BRITISH SONG-BIRDS. 95 



cess, and that of their education, either for the 

 a\iary or cage, requires skill — and, being attend- 

 ed with much trouble, can only be accomplished 

 by kind treatment and unremitting attention : yet 

 many die before they are brought to a state of 

 domestication, not so much through suUenness 

 as from the delicacy of their constitutions. 



The bird-teachers of Rome, Naples, Florence, 

 Vienna, Paris, and London, are famed for rearing 

 these bii'ds ; and the intelligent traveller, Dr 

 Clarke, mentions Moscow, where, he says, night- 

 ingales are heard dm'ing the night, making the 

 city resound with the melody of the forest. Its 

 song in Persia, Natolia, and Greece is said to be 

 much finer than in Italy. — The Italian birds are 

 more esteemed for this quality than those of 

 France, and the French are considered better 

 than the English birds; even in England, one 

 county is said to produce a finer song-bird than 

 another, though the districts join. Thus ama- 

 teurs, in London technically called " bird-fan- 

 eiers," prefer the nightingales of Surrey to those 

 of Middlesex. This bu'd is therefore supposed 

 to be heard in the greatest perfection in the 

 east, and said to decline in the sweetness and 

 richness of its vocal powers as it migrates north 



