654 
BIRD-LIFE. 
than were the Druids of old in the art of prognostication or 
augury by the flight of birds; and their high-priests did 
not hesitate to assail with the epithet of “ blockhead ” 
any individual who looked upon the Chaffinch as an 
ignoble, but useful creature, of whom the sane and 
respectable portion of mankind spoke with the greatest 
reverence ! That these people were essentially a peculiar 
race will be patent to everyone who has ever visited such 
an oasis or island. 
Kuhla—situated in the verdant dales of Thuringia—is 
just such a place as we have described; greener and 
fresher, perhaps, for the very reason that it is a veritable 
oasis. Sad to say, the song of the Chaffinch has now 
almost died out there; the old generation has passed 
away, and with it the poetry of the songster has vanished 
also, so much so, that the gray-beards say things are not 
as they were in the good old days of yore,—neither with 
the pursuits of the younger generation, nor with that 
which they cared for in their youth, namely—Chaffinches ! 
In their day each one possessed his bird, which was far 
better known and described than has ever been done by 
the naturalist, and that only by its song. “ There were 
cutlers, haft-cutters, file-cutters,” said our informant, 
“ who each had his Chaffinch hanging in a cage at the 
window, and whistled to it while working at the vice the 
livelong day, until the bird had learnt something from its 
master.” After work and on Sundays these men used to 
drop into one another’s houses to pit their birds against 
each other, and he who possessed the best performer was 
a man of note and an object of envy; proud, indeed, of 
being the happy possessor of the bird. 
The woods were hunted high and low to hear the 
Chaffinches singing au naturel; and if one was met with 
