CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
a low, soft song, rather sad, but agreeable on the whole. It 
requires a large cage, and must be fed on canary seed, 
millet, and harley meal, with green food ^ it v/ill live in con- 
finement from six to twelve years. 
FINCHES. 
Most of the birds that are commonly called finches, be- 
long to the great passerine or sparrow family. They are 
nearly all stout, yet active and lively birds, mostly grega- 
rious, and living much upon grain and seeds ; they are the 
neatest of builders, and the nests of some of them are per- 
fect models of bird architecture. We shall speak first of 
the British species, and then of those which are not indi- 
genous to the country, 
THE GOLDFINCH, 
Or, as some call it, the Red-fronted Thistlefinch, is too 
well known to need a description. It is an elegantty-formed 
and beautifully-coloured bird, with a very sweet, natural 
song', and great power of imitation, and is, therefore, an 
universal favourite. No aviary would be at all complete 
without Master Goldie, or Goldspink, as the Scotch call 
him; and w*here only two or three birds are kept he is 
pretty sure to be one of the species. He is the great rival 
of the canary in the affections of most bird-fanciers, and it 
is diflicult to decide which of the two has the advantage as 
regards vocal powers ; while for tractability, and the facilitj'- 
with which it may be taught sundry amusing tricks, the 
goldfinch, we imagine, has the superiority. In its wild 
state it usually resorts to gardens, shrubberies, and plan- 
tations, where it builds a nest, beautifully round and com- 
pact, of moss, lichens, grass, and other materials, lining it 
with the down of thistle-seed, or other fine filaments, 
usually vegetable. The eggs, about five in number, are of 
a grayish blue, sparingly spotted with purplish gray or 
brown. The nest is placed at a considerable height from 
the ground, often in an apple or pear tree. Goldfinches do 
not feed their young with insects, but, hke the purely 
grnnivorous birds, with grain and seed moistened in the 
crop. When taken to be brought up by hand they should 
"be fed on white bread-crumbs soaked in milk, and squeezed 
