228 Bird - Lore 



Wilson (1829) devotes some space to a description of his experience with these 

 Finches as caged birds, showing that they have been captives these many years : 

 " The Purple Finches fly at a considerable height in the air, and their note is a single 

 chink, like that of the rice bird. They possess great boldness and spirit and, when 

 caught, bite violently and hang by the bill from your hand, striking with great fury; 

 but they are soon reconciled to confinement and in a day or two are quite at home. 

 I kept a pair of these birds upward of nine months, to observe their manners. 

 Both are now as familiar as if brought up by hand from the nest, and seem to pre- 

 fer hemp seed and cherry blossoms to all other food. Both male and female, 

 though not crested, are almost constantly in the habit of erecting the feathers of 

 their crown. . . . They are a hardy and vigorous bird. . . . When these 

 birds are taken in their crimson dress, and kept in a cage until they molt their 

 feathers, they uniformly change their appearance and sometimes never after 

 regain their red color. . . . They are also subject, if well fed, to become so 

 fat as literally to die of corpulency, being at these times subject to something 

 resembing apoplexy, from which they sometimes recover in a few minutes, but 

 oftener expire in the same space of time. 



The moral of this being that even a hardy Finch, when caged, becomes abnor- 

 mal and should be granted the same liberty as the Cardinal, Mocker, and all the 

 rest. Wilson says that the pair he caged were reconciled to confinement in a day 

 or two. This I am never prepared to believe about any bird born wild and cap- 

 tured after maturity. Cowed, or caged into submission, they may be, but recon- 

 ciled, never! 



Questions for Teachers and Students 



What family of birds has the greatest number of species ? What is the relation between the 

 colors of Finches and Sparrows and their haunts ? What is the principal external character of 

 Finches ? What is their chief food ? Do they migrate as far as birds which live mainly on 

 insects? How many of our commoner winter birds belong to the Sparrow family? 



