10 
THE GOLDFINCH. 
our translation of the Latin word, are included, 
amongst Sparrows, Goldfinches, and Canaries, tribes 
of small birds, each exhibiting, in its own domestic 
habits and arrangements, as much sound philosophy 
and wisdom, in the management of their concerns, 
as the wisest of human kind. 
Some of these little birds, moreover, seem occa- 
sionally to have something like a reasoning, as well 
as an instinctive faculty. A gentleman had a Gold- 
finch, which was chained to a perch, instead of being 
kept in a cage. Its food was put into a box, re- 
sembling a water-fountain used for cages, and the 
little opening at which the bird was fed, had a cover 
loaded with lead, to make it fall down. The bird 
raised this by pushing down a lever or handle with 
its bill, which raised the lid of the box, after which, 
by putting its foot on the lever, it could feed at 
leisure. He had also a Redpole, chained on a 
nearly similar perch ; this bird fed from an open box, 
without the trouble of having recourse to the lifting 
power, like his neighbour, the Goldfinch. But though 
the Redpole could have known nothing of the use of 
the handle, from his own experience, as his food was 
to be got at without such trouble, yet it seems he 
must have taken notice of it, and seen, that by 
touching this handle, he could get at the Goldfinch's 
food, were he within reach; and this he kept in mind 
for the day of need ; for, one morning, when loose, 
and his own seed-box empty, he flew at once to the 
perch of his friend, raised the lid of the seed-box 
with his bill, and then laying hold of it with one 
foot, kept it open, till he had made a good breakfast. 
This apparently trifling circumstance clearly shows 
