34 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



necks wrung, the cocks are thrust into cages or 

 boxes, and are either taken to the dealers in 

 a neighbouring town or despatched by rail to 

 some large centre, spending possibly hours in 

 transit. A dozen in a Hudson's soap box, with 

 some seed, but no water, is recommended by a 

 careful dealer anxious for the safety of birds on 

 long journeys. In the big town those which 

 survive are consigned to the familiar cell-cages 

 (" It's kinder to give 'em small cages ; they'd 

 beat themselves to death in bigger ones") on 

 the dealer's dark shelves, or round about his 

 window, in as foul an atmosphere as Paradise 

 Court, Petticoat Lane, would seem to a Swiss 

 mountaineer. Of the reduced number which 

 reach the dealer alive, perhaps one in six 

 survives to find a purchaser. Or it may be 

 they are sold off at some Saturday night auc- 

 tion and distributed in paper bags, as vividly 

 pictured in the pamphlet entitled " A Linnet 

 for Sixpence," just published by the Society for 

 the Protection of Birds. 



Once sold, what fate awaits them ? What 

 fate is likely to await the delicate, fluttering 

 wild thing sold for a few pence in the back 

 street ? There is, of course, the very small per- 

 centage which the defenders of caging have 

 ever in view, those which are bought by well- 

 intentioned private persons and safely broken 

 in to the strange new life. Are even these 

 fortunate few placed as a matter of course in 

 aviaries where captivity may be made as endur- 

 able as possible ? Well, no, that is out of the 

 question, only the rich have aviaries ; but, it 

 is argued, they must be happy because they 

 sing ! That is to say, they continue, unless 

 utterly broken-hearted, to exercise the one bird- 

 faculty left to them — to cry aloud for the warm 

 sunshine, the green shade, and the never-seen, 

 ever-delaying mate, even though they can never 

 be understood by a single listener and never 

 answered in their own mystical language. And 

 by and by they cease beating their wings 

 against the bars, peck at the seed or other 

 food in the seed-box that replaces the hundred 

 varieties of dew-sweetened meat in the meadow, 

 and hop up and down, up and down, on the 

 monotonous perches, and are " merry." 



The wild birds most extensively caged are 

 the skylark, the linnet, and the chaffinch. The 

 harshened trill of the lark is a common city 

 sound, not " at heaven's gate," but from some 

 public-house or mews ; of all birds there is 

 none whose caging is more repugnant to the 

 man with any comprehension of wild bird life. 

 The linnet is less often seen or heard. It 

 is not pleasant to surmise what becomes of the 

 tens of thousands that suffer transportation 

 from their furzy homes to the galleys and hulks 

 of cagedom. The chaffinches are in many 

 cases the property of men with "a hobby" 

 for birds ; that is to say, a hobby for " bird 

 races," handicap singing competitions, over 

 which bets are made and money won. These 

 are the birds which are taken " out for a 

 walk " or to enjoy the fresh air (closely tied up 

 in black cloth or brown paper), where they 

 may hear their wild mates, and thus improve 

 their fading songs or serve as decoys for 

 snaring others. It has long been the practice 

 to blind these " pets " of the East-ender, so that, 

 unable to see and be terrified by their human 

 surroundings in the public-house, they may 

 suppose their competitors are wild kin calling 

 to them from the green boughs. The custom 

 is rendered illegal by the Wild Animals in 

 Captivity Act, but its illegality has probably 

 not succeeded in abolishing it. Larks are kept 

 for the same purpose. In Huddersfield, says the 

 Sta7idard of May 26th, 1904, there is an associa- 

 tion which " promotes the singing of larks" : — 



" Captive birds are trained by being taken in boxes 

 into the fields, where they are left to pick up the notes 

 of free birds as best they can. Competitions for prizes 

 have this week been held at various public -houses, the 

 birds singing for ten minutes or so without a break .... 

 In this way some £6 or £7 has been distributed, and 

 the contests have proved an infinite source of amusement. 

 The association has been in existence about thirty years, 

 and this year the hobby of lark singing has been encour- 

 aged by some thirteen ' Sings.' " 



The encouragement of the " hobby," how- 

 ever, is no doubt in many cases only a means 

 to an end, viz., to promote gambling, and 

 perhaps the police might have something to 

 say to this, especially when the "competition" 

 takes place on licensed premises. 



