 the domestic habits and economy of some feathered favourite ; but it is intended as a practical 

 guide, a vade inecum for all who take an interest in rearing and tending cage-birds, whether 

 native, or coming to us from far-off climes with stories of tropical splendours. 



One of our specialities is the Canary, the home-bird of England, and one more generally 

 met with than any other. Other song-birds, each with its own peculiar attraction, are found 

 in many homes ; but the Canary, most probably from his attractive appearance and friendly 

 ways, is the bird of the people. Still, among popular favourites, there is the linnet in his 

 tiny cage, hanging outside the attic casement of some toiling artisan who sees but little blue 

 sky except over tiled roofs and smoky chimney-tops, ever on the move and singing the day 

 through of breezy hill-sides and blooming whin bushes ; or the skylark on his fresh sod, bought 

 with hard-earned penny, carolling of green fields, new-mown hay, and skies all sun ; the 

 blackbird or thrush, in quaint wicker cage, chanting rich bursts of delicious music, wakening 

 echoes of bygone days and carrying the listener back to some low-roofed, thatched cottage, 

 with porch overgrown with woodbine, reminding him of early hopes and loves, and ambitions 

 now tempered by stern necessities and manhood's cares, every gush of melody flooding his 

 heart like refrains of angels' songs, and whispering perhaps of loved ones left behind sleeping 

 peacefully under a little green mound in a far-off village churchyard. 



But these birds are not every one's property. Early associations and early surroundings 



