14B



Whatever the writer may imagine, and he seems more full

of theory than fact, no bird will sing when it feels ill : it must

be what the students of bird-song call ‘ stout ’ before it will sing

at all. Song in birds is believed to have originated in shouts of

defiance, one male singing against another ; it is now certainly

used to bring the hen into subjection. If no hen be present and

yet the male sings, he must be in abundant vigour and unable

to contain himself.


One of the most ignorant observations made by the writer of

this reprehensible pamphlet, is to the effect that birds cannot be

studied properly in aviaries ; but only in their wild state. The

truth is that many birds can be properly studied in no other

manner than in aviaries. Many scientific collectors in many

years have frequently failed to discover a solitary fact as to the

method of nidification, the colour and number of eggs, etc., of

a bird ; yet, when transferred to an aviary, the whole of the

bird’s life has been laid bare. The study of birds in a wild

state may even be misleading : it led Charles Dixon to the false

conclusion that inherited instinct was a myth, and that birds

built their nests in imitation of those wherein they were born ;

whereas aviculture proved conclusively that, after hundreds of

generations of caged life, a bird turned loose in a large aviary

immediately constructed the nest of its remote ancestors : even

the songs and call-notes of birds heard in a state of freedom are

imperfectly heard and often incorrectly rendered by naturalists ;

and doubtless, where two species are together in a thicket, the

notes of one are often mistaken for those of the other.


The final assertion—that the case of Canaries differs from

that of other cage-birds, yet nevertheless sets a bad example and

encourages a “ detestable trade”—is really almost too absurd.

The writer fails utterly to see that the rule which applies to wild

birds, must apply to all birds which have been originally wild ;

then, when he includes Canaries in his reprobation of aviculture,

he does not see that (to be consistent) he is bound to include

Pigeons and all kinds of domesticated Fowls. Nay, more, I must

insist that, if it be cruel for man to “have dominion over the

fowl of the air,” it is equally cruel for him to keep in subjection

any living creature ; and I am not sure that he ought not him¬

self (in that case) to return to a condition of irresponsible

savagery. Of a truth anyone who could calmly swallow such

nonsense as the writer of “ Captive Song-birds ” solemnly

indites, cannot be intellectually far removed from that early

condition of his species.



A. G. Butler.



