62 
THE LANHuAGE of BIRDS. 
the issue of their efforts/' Could these splendid 
little birds be naturalized to our climate, what a gay 
appearance would they make in our hedge rows ! 
though, being extremely susceptible of cold, they 
seem more adapted for the house ; and although they 
cannot vie with either our linnet or goldfinch in 
musical powers, their song being only a little simple 
warbling, still their note is pleasing, and from their 
interesting little actions and gay plumage, they would 
always have many admirers. In their native haunts, 
their food consists of rice, insects, and various kinds 
of seeds ; they are also fond of the internal grains or 
seeds of the ripe fig. Beckstein remarks, " English 
and Dutch sailors take home many of these birds, 
and it is has been said, that in England they have 
succeeded in making them breed in aviaries in gar- 
dens spacious enough to contain orange trees, on 
which they have constructed their nests. When in a 
cage, they are fed on millet, canary-seed, endive, and 
poppy-seed, on which they may be preserved from 
eight to ten years." 
With the following observations of one who wrote 
as he felt, I will conclude my notice of this " pape,'^ 
of the French, the " nonpareil" of the Americans, 
