36 INTRODUCTION. 



overcome, but by great skill, practice, and perse- 

 verance. All their lessons must be given just be- 

 fore they get their food. 



We may here notice what appears to us a cu- 

 rious circumstance in the history of birds, at least 

 as regards them in a state of domestication, — ^we 

 mean their different dispositions ; which vary as 

 much in different birds as the dispositions of men 

 vary from each other. Some bii'ds are bullies, and 

 quarrelsome, cruel to the females and young, indo- 

 lent of song, careless, lazy, selfish, sullen, stubborn, 

 and gluttonous : while others are docile and mild, 

 kind, tender, and delicate to the females and young, 

 lavish of song, industrious in building their little 

 habitations, cheerful, and apparently happy. But 

 what appears still more singular, is that the good 

 qualities are generally found all in the same bird, 

 and the bad ones all in some other. What can be 

 more strikingly analogous than this to the charac- 

 ters of men? One man is industrious, honour- 

 able, and honest, kind and cheerful | another is 

 idle, dissipated, and worthless, cruel, selfish, and 

 stubborn. And as society despises the latter cha- 

 racter, and esteems the former, so bird-fanciers, 

 when they meet with a bird that is vindictive, 

 stubborn, and sullen, they reject it, as they know 



