The Natural History of Cage Birds Part 41

MODE OF TAKING.--In winter they will easily enter a trap baited with nut kernels or oats. A surer method is, to lay limed twigs on a sunflower plant, the seeds of which are ripe. If these t.i.ts do not enter the garden, a plant must be carried to a place much frequented by them. When once these birds have tasted these seeds, they appear quite contented in the house. It is only necessary to supply them freely; they will seize them eagerly directly after being taken.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--Their pretty actions please, and their song is sweet. They relieve it occasionally by a lively strain, "_diar, diar, hitzi, ailtz, ailtz!_" which is their call in the pairing season.

I was never able to keep one in the house beyond two or three years.

THE CRESTED t.i.t.

Parus cristatus, LINNaeUS; La Mesange huppee, BUFFON; Die Haubenmeise, BECHSTEIN.

This bird is four inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures one and one third. The beak is four lines, and black; the shanks are seven lines high, and lead blue; the head is adorned with a crest, composed of feathers nearly an inch long, black tipped with white, which the bird can erect at pleasure in a conical form.

HABITATION.--When wild these birds frequent all the pine and fir woods in Thuringia, but are not so numerous as the other species[114]. They fly about low bushes, and therefore delight in places where juniper bushes abound.

In the house they require the same treatment as the blue t.i.t, and even greater attention; they can rarely be tamed when taken full grown[115].

FOOD.--In a wild state it feeds in the same manner as the cole t.i.t.

In the house it must be first fed on ants' eggs, flies, and meal-worms. It will afterwards eat nuts and hemp-seed, like the other t.i.ts, but it seems to require insects occasionally.

BREEDING.--The nest is formed like that of the cole t.i.t, and placed in the hole of a tree, amongst some stones, or in large forsaken nests.

The brood consists of from six to ten snow-white eggs, spotted with bright red. The young must be reared on meal-worms cut small and ants' eggs.

MODE OF TAKING.--This is the same which is adopted for catching the cole t.i.ts. Its call is "_gaerrky_."

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--Its song is not striking, but its form and habits are very pleasing.

THE BEARDED t.i.t, OR REED BIRD.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Parus biarmicus, LINNaeUS; La Mesange barbue, BUFFON; Die Bartmeise, BECHSTEIN.

This singular species is somewhat in shape like the oxeye. It is six inches and a half in length, and measures ten and a quarter across the expanded wings; the tail is two and three quarters. The beak is four lines long, a little bent at the point, and is orange during life, but becomes pale yellow after death; it is surrounded at the base with black hairs. The iris is yellow; the shanks are one inch high, and black; the head is pale ash grey; a tuft of black feathers, which are placed under the eyes and terminate in a point, is no very slight imitation of a moustache. The tail is wedge-shaped, inclining to orange; the outer feathers are dark at the base and whitish at the tip; the third is tipped with white.

The female is without the beard, or moustache[116]; the top of the head is rust red, spotted with black; the vent is of the same colour as the belly.

HABITATION.--In a wild state these birds are found where there are lakes, large ponds, and extensive marshes full of reeds and aquatic plants; they rarely show themselves in summer, keeping in pairs amongst the tufted reeds; but they are seen in winter, when food failing them in these retreats, they fly about in families, perching on the trees and bushes[117].

In the house they must be kept in a large cage to allow them plenty of exercise, unless permitted to range the room, which is still better.

FOOD.--When wild this bird feeds princ.i.p.ally on aquatic insects and the seeds of the common reed (_Arundo phragmitis_).

In the house they are generally first fed on poppy-seed, ants' eggs, and meal-worms, and afterwards on bruised hemp-seed and the food common for the other t.i.ts. It is best to rear them from the nest, as it is very difficult to preserve those taken when full grown.

BREEDING.--The knowledge on this head is very limited: the nest, placed in the interwoven stems of the reeds, is in the shape of a purse, and composed of dried gra.s.s and the down of several plants. In this the female lays four or five speckled eggs, with a pale red ground. The young birds should be taken from the nest when they are ready to fly, and fed on ants' eggs and meal-worms cut small.

MODE OF TAKING.--There is much difficulty in this. Fishermen who know the places frequented by this species place limed twigs on the reeds, and try gently to drive them towards one side, and sometimes catch a few[118].

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--In this bird are united beautiful plumage, a graceful shape, and sprightliness. Its song resembles that of the blue t.i.t, but its call is very different. It is a pity it is so difficult to obtain. Buffon says that all of this species that are found in England sprang from a pair the Countess of Albemarle suffered to escape; but most likely they had not been seen before from want of attention.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CATO'S DOVE'S BREEDING CAGE.]

DOVES.

