The Natural History of Cage Birds Part 39

This is a very variable bird in its colours, some being of a very pale colour, and others altogether as dark, and those that are pale one season frequently become dark the ensuing one. It is a curious little lively bird, known often by the name of reed wren. It generally makes its appearance with us the beginning of April, and leaves us in September. Its early or late departure seems to depend a good deal on the warmth or coolness of the seasons. It is a very merry bird, almost continually singing, and will sing by night as well as by day, sitting amongst the reeds, or in some bush or tree near the water, where it feeds on the gnats and other insects that infest moist situations. It is very fond of flies, spiders, small caterpillars, moths, gra.s.shoppers, crickets, and many other insects, and will swallow a larger one than could be imagined for so small a bird. In confinement it will feed readily on the general food, and is also very fond of the yolk of an egg boiled hard, so that it may be crumbled on the top of the other food, or put in the cage in an empty egg-sh.e.l.l. It should also be supplied with a few insects occasionally, such as flies, spiders, small caterpillars, moths, or b.u.t.terflies. Being an inhabitant of the sides of ditches and rivers, it is very partial to was.h.i.+ng, which it must not be allowed to do in winter, or it will wash itself until it is so weak that it can never recover.

THE SEDGE BIRD.

Sylvia Phragmitis, BECHSTEIN; S. salicaria, LATHAM; Le Bec-fin Phragmite, TEMMINCK; Der Schilsanger, MEYER.

The weight of this species is about three drachms; length five inches and a half; bill dusky above, whitish beneath; irides hazel; crown of the head and whole upper parts of a yellowish brown, plain on the back and sides of the neck, rump, and upper tail-coverts; tail like the quills a little cuneiform, which, when spread, gives it a rounded shape; legs dusky.

MR. SWEET'S ACCOUNT OF THE SEDGE BIRD.

In habit and manner the present species approaches to the former, but is a much handsomer bird; though not so rare, it frequents the sides of ditches, ponds, and rivers, like the last species, where it pours forth its variable diurnal and nocturnal song almost incessantly, on its first arrival in this country, which is generally the beginning of April, leaving us again about the middle of September. It builds its nest in a thicket of reeds, or other tall water-gra.s.s, on which it is fastened up with the webs of caterpillars, similar to that of the former, which is fastened to the branches of trees, so that no wind or storm can move it.

The song of the present species is somewhat similar to that of the last, but is more shrill and chattering; some people prefer it to that of the latter species, but I do not, as it wants some fine deep notes that the other possesses: it is also an imitative bird, its song being intermixed with the call of the sparrow and parts of the songs of other birds. Its food is precisely the same as that of the last species; and in confinement the treatment for both must be exactly alike.

THE WREN.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Motacilla Troglodytes, LINNaeUS; Le Roitelet, ou Troglodite, BUFFON; Der Zaunkonig, BECHSTEIN.

This, except the rufous chiff-chaff and the gold-crested wren, is the smallest bird of our climate. It is only three inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures one and a half. The beak is five lines, rather curved at the point, dusky above, yellowish white below, and yellow within; the iris is hazel brown; the shanks are seven lines high, and greyish brown; the upper part of the body is dusky rust brown, with indistinct dark brown streaks across.

The female is smaller, of a redder brown, and confusedly streaked across; the feet are yellowish.

HABITATION.--When wild it is found all over Europe, and particularly frequents mountainous and woody places. It does not quit us, but remains in winter, as in summer, near our dwellings.

In the house, on account of its liveliness, it is given rather a large cage, the bars of which should be very near together. If allowed to range it may easily escape through small openings, as it is very fond of penetrating such crevices.

FOOD.--At liberty, it consists throughout the year of small insects, which it seeks in winter in barns, stables, cellars, holes in walls, and piles of wood. In autumn, however, it will eat both unripe and black elderberries.

As soon as it is brought into the house it must be plentifully supplied with meal-worms, flies, elderberries, and then gradually add nightingales' paste, which will soon become its ordinary food. It is only by adopting this method that I have been successful in preserving one of these birds.

BREEDING.--Any nook appears to suit the wren to build its large nest in; which may be found in a hole of a tree, amongst the roots, under a roof, or a cavity under ground; every place is suitable, provided the nest can be concealed. This is oval, covered with moss on the outside, and lined with feathers and hair. It has an opening at the top or side to go in and out by. The female lays from six to eight pretty little white eggs, speckled with red. The young ones are rusty red, spotted with black and white. They may be reared on ants' eggs, adding, as soon as they can fly, the universal paste; but they always prefer ants' eggs.

