The Natural History of Cage Birds Part 46

[56] It sometimes happens in very dry seasons that the feathers of the young birds cannot develop naturally; a bath of tepid water employed on such an occasion by Madame * * * was so successful that I cannot do better than recommend it. The same lady succeeded equally well in similar circ.u.mstances in hatching late eggs; she plunged them for some minutes in water heated to the degree of incubation, and immediately replaced them under the mother; in a short time she enjoyed the pleasure of seeing the little ones make their appearance. This interesting experiment may be applied to all sorts of birds, and may be particularly useful in regard to those of the poultry yard.--TRANSLATOR.

[57] Green birds, bullfinches, and even chaffinches, yellowhammers, and the like, have been tried; but the difficulty augments with the difference of species and food: for example, I have never seen a male canary very fond of a female yellowhammer, nor a male of the latter kind of a female canary, though the plumage may be selected so as to offer a striking resemblance. An ardent bullfinch will sometimes yield to the allurements of a very ardent hen canary. I have myself witnessed it; but with every care, it is seldom that the eggs prove fruitful, and produce young. Dr. Ja.s.sy, however, writes me from Frankfort, that he has obtained mules of a bullfinch and canary, by making other canaries sit on the eggs and bring up the young; and that this plan is pursued in Bohemia. A tufted or crested female should never be chosen, because this ornament is very unbecoming to the large head of a mule. "My bullfinch,"

he adds, "is so attached to the female canary that he mourns all the time they are separated, and cannot bear any other bird."

I possess a nightingale which, having been for a long time shut up with a female canary, lives very sociably with her, and sings as usual; indeed, he was so ardent in the spring, that he paired with her in my presence, but the eggs were unproductive. I shall try next spring, if the same thing happens, to give the eggs to another sitter.--AUTHOR.

[58] Some do this naturally, others are taught it in their youth, by covering the cage and keeping them in the dark during the day, long enough for them to be hungry; they are thus forced to eat by candle-light. Gradually they become accustomed to this, and at last sing.--AUTHOR.

[59] Nothing is more delightful than to hear them imitate the song of the nightingale; I prefer those which have this talent, and I never fail to possess one.--AUTHOR.

[60] In Britain it is partly migratory and partly stationary.--TRANSLATOR.

[61] If it is difficult to induce larks to sit, it appears to be very easy to make them take care of a young brood.

"The instinct," says Buffon, "which induces hen larks to bring up and watch over a brood appears sometimes very early, even before that which disposes them to become mothers, and which, in the order of nature, ought, it would seem, to precede it.

"In the month of May, a young lark was brought to me which could not feed itself; I fed it, and it could hardly peck up, when a brood of four young ones of the same species was brought to me from another place. She exhibited a singular affection for these new comers, which were not much younger than herself; she nursed them day and night, warmed them under her wings, and pushed the food into their mouths with her beak; nothing could distract her from these interesting duties. If she was removed from the young ones, she flew back to them as soon as she was free, without ever thinking of escaping, as she might have done a hundred times. Her affection increased so much that she literally forgot to eat and drink; and she lived only on the food which was given to her as well as to her adopted young, and she died at length, consumed by this sort of maternal pa.s.sion. None of the young survived her, they died one after the other, so necessary had her maternal cares become to them; so entirely were these cares produced by affection, and reciprocated."

This, it appears, is more than could be said of the persons who had the care of these unfortunate little birds.--TRANSLATOR.

[62] They are not natives of Britain.--TRANSLATOR.

[63] I possessed a fine one which died from lice.--TRANSLATOR.

[64] I saw a colony of starlings established on this plan at an inn at Leyden.--TRANSLATOR.

[65] In England it continues throughout the year.--TRANSLATOR.

[66] Bathing may prevent the first; boiled bread and milk administered seasonably relieves, and even entirely cures, the other.--TRANSLATOR.

[67] In Britain they remain all the year.--TRANSLATOR.

[68] I have seen the nest in Scotland.--TRANSLATOR.

[69] It occurs on the Rhine at Ehrenbreitzen, and I have seen it on the Siebengebirge.--TRANSLATOR.

[70] I purchased two at Coblentz, which lived some time in England.

Individuals have been sold in London for seven pounds.--TRANSLATOR.

[71] It is not found in Britain.--TRANSLATOR.

[72] The food of the caged nightingale is probably not sufficiently nutritious for the reed thrush; no doubt, also, it injures the stomach; perhaps the number of meal-worms with which it is supplied should be increased; and small beetles should be offered to it, whose wing-cases and claws, not being digested by the insectivorous bird, serve to purge the stomach; its food, in short, should resemble as much as possible that of its natural condition.--TRANSLATOR.

[73] There are some countries which appear not adapted for nightingales, and in which they never stop, as in France, in Le Bugey, as high as Nantua, a part of Holland, North Wales, the north of England, excepting the county of York, and all Scotland and Ireland.

[74] In Italy they arrive in March, and depart in the beginning of November. In England they arrive in April and May, and depart in the month of September.

[75] The means of always having a plentiful supply of meal worms is to fill a large earthenware or brown stone jar with wheat bran, barley or oatmeal, and put into it some pieces of sugar paper or old shoe leather.

Into each of these jars, of about two quarts in size, half a pint of meal worms is thrown (these may be bought at any baker's or miller's), and by leaving them quiet for three months, covered with a bit of woollen cloth soaked in beer, or merely in water, they will change into beetles (_Tenebrio Molitor_, Linnaeus). These insects soon propagate by eggs, which renew and increase the number of maggots so much that one such jar will maintain a nightingale.--AUTHOR.

