194 Caivarjes AiVD Cage- Birds. 



gence and good taste — we gently scratch the underneatli part of the cage with the fingers or a 

 little wand. Sometimes a mere tick or gentle tap will do, and, when it zvtl/ do, the less rubbin"-, and 

 scrubbing, and chirping, and blowing off the steam, the better. Just a faint tap and a little scratch 

 to attract attention, and they draw themselves up farther and farther till their legs are perfectly 

 straight and rigid, showing a portion of the thigh : a little more and an encouraging chirrup, and 

 the shoulders are raised, higher and higher, and still higher yet, as if the bird were trying to reach 

 a point which, once touched, still cannot be maintained without continued exertion, consisting not 

 in an undignified straining but singularly graceful action. In this straining with the shoulders the 

 head is depressed and the neck stretched to its extreme limit, not with any distressing exertion, but 

 with the most consummate ease and grace ; and in that posture it will stand, occasionally turning its 

 head on one side and looking up with a soft pensive glance, with nothing defiant about it, but just 

 simply an air of thorough-bred gentility and quiet dignity. A bird of very strong nerve will some- 

 times, when apparently doing its utmost and when at its seeming greatest tension, grasp the perch 

 with renewed energy, and, leaning back till its tail is brought under the perch and one would think 

 it would lose its centre of gravity, literally double itself in a way not unlike the picturesque 

 attitude boys assume in playing at leap-frog, till head, neck, and shoulders form an almost 

 unbroken bend. If in this position the tail should be brought into a curve, it is no draw- 

 back, but is no improvement on the standard idea of perfection of posture, and a bird which 

 can do all that is asked of it while still maintaining a perfectly erect stand is to be preferred. 



And now note the direction of the head and beak when the bird is thus extended, as 

 contrasted with their position when it is " at ease." When at rest, that is, when standing in 

 a. fairly erect attitude without being in any way excited, at which time we have said the top 

 of the head and the shoulders are about in the same straight line, then, and only then, is the 

 head in a horizontal position. The moment the bird begins to extend its neck or to " reach," 

 as it is technically termed, and the head is correspondingly depressed, its direction is altered 

 and it begins to point dowmvards, continuing to do so till, at the extreme point of extension 

 and depression, the previously concave or beautifully hollowed upper line of the neck becomes 

 arched, and the head is bent till the beak points imvards, every upward movement of the 

 shoulders being accompanied by a further development of the arch and a more determined 

 tucking-in of the head, as seen in the Variegated Yellow bird in the coloured illustration, which 

 is by no means an exaggerated representation, but rather the contrary. 



This is " Position," the credential of a high-class Belgian ; an in-born quality which clings 

 to it as long as life lasts. We have seen a bird so prostrated by asthma that it seldom or 

 ever — and, towards the end, never — sat upon the perch, but lay night and day in the bottom 

 of the cage, squatting with wings outstretched, breathing with the rapidity incident to the 

 complaint, and apparently very near its end ; yet struggle on to its perch on being asked, and 

 show such position as would scarcely be believed if we were to attempt to describe it. Some 

 who have not made the bird a study talk of " position " being all the result of training ; 

 and there is a legend in the traditions of the Fancy that one successful exhibitor wore 

 through the oil- cloth of his bird-room floor and half through the floor itself in one particular 

 spot, by shuffling with his feet on a little sand, in training his birds to get into position. 

 But it is all nonsense. Undoubtedly a bird taken from a flight-cage and placed in aij open 

 show-cage for the first time, and asked to do his best at five minutes' notice, will not do so 

 well as one which has frequently been caged and made familiar with the situation. The one 

 is agitated and restless ; the other quite cool and equal to the occasion. It is simply a 

 question of tameness or familiarity, and not of training. If it be in the bird, like true 



