The Natural History of Cage Birds.

by J. M. Bechstein.

PREFACE.

The Natural History of CAGE BIRDS, which I now lay before the public, is a work I have long been solicited to write. There are many people who like to keep birds, who neither know their habits nor the proper treatment or food requisite for them. Even those who are not altogether ignorant of these, often have but very limited, superficial, and, what is worse, sometimes erroneous ideas on the subject. It is for such readers I have given the following Introduction; for professed naturalists will find nothing there but what they have already learnt, either from my own works or from those of other authors on natural history.

If long experience and minute observation on the subject of his work is calculated to gain an author credit, I flatter myself that this will not be denied me, since from my earliest youth I have delighted in being surrounded with birds, and am so accustomed to them that I cannot write at my desk with pleasure, or even with attention, unless animated by the warbling of the pleasing little creatures which enliven my room. My pa.s.sion is carried so far, that I always have about thirty birds around me, and this has naturally led me to consider the best and easiest mode of procuring them, as well as of feeding and preserving them in health.

Few amateurs, therefore, are better fitted than myself to write on this subject; and I hope I have done it to the satisfaction of the public. I ought also to notice in this place the plan of my work, as my book may fall into the hands both of those who might feel a wish to learn more particulars, and of those who may think much less would have sufficed.

I have described all the indigenous European birds with which I am acquainted that are capable of being tamed, and are pleasing in the house. As to foreign ones, I have only spoken of those I have occasionally seen in Germany, and which can be procured without much difficulty.

I have followed the same plan in their natural history which I have pursued in my other works on birds.

DESCRIPTION.--Under this head I have entered into particular details, in order that the amateur may the better satisfy himself in discriminating the species and the s.e.x of the bird before him. This knowledge is exceedingly necessary, as the bird-dealers are not very scrupulous in deceiving their customers, either by selling one species for another, or a female for a male. These descriptions may likewise have the advantage of inspiring a taste for ornithology in the bosom of a mere amateur, who may, by repeated observations, afterwards enrich this branch of natural history with his own remarks.

HABITATION.--On forming a wish to possess any particular bird, it is natural to try to discover what situations it frequents in order to find it, and when it has been found and secured, a desire to know the best place to keep it in follows as a matter of course.

FOOD.--In keeping tame birds it is most important to know what food is best adapted to each species; that is to say, what approaches nearest to its natural aliment. I have therefore divided the directions on this point into two parts; showing in the first the natural food of the bird in its wild state, and in the second what is best for it in confinement.

BREEDING.--Many birds succeed best when reared from the nest, which makes it necessary to speak of their manner of being hatched, and the like.

DISEASES.--Birds being very tender creatures, on pa.s.sing from a state of liberty to slavery, in which they lose the means of exercise and proper food, are soon afflicted with many diseases occasioned by this change alone, without reckoning others that naturally follow in their train.

Under this head I endeavour to point out these, and their proper treatment; but I confess that this is the most imperfect part of my work, and I wish some clever experienced medical man would take the trouble to render it more correct.

CHASE.--On going into the country a wish often arises to procure a bird, and therefore under this head I have described the method of catching such species as may be desired.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--Under this head I have stated the properties which render a bird worthy of our notice, and of being tamed and kept in the house.

The volume ends with an alphabetical index, which will enable a person instantly to find the birds whose history he requires. May my work be as useful as it is my wish to make it, and my intentions will be accomplished.

SECOND EDITION.

The call for a second edition is no inconsiderable proof to me that I accomplished my purpose in the first. None of my works have had a more flattering reception, from all cla.s.ses of readers; but particularly from some of the most distinguished, who have given me repeated proofs of their satisfaction. I have also had the pleasure of a.s.sisting many amateurs with my experience, who have honoured me with questions. This pleasure is now increased by being able to render these instructions general, and to perfect this new edition by later observations, some communicated by others, which I judged it right to introduce. If any reader is surprised at not finding in this work many foreign birds seen in France, Holland, or in some of the maritime towns of Germany, it is because I have never had an opportunity of observing them myself: in a word, it is very pleasing to me to feel that my work has increased the number of the lovers of natural history; and I hope to see them still increasing. It is, indeed, my earnest wish that it may contribute more and more to the love of that cla.s.s of attractive creatures with which the Creator has adorned the earth, and which sing His praises so melodiously and unceasingly!

