BRITISH SONG-BIRDS. 165 



singing loudest and shrillest when they hear most 

 noise, and trying to drown, with their little pipe, 

 the voices and laughter of the company in the 

 room where their cages hang : These are most as- 

 siduous in assisting the hen to build her nest, and 

 even to hatch the eggs, — often sitting on them while 

 she is at liberty, and aiding her to feed the young. 

 They are clean, debonnaire, and easily tamed. 



Others are sullen, intractable, and lazy of song. 

 Some cocks mil destroy the eggs as soon as depo- 

 sited ; or, when hatched, will tear the young from 

 the nest and kill them in their rage. Others are 

 so indolent they vn)l not build. The gi'ey ones 

 never do ; and the person who superintends these, 

 must make a nest for them. 



Some are so uncleanly as to draggle their feet 

 and tails ; while others delight to bathe twice or 

 thrice a-day. We once possessed a jonquil cock, 

 that used to nibble at its prison-gate until it had 

 unlatched it; and then, escaping to the room, 

 would fly to the chimney-piece, and, placing itself 

 in any of the china ornaments, fluttered as if 

 in the act of washing itself, and continued 

 doing so till water was brought it ; when, (like 

 the Beggar and the Barmecide,) it gladly re- 

 linquished the empty platter for the full one. 



