THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 193 
forests. They add much to the beauty of a conserva- 
tory or green-house, when they are allowed to fly at 
large in them, instead of being caged. 
I was staying, a few years since, with a friend who 
was equally partial to birds and plants, but would 
never suffer her feathered favourites to be confined 
in a cage, allowing them the range of her green- 
house. It was delightful to see how happy the little 
creatures seemed ; it appeared like a fairy scene, 
many having built their nests among the larger 
plants. My friend told me these sweet warblers, thus 
at liberty, afforded her more pleasure, and were a 
greater acquisition to the appearance of her green- 
house than the most splendid plant, and that any 
damage occasioned by them was so trifling as 
scarcely to be worth naming ; that they often saved 
the trouble of having the plants smoked, to destroy 
the insects, keeping them quite clear of those little 
green flies which are so destructive to many shrubs. 
The male canary is a pattern of paternal care and so- 
licitude, for it frequently happens that the female 
will be ready to hatch a second brood before the first 
are forward enough to quit the nest ; knowing that 
s 