THIRD EDITION.

A new edition of my Natural History of Cage Birds having been called for, I have made many additions and improvements in the work, as will appear on comparison. Some have alleged that I have been too diffuse in my descriptions, and others find fault that I have introduced birds difficult to tame, such as the gold-crested wren and the common wren. In the latter case, at least, the most ample details are excusable, as the birds require more care; yet I know several amateurs who always have one or two wrens flying about a room, or in a cage, and to let loose so delicate a little bird as the gold-crested wren always gives great pleasure. Besides, the minutest detail can never, in such cases, do any harm. I have likewise added some foreign birds, several of which have been but recently introduced in this country by bird dealers.

DREISSACKER, _November, 1812_.

NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR.

The work of Dr. BECHSTEIN upon CAGE BIRDS has been so highly esteemed on the Continent that it has pa.s.sed through several editions, both in the original and in translations. Besides rendering as faithfully as care could effect, the interesting details of the author, numerous notes have been added, as well as several species introduced, which have recently been kept with success in this country by the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Herbert, Mr. Sweet, Mr. Blyth, and others. The mode of management also peculiar to these, and so different in some points from that recommended by Dr.

Bechstein, has been given in detail. It is to be hoped that this translation may have similar success, and produce similar effects in increasing the taste for Natural History, which the original has had on the Continent. It is proper to add, that the drawings of cages, which ill.u.s.trate this edition, were selected by permission of Mr. Cato, Holborn Bridge, from the numerous elegant specimens which his stock contains.

LONDON, _November 1837_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

NATURAL HISTORY OF CAGE BIRDS.

INTRODUCTION.

By cage birds, I mean those kept by amateurs, for amus.e.m.e.nt, in their apartments, generally selected for sweetness of song or beauty of plumage; but the naturalist has other reasons for surrounding himself with these pleasing creatures: they enliven him, and he delights in studying their habits and characters. To attain these objects it is necessary, in the first place, to be able to distinguish readily between the males and females, since the former are generally superior in their powers of song, and therefore preferable. I have, for this reason, made a point, in the following sketch of the history of house birds, of showing the colours and other marks which characterise the two s.e.xes; and, as all birds cannot be tamed, whilst many others offer no inducement to make the attempt, it follows that those about to be spoken of must necessarily be but a small proportion of all the known species of birds.

SONGS OF TAME BIRDS.

What is most prized and admired in house birds is undoubtedly their song. This may be natural or artificial, the former being as varied as the species of the birds, for I know of no two indigenous species quite similar in their song; I ought, perhaps, to except the three species of shrike I have given, which, from their surprising memory, can imitate the songs of other birds so as to be mistaken for them: but a naturalist would soon perceive a slight mixture of the song natural to the imitator, and thus easily distinguish between the shrike that copied, and the t.i.tlark or red-breast copied from[1]. It is so much the more important to be well versed in the different birds' songs, as to this knowledge alone we are indebted for several curious observations on these pretty creatures.

An artificial song is one borrowed from a bird that the young ones have heard singing in the room, a person's whistling, a flageolet, or a bird-organ. Nearly all birds, when young, will learn some strains of airs whistled or played to them regularly every day; but it is only those whose memory is capable of retaining these that will abandon their natural song, and adopt fluently, and repeat without hesitation, the air that has been taught them. Thus, a young goldfinch learns, it is true, some part of the melody played to a bullfinch, but it will never be able to render it as perfectly as this bird; a difference not caused by the greater or less suppleness of the organ, but rather by the superiority of memory in the one species over that of the other.

