SONG BIRDS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



The passion for this bird (says Bechstein) is 

 carried to such an extent in Thuringia, and those 

 which sing well are sought for with so much acti- 

 vity, that scarcely a single Chaffinch that warbles 

 tolerably can be found throughout the province. 

 As soon as one arrives from a neighbouring country 

 whose notes appear good, all the bird-catchers are 

 after it, and do not give up the pursuit till they 

 have taken it. 



In confinement, these birds (says Bechstein) are 

 fed all the year on rape-seed, dried in summer, 

 or, which is better, soaked and swelled in water. 

 Every day a sufficient quantity should be soaked 

 for the next, and given them fresh every morning. 

 In the spring, a little hemp-seed, or the seed of the 

 nettle-hemp (Galeopsis tetrahit ), is given them to 

 enliven their song : but these seeds should not be 

 mixed with the rape. It must not be omitted to 

 supply them with green vegetables, chickweed, 

 lettuce, and the like ; and in the winter, a piece 

 of apple, mealworms, and ants' eggs agree with 

 them,* 



* Bechstein's Cage Birds. 