MODE OF TAKING.--If in winter, a white-throat trap is set in a place much frequented by these birds, and meal-worms scattered within and around it. In this the wrens will surely be caught. They may be entrapped in autumn with spring traps and springes, by hanging elderberries before; but, after every precaution, they generally break their legs.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--Its sprightliness is pleasing, and its actions gay and varied. It has a very powerful voice for its size, and its song is continued throughout the year; it is soft, and mingled with some notes of the canary, which are the more pleasing as they consist of distinct loud tones always descending. Its call is _tzrr, tzetzererr!_ I have never preserved one more than a year, but other amateurs say they may be kept two or three.

THE GOLD-CRESTED WREN.

Motacilla Regulus, LINNaeUS; Le Poul, ou Roitelet huppe, BUFFON; Das Goldhahnchen, BECHSTEIN.

This is the smallest of European birds. It is three inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures one and a quarter. The beak is four lines, slender, very sharp, and black, having the nostrils covered with a feather divided like a comb; the iris is dusky; the shanks are eight lines in height, and brownish flesh-coloured; the forehead is yellowish brown; a black streak extends from the corners of the beak to the eyes, above which is a white streak, and below them a white speck; the top of the head is saffron yellow, each side edged with golden yellow, beyond which is a black band.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOLD-CRESTED WREN.]

The female has the top of the head golden yellow, the forehead and wings grey.

HABITATION.--When wild these pretty little birds are diffused throughout the old world, princ.i.p.ally frequenting pine and fir forests, and do not appear to migrate, excepting those that inhabit northern countries, and go towards the south in October, and return in March; at least, they are then observed on their pa.s.sage, in Germany, the hedges being full of them in spring; but those established among us remain, as they are seen all the year. They a.s.semble in small flights in winter, and fly about here and there, like the t.i.ts, seeking places where their food is most abundant.

In the house a bell-shaped cage appears to suit them best. Several may be kept together in a part of a room enclosed with trellis work, and with a small fir tree for them to perch on. Reared from the nest, they may be allowed to perch on a tree in the room, which they enjoy so much that they are never far from it; if there are many they will perch in a row, press close side by side, and sleep in this manner.

FOOD.--In the wild state it feeds on all kinds of small insects and their grubs; they are, however, able to swallow large flies, as the beak has a wide opening.

In the house the gold-crests are soon accustomed to the nightingales'

paste, by throwing amongst it at first flies deprived of their wings, or half dead, and at length they will be satisfied with bruised hemp-seed; but they must have insects occasionally, flies, meal-worms cut small, ants' eggs, &c.; finally, to keep them healthy, their paste should be neither too stiff nor too moist, and care must be taken to avoid their swallowing rape or camelin seed, which would immediately kill them[106].

BREEDING.--The nest, fixed to the extremity of a branch, is round, and very soft, built of moss, caterpillar's coc.o.o.ns, and tufts of thistle down; it is generally found in low underwood or meadows with woods adjoining, on the first tree towards the east. About nine eggs are laid, the size of a pea, and pale blush red. Those young ones intended to be reared must not be taken from the nest till they are fledged, and it is best to catch them just as they are leaving the nest. They eat readily meal-worms cut small, flies, ants' eggs, and white bread soaked in boiled milk.

MODE OF TAKING.--As they are not fearful, they may easily be caught by gently approaching the tree where one is perched, and merely striking it with a limed twig fastened to a pole long enough to reach it. It may be brought down also with water, in the manner adopted by M. Le Vaillant, that is, by first putting into a gun the common charge of powder, then a wadding of silk, then, as soon as the bird is within reach, two spoonfuls of water are poured in and covered with a second wadding of silk, which must not be rammed down hard, lest the water should reach the powder below. This load, discharged at the distance of twenty paces, is capable of wetting the bird so completely that it may be taken by the hand; but if there are hedges in the neighbourhood, or if a stronger bird be fired at, a chaffinch, for instance, it may easily escape.

Many gold-crested wrens may be caught by means of a hut set for any small birds, when the way to attract them is known. They come in great numbers to the water trap, and by their often repeated call of _tzitt, tzitt_, give notice of sunset and the arrival of larger birds.

They will soon grow tame enough to eat out of the hand. On account of their delicacy, many often die before a person succeeds in rearing one; but when once accustomed to the house they will live a long time, at least if not hurt by other birds, and if they do not swallow what they cannot digest.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--The smallness of their size, their elegance and beauty, render them a pleasant acquisition; but their song adds to their attractions, for though weak it is very melodious, and resembles that of the canary.

THE HON. AND REV. W. HERBERT'S ACCOUNT OF THE GOLD-CRESTED WREN.

