34 



the charming wild songsters mentioned in an earlier chapter, and 

 combines with them such other new and possible "tours" as may 

 suggest themselves to him as desirable acquisitions, and in which 

 the schoolmasters themselves may be deficient, the result being that 

 any fancier of the old school can at present easily point out in the 

 strains of our present birds a score of beautiful and now generally 

 known changes which were in his younger days not dreamt of even 

 in the very best strains of birds. 



Each new " tour," when acquired, receives a distinctive name 

 according to the everyday sound to which it may bear a resemblance. 

 Ludicrous as some of them may appear. I will endeavour to 

 translate into English the German designations of some of the best 

 known tours. Their nearest equivalents would be respectively : 

 Hollow-roll, Arched-roll, Whizzing-roll, Bass-roll, Hollow-flute, 

 Piping-flute, Metallic-flute (high and low), Water-bubble, Water-purl, 

 Quivering-whirl, Bowed-trill, Crescendo-trill, Silver-bell, Soughing- 

 zephyr, Dripping- well, Gurgling, etc., not to mention a number of 

 transition passages, leads, and finishes. 



It is not always that a breeder is possessed of two, or even one 

 special schoolmaster, or it may unfortunately happen that, although 

 he has made such provision, yet just at the time when his youngsters 

 are most ready to receive instruction, one or both of his would-be 

 tutors are moulting and therefore silent at the most critical period. 

 Such an eventuality is of course materially lessened when two are 

 provided, but, should it happen, the best songster of those who have 

 been hitherto used for breeding purposes is separated from his little 

 spouse and her family, if such there be, and is hung up in the 

 learner's room. His cage is lightly covered up, and before long he 

 regains his composure and sings softly, and far more composedly 

 than when he was flying about in the breeding room with others of 

 his kind. Such a bird will answer very well as a makeshift, and will 

 be fully capable of officiating as tutor until the inevitable moult puts 

 a temporary end also to his capabilities of communicating his art to 

 the pupils, some of which may have been his own sons from the first 

 broods. 



When the pupils have arrived at the age of four months they will 

 have completed their moult, and the lessons which they have been 