We distinguish in birds a chirping and warbling, or song, properly so called; besides this, several species, with a large, fleshy, undivided tongue, are able to repeat articulate sounds, and they are then said to _talk_, such as parrots and jays.

It is remarkable, that birds which do not sing all the year, such as the red-breast, siskin, and goldfinch, seem obliged, after moulting, to learn to warble, as though they had forgotten; but I have seen enough to convince me that these attempts are merely to render the larynx pliant, and are a kind of chirping, the notes of which have but little relation to the proper song; for a slight attention will discover that the larynx becomes gradually capable of giving the common warble.

This method of recovering the song does not then show deficiency of memory, but rigidity occasioned by the disuse of the larynx. The chaffinch will exercise itself in this way some weeks before it attains its former proficiency, and the nightingale practises as long the strains of his beautiful song, before he gives it full, clear, and in all its extent[2].

The strength and compa.s.s of a bird's voice depend on the size and proportionate force of the larynx. In the female it is weak and small, and this accounts for her want of song. None of our woodland songsters produces more striking, vigorous, and prolonged sounds than the nightingale; and none is known with so ample and strong a larynx: but as we are able to improve the organisation of the body by exercise and habit, so may we strengthen and extend the larynx of several birds of the same species, so as to amplify the song in consequence, by more nutritive food, proper care, sounds that excite emulation, and the like; chaffinches, bullfinches, canaries, and other birds reared in the house, furnish daily examples of this.

I should not omit mentioning here an observation of Mr. Daines Barington[3], which tends to prove the possibility of improving the song of wild birds, by rearing linnets, sparrows, and others, near some good warbler, such as a nightingale or canary, and then setting them at liberty; but, though there is some truth in this a.s.sertion, yet it is subject to certain restrictions. I only know of two ways of carrying this idea into execution; one by suspending the cages of the best warblers in the orchard where the birds which they are to teach breed; the other, to enclose these warblers in a large aviary of iron wire, in the open air. There let them teach their young ones, which may be set at liberty as soon as they are able to fly: but birds taken very young from the nest, and reared, formed, and educated in the house, would not have instinct to find their food when set at liberty, and must perish of hunger, or at least die in the winter.

The same remarks are applicable to a work published by M. Gambory at Copenhagen, in the year 1800.

I think, indeed, it is better to be contented with possessing in our houses artificial songs than to take so much trouble to alter and spoil the very delightful music of nature[4].

HABITATIONS OF TAME BIRDS.

The s.p.a.ce a.s.signed to tame birds varies according to their nature and destination. All are less at ease in a cage than when at liberty in a room, where young pine branches, cut in winter or early in spring, should be placed for their accommodation[5]. Several, however, never sing unless confined within narrow limits, being obliged, as it would appear, to solace themselves, for the want of liberty, with their song; consequently, birds only prized for the beauty of their plumage or their pleasing actions, are best placed in a room. Rather large birds, such as thrushes, should have a room appropriated to them, or be kept in a large aviary, as they give a very unpleasant smell to the place which they occupy, unless carefully cleaned; but their young ones may be allowed the range of any apartment, placing in a corner a cage or branch to rest and sleep on, where they may run and hop freely, seeking a roosting-place for themselves in the evening, on the fir branches placed for that purpose; or in a cage with several divisions, into which they soon learn to retire. Some birds, such as the dunnock and the blue-breast, sing best in this state of liberty. It is necessary to avoid placing them with shrikes or t.i.ts, as these often, in the midst of plenty of food, will kill smaller birds, for the sake of eating the brain or intestines. Those that are confined that we may better enjoy the beauty of their song, should have a cage proportioned to their natural vivacity: a lark, for example, requires a larger cage than a chaffinch. The habits of the birds must also be considered, whether they rest on the ground or perch on sticks. Thus, the nightingale must have perches, while the sky-lark never makes use of these.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ORNAMENTAL WATER CAGE.]