[76] Many persons who are not in a situation to buy ants' eggs (improperly so called, since they are the pupae in their coc.o.o.ns), will doubtless be glad to know the method used for getting them out of the ant-hill. A fine sunny day in summer is chosen, and, provided with a shovel we begin by gently uncovering a nest of the large wood ants (_Formica rufa_, Linnaeus), till we arrive at the eggs; these are then taken away, and placed in the sun, in the middle of a cloth whose corners are turned up over little branches well covered with leaves. The ants, in order to protect the eggs from the heat of the sun, quickly remove them under the shelter which is prepared for them. In this manner they are easily obtained freed from dirt, and from the ants also. In the absence of a cloth a smooth place is chosen, around which some small furrows are cut, over which the branches are laid, which leads to the same result.--AUTHOR.

[77] English bird-catchers also express the phrases of the nightingale by words, or particular names, _sweet_, _jug_, _sweet_, _pipe rattle_, _swetswat_, _swaty_, _water bubble_, _skeg_, _skeg_, _whitlow_, _whitlow_, and the like.

[78] I possess a nightingale which repeats these drawling melancholy notes often thirty or even fifty times. Many p.r.o.nounce _gu, guy, gui_, and others _qu, quy, qui_.--AUTHOR.

[79] These syllables are p.r.o.nounced in a sharper clearer manner than the preceding _lu, lu_, &c.

[80] However difficult, or even impossible, it may be to express this song upon an instrument (excepting, however, the jay call, made of tin, on which is placed a piece of birch cut in a cross, and which is held between the tongue and the palate), yet it is very true that the accompaniment of a good piano produces the most agreeable effect.--AUTHOR.

[81] We must not confound _true nocturnal_ nightingales with those which are called _mopers_. A true nocturnal sings from night to morning without stopping, while a moper sings only at intervals, unconnectedly, and always makes pauses of some minutes between each strain. All nightingales become mopers when they reach five or six years of age; whence arises the mistake of many persons, who think they possess a nocturnal when they have really only a moper. The reverse happens sometimes, also; for a true nocturnal bird, caught such, often loses his power after one or two years of captivity, and is then a mere moper.--AUTHOR.

[82] It must, however, be owned, that of twenty young nightingales bred from the nest scarcely one succeeds in all respects. They seldom possess their natural song in its purity; they almost invariably introduce, in spite of all their instruction, foreign and disagreeable tones. The young which are caught in the month of August, before their departure, are the best; they have already learnt their father's song, and they perfect it the following spring, if they are placed beside a good singer.--AUTHOR.

[83] "A nightingale which I had given away," says M. Le Manie, "no longer seeing his mistress, left off eating, and was soon reduced to the last gasp; he could not support himself on his perch! but being restored to his mistress, he revived, ate, drank, perched, and had recovered in twenty-four hours. It is said that some have been known, when set at liberty in the woods, to return to their masters." It is quite certain that they recognise the voice of their masters and mistresses, and approach at their call.

[84] According to the Greeks, Progne was metamorphosed into a nightingale, and Philomel, her sister, into a swallow. The Latins have changed and confused this story, which the moderns have, in their turn, copied without examination.

[85] It is not a native of Britain.--TRANSLATOR.

[86] To prepare this tincture, take of water four parts, of black oxide of iron one part; boil the oxide with the water, and then pa.s.s a current of chlorine gas through the mixture till it will absorb no more; filter the liquor and evaporate over a slow fire to the consistence of an extract; when this is cold, pour upon it of hydrochloric ether three parts; let it macerate without heat for several days; then add of alcoholised hydrochloric acid nine parts; macerate again, filter the liquor, and expose it to the sun.--TRANSLATOR.

[87] This is a mistake; it is as fond of berries as of insects.--TRANSLATOR.

[88] This bird also has the art of pleasing by his pretty tricks. He shows a striking affection for his mistress; utters a particular sound, a more tender note to welcome her; at her approach he darts against the wires of his cage, and, by a continued fluttering, accompanied with little cries, he seems to express his eagerness and grat.i.tude.

A young male which I had put in the hothouse for the winter, was accustomed to receive from my hand, every time I entered, a meal-worm; this took place so regularly, that immediately on my arrival he placed himself near the little jar where I kept the meal-worms. If I pretended not to notice this signal he would take flight, and, pa.s.sing close under my nose, immediately resume his post; and this he repeated, sometimes even striking me with his wing, till I satisfied his wishes and impatience.

[89] No doubt his great voracity weakens his stomach, and by loading the intestines with glutinous matter the vessels cannot take up sufficient nourishment; it is therefore not conveyed sufficiently to the skin and feathers, whence proceed the fall of the latter and the enfeeblement of the body.

[90] This bird is not known in Britain.--TRANSLATOR.

[91] It is however, by no means easily tamed, but remains fearful and distant.--TRANSLATOR.

[92] In Britain they remain all the year.--TRANSLATOR.

[93] I have seen some in cages which were entirely fed on white bread which was soaked in hot milk left to get cold, and they were very healthy. If, however, we would feed them well, they require nearly the same diet as the nightingale.--TRANSLATOR.

[94] It is rarely seen in Britain.--TRANSLATOR.

[95] I have made the same observation on the redstart.

[96] It remains all winter in Britain.--TRANSLATOR.

[97] This is a mistake, as it likes to frequent high elms.--TRANSLATOR.

[98] It is rare in England.--TRANSLATOR.

[99] It is a remarkable fact, that this bird, now so common in Thuringia, was a rarity there twenty years ago. This change cannot be attributed to climate or food. What is the occasion of it then?--AUTHOR.