The Natural History of Cage Birds

THE BLACK REDSTART

Motacilla Tithys, Linnæus: Le Rouge-queue, Buffon; Der Wistling, Bechstein

Length five inches and one quarter, of which the tail alone measures two and one quarter. The beak is five lines long, very pointed and black, the inside and corners yellow; the iris is dusky; the shanks are nine lines high, and black; the upper part of the body is dark bluish, or blackish gray; the rump is red; the cheeks, throat, and breast, are black; the belly and sides are of the same dark colour as the back, but tinged with white; the vent is reddish yellow.

The upper part of the body in the female is dusky ash grey; the under part ash grey, with a reddish tinge.

The colours of this bird vary during the first eight years; the oldest ones, with the exception of the tail and wings, are in general black, but deeper on the under part than the upper; the very oldest have a greyish breast.

Those a year or two old very much resemble the females, having the upper part of the body ash grey, but the under rather more of a reddish colour; the quill-feathers have a more decided border. After two years the depth of the colour gradually increases. Several bird-catchers, and from them some authors, have considered these birds of different ages as different species.

Habitation. – In its wild state the black redstart is found in the temperate parts of Europe and in Asia in the same latitudes98. They seem to prefer mountainous districts to wide plains, and they are seen in great numbers on bare chalk-hills; if found in woods, it is only in those that are on rocks. They frequent towns and villages, perching on the highest buildings, towers, steeples, churches, and castles99. In spring and autumn it hops about the hedges. It arrives early in the spring, its song is heard in the beginning of March, and it quits us in small flights towards the middle of October. It possesses one quality, not common among singing birds, that of singing all the year, or, at least, whilst in our country, however cold and stormy the weather may be.

In the house it should be kept in a nightingale’s cage, or at least not permitted to range the room.

Food. – When wild it feeds on flies, drawn by the warmth of spring from their retreat, and settled on walls; afterwards on cabbage caterpillars and other insects, and in autumn on berries.

In the house they may be kept in health a long time, if the above insects are procured for them, or if fed on nightingales’ food, adding occasionally ants’ eggs and meal-worms.

Old birds taken in autumn may sometimes be tamed and accustomed to eat the common food in the room, by putting amongst elderberries, in autumn, ants’ eggs, and meal-worms at other seasons. They have been known to live five or six years in a cage.

Breeding. – This bird makes its nest in the holes of rocks and walls, particularly in high buildings, on the timbers of barns, and places it at a distance from any other. It is constructed of hay, mixed with the hair of animals. Each