644 
BIRD-LIFE. 
motion, sing diligently, live on the best of terms with 
their fellows, and soon learn to know and love their 
master. As pets, then, they may in every way be 
recommended. In high-land districts they are welcome 
guests, and much liked: there is scarcely a cottage where 
they are not to be met with. The nailsmiths, above all 
other mechanics, are most fond of these birds; a prefer¬ 
ence due possibly to the old legend, which says that they 
tried to draw out the thorns from the forehead, and the 
nails from the hands and feet of our Saviour. 
Other mountaineers are very fond of them, and hold 
them in great honour. A friend of mine once met with a 
road-man in the Ore mountains, between Saxony and 
Bohemia, who had one of these birds in a cage before 
him on the heap of stones he was breaking; and when 
asked what he brought the bird there for, the poor fellow 
said that he was obliged to be away from home all day, 
and could put up with everything but the absence of his 
pet! Such is the intimate and tender connection which 
subsists between this creature and man. 
The Crossbill can be kept for a long time when fed on 
hempseed, though its natural food undoubtedly agrees 
with it much better. Sooner or later, unfortunately, the 
air of a room changes the splendid red plumage of the 
male to a less pleasant yellow, thus robbing him of much 
of his beauty. 
