PEGGING FOH CHAFFIN CUES. 
fincli. That is to say, you must have a caged chaffinch who 
will sing under almost any circumstances — night or day, candle- 
light or sun-light, stationary and while his cage is being 
carried — none of these things should stop his singing. For 
such a bird a fancier will have no difficulty in getting a guinea. 
However, if you have the patience you may train him for the 
“ pegging ” business yourself. 
Choose from among your nestlings the largest-limbed and 
strongest-voiced cock-bird, and take especial care of him till 
moulting time. By taking especial care, I mean, don’t pamper 
him : feed him simply on rape-seed, and when about to moult, 
a few meal-worms will cheer him up wonderfully. Cover his 
cage completely with a dark cloth, so that not a glimmer of 
light can reach him, taking care at the same time that he has 
plenty of fresh air. When he has recovered from his moult, 
don’t remove the cover from his cage, keep him still in the 
dark ; but hang in the same room with him a chaffinch that 
can sing well, that the bird in training may be encouraged to 
sing. Every other day you may give him a thimbleful of 
crushed hemp-seed. In a few weeks he will sing as well in the 
dark as does his companion, who has the advantage of daylight. 
You may now, by degrees, take the cover off his . cage, and at 
first you will find that he is as shy of the daylight as an ordi- 
nary bird is of the dark. However, he will soon show himself 
indifferent to fight or darkness, and his ideas of propriety will 
get so confused that he will as soon strike up at candle-light 
as at daybreak. It is astonishing what odd sounds will set 
him off singing — the frizzling of meat in the frying-pan, or the 
rasping a tobacco-pipe along the back of a knife. 
To teach him to sing while his cage is in motion, the best 
way is first to suspend his cage from the ceiling, close to the 
wall, by a piece of elastic, such as is used for garters. The 
motion of the bird will keep the cage constantly on the swing. 
WTien he has got well used to this, you can tie his cage in a 
handkerchief, and very early in the morning carry him about 
the same room in which is hung your singing chaffinch. He 
may be a considerable time before he gets used to this, — a 
fortnight or three weeks, perhaps, — but when he has — when 
he continues singing while swinging in your hand — his education 
may be considered complete, and you are in possession of 
that first essential to chaffinch-catching, a clever “pegging- 
finch.” 
You will want some bird-lime, which you can either buy at 
105 