The golden-crested wren and the common brown wren are both very impatient of cold. In confinement, the least frost is immediately fatal to them. In a wild state they keep themselves warm by constant active motion in the day, and at night they secrete themselves in places where the frost cannot reach them; but I apprehend that numbers do perish in severe winters. I once caught half a dozen golden wrens at the beginning of winter, and they lived extremely well upon egg and meat, being exceedingly tame. At roosting time there was always a whimsical conflict amongst them for the inside places, as being the warmest, which ended of course by the weakest going to the wall. The scene began with a low whistling call amongst them to roost, and the two birds on the extreme right and left flew on the backs of those in the centre, and squeezed themselves into the middle. A fresh couple from the flanks immediately renewed the attack upon the centre, and the conflict continued till the light began to fail them. A severe frost in February killed all but one of them in one night, though in a furnished drawing-room. The survivor was preserved in a little cage by burying it every night under the sofa cus.h.i.+ons; but having been one sharp morning taken from under them before the room was sufficiently warmed by the fire, though perfectly well when removed, it was dead in ten minutes. The nightingale is not much more tender of cold than a canary bird. The golden-crowned wren very much frequents spruce fir trees and cedars, and hangs its nest under their branches; it is also fond of the neighbourhood of furze bushes, under which it probably finds warm refuge from the cold. The brown wren is very apt in frosty weather to roost in cow-houses, where the cattle keep it warm.

THE ALPINE WARBLER.

Sturnus collaris, LINNaeUS; Motacilla Alpina, LINNaeUS; La Fauvette des Alpes, BUFFON; Der Alpensanger, BECHSTEIN.

The characteristics of this bird are so equivocal that it is sometimes ranked with the larks, sometimes with the starlings, and sometimes with the _Motacillae_. It is six inches and a half in length, but the tail alone measures nearly three. The beak is six lines, and is dark brown above and orange beneath; the mandibles are flattish at the sides; the iris is yellow; the shanks are an inch high, and pale brown; a whitish ash grey predominates on the head, neck, and back, but the latter is streaked with dark brown, the others with pale brown.

The female and young ones are variegated with dark brown on the belly; the back is dark, and the spots on the throat less apparent.

OBSERVATIONS.--This species frequents the secondary mountains of Switzerland and southern Germany, and is as common there as the field larks on our plains[107]. In winter it descends into the valleys, and approaches villages and barns, around which these birds may be caught, in as great numbers as yellowhammers. They are generally seen on the ground, running as swiftly as the wagtail, and will sometimes hop on stones, but rarely perch on trees.

They feed on seeds and insects, and in the house they should be given bruised hemp-seed, poppy-seed, white bread, and ants' eggs. On this food they may be preserved for several years. Their song is sweet, but sad and melancholy; their att.i.tudes are graceful, and often when they hop they flutter their wings and tail. They build on the ground or in clefts of rocks, which has given them the name of rock larks[108].

THE OXEYE, OR GREATER t.i.t[109].

Parus major, LINNaeUS; La grosse Mesange, ou Charbonniere, BUFFON; Die Kohlmeise, BECHSTEIN.

This well-known bird is five inches and five-sixths in length, of which the tail measures two and a half. The beak is blackish, conical, firm, pointed, and without slope, as are the beaks of the other t.i.ts; the iris is dark brown; the shanks are nine lines high, and lead blue; the claws are sharp, and adapted for climbing; the upper part of the head is of a brilliant black, which is joined to the black of the throat by a line of the same colour that borders and sets off the white of the cheeks and temples; the nape is greenish yellow, with some mixture of white; the back is fine olive, and the rump pale ash grey; the breast and belly are a yellowish green, divided lengthways by a black line.

The female is smaller, the black on the head and the yellow on the nape are less bright; the line that runs down the belly is narrower and shorter, at least it is lost at the part where in the male it is widest; this marks the difference between young males and females, which are alike in other respects.

HABITATION.--In its wild state it is found throughout the old world, but in the greatest numbers in mountainous countries, where orchards and groves abound, and woods of beech, oak, and similar trees, are found alternately with those of fir. Though these birds do not migrate, yet in autumn they a.s.semble and pa.s.s the winter together, seeking their food amongst orchards and woods. In autumn, as soon as the bird-catchers see these flights of t.i.ts succeed each other quickly, they call it their pa.s.sage, and immediately prepare snares for taking them. In March each pair separates and prepares for breeding.

In the house, if kept in a cage, this should be of iron wire, and bell-shaped, for the advantage of seeing the birds twirl about, and drop from one stick to another like monkeys. If they be allowed to range, it is necessary to supply them with abundance of the food they like, for if this fails they will attack the other birds, and pierce their heads to eat the brain; when once they have tasted this food there is no longer safety for the birds around them, whatever their size may be. I have seen an oxeye attack a quail and kill it in this way. Some bird-catchers say that the t.i.ts with forked tails are alone addicted to this, but they are mistaken; it is certainly true that some are more cruel than others, experience teaches us this every day.