CHARACTERISTICS.--The beak is slender, straight, rather bent at the point, swelled, and covered with a fleshy membrane at the base; the shanks are short; the toes are divided to their origin. Doves feed uniformly on grain, though some wild species also eat myrtle berries.

These birds are faithful to their mates, and produce only two young ones at each brood, which they feed on grain already softened in their own crops[119]. They are generally ranged amongst the pa.s.serine birds, or among poultry, but I think it best to make them a distinct order, since they have many distinguis.h.i.+ng characteristics. The species I shall mention are indigenous, and easily tamed at any age.

THE RING DOVE, OR CUSHAT.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Columba Palumbus, LINNaeUS; Le Pigeon Ramier, BUFFON; Die Ringeltaube, BECHSTEIN.

This is the largest of the European wild pigeons, being in length seventeen inches and a half. Some naturalists suppose this to be the parent stock of our large domestic pigeons; but it cannot be domesticated so easily as the stock dove, and never mixes with the common pigeons in the fields. It does not, moreover, retire into hollows, like these, but lives and builds in open and exposed places.

The beak is reddish white; the iris is pale yellow; the shanks are reddish; the head and throat are dark ash grey; the front of the neck and the breast are purplish ash grey; the sides and back of the neck are fine iridescent purple; an almost crescent-shaped white streak adorns the sides of the neck towards the base, without quite surrounding it; the belly, the vent, and the thighs, are very pale grey; the sides are light ash grey; the upper part of the back, the scapulars, and the lesser wing-coverts, are light brownish ash grey; the coverts of the primary quill-feathers are black; the remaining greater coverts are pale ash grey; the tail is dark ash grey, deepening into black at the extremity.

In the female the streaks on the sides of the neck are not so wide as in the male; her breast is paler, and all the wing-coverts are an obscure grey.

HABITATION.--This species, found in Europe and Asia within the temperate zone, is very common in the woods of Germany and Britain: it quits us the beginning of October, in small flights, and does not return till the middle of March, and sometimes later, always some weeks after the stock dove. During harvest it frequents small groves and detached thickets, to be nearer the corn fields.

FOOD.--It feeds on all kinds of corn and leguminous seeds, myrtle berries, with the seeds of pines and firs. When a ring dove is caught it must be first fed on wheat, and other species of corn should by degrees be mixed with it, but not oats. It will only live a few years in the house.

BREEDING.--This species builds in trees, and forms its nest of dried branches, but so carelessly that a rather high wind will often blow it down. The female has two broods in the year, and lays two large white eggs each time. It succeeds very well to place these eggs under a domestic pigeon, and if care is taken to prevent the young birds from migrating in autumn they will afterwards remain in the pigeon house, going out and returning like the other pigeons that inhabit it; but I have never observed that they pair with them; I have sometimes seen the ring dove tread the domestic pigeon, but as yet nothing has resulted from it; future experiments may perhaps decide this point.

MODE OF TAKING.--This is the same as with the stock dove. Ring doves taken when old rarely eat, and die of hunger if they are not crammed, like young pigeons.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--Besides being a fine bird, the male coos in a very pleasing and sonorous manner, moving all the time around his mate, now before, then behind, hopping close to her side, and turning his head in every direction. It may be rendered very tame.

THE TURTLE DOVE.

Columba Turtur, LINNaeUS; La Tourterelle, BUFFON; Die Turteltaube, BECHSTEIN.

This pretty species is ten or eleven inches in length. The beak is slender, and pale blue; the iris is reddish yellow; the naked circle round the eyes is blush red; the legs and feet are reddish purple; the forehead is whitish; the top of the head and upper part of the neck are pale blue; from this to the tail the blue is more dingy; on each side of the neck is a black spot striped with three of four crescent-shaped white lines, which has a pretty effect.

HABITATION.--In their wild state these birds are found throughout the temperate parts of Europe and Asia, and also in many of the South Sea Islands. They always prefer woods, but never go far into those on great chains of mountains; they also frequent detached thickets, and even orchards when near forests. Being more delicate than the two preceding species, they do not arrive in our woods till the end of April or beginning of May, and quit us in September. They are often seen in great numbers in the forests of Thuringia when the pine seed has ripened well. In 1788 a prodigious number were seen; they have never since been so numerous there[120].

In the house we keep them within a grated part.i.tion near the stove, where they can range freely. Young ones reared by a domestic pigeon are easily accustomed to the dovecot, but as they are very sensible to cold it is necessary to warm the place they are in during winter.

These birds multiply fast, either paired amongst themselves or with the collared turtle dove.

FOOD.--The seeds of the pine seem to be their favourite food here, but they do not confine themselves to it; they eat peas, vetches, millet, hemp-seed, rye, and wheat. In the house they may be fed on bread and any grain at hand: they are easily preserved.