ORDER PASSERES. 249 



they are left some days shut up in the light chamber, before 

 they are exposed to the air. Some beet-leaves are given them 

 to eat, and a piece of plaster is left in their cage. The birds 

 destined to undergo this should be put in the cage in the 

 month of October, to have time to separate the good singers 

 from the bad. In fact, those which do not sing from this 

 time unto the end of March, are unfit for the purpose. They 

 must also be accustomed to eat grass, because without that 

 they would languish in the moulting, during which the 

 beet-root must also be administered three or four times. To 

 habituate them to this diet, their usual food should be with- 

 drawn for three or four hours every morning, and cabbage- 

 leaves and lettuce substituted for it. After they are put 

 into the air, they must not be exposed to the sun for twelve 

 or fifteen days. 



The chaffinch commences to sing at an early hour in the 

 morning. It is generally heard from the beginning of the 

 fine days in February, and continues to sing until towards 

 the end of the summer solstice. It is a bird of a very lively 

 character, always in motion ; and from its gestures and song, 

 the very emblem of gaiety. The male is very jealous; and 

 having once chosen his companion, and occupied a certain 

 district, he will suffer no others in his neighbourhood ; and 

 if any one intrude, a desperate battle takes place, and con- 

 tinues until the weaker either falls or retires. He never 

 quits his female during the time she is hatching, remains 

 during the night very close to the nest ; and if he removes a 

 little during the day, it is only for the purpose of providing 

 food, which he shares with her on his return. The female 

 alone works at the construction of the nest, to which she 

 gives, with a solid texture, so elegant a form, that it is one of 

 the most beautiful nests made by any of our European birds. 

 She places it on trees and shrubs of the most tufted kind, and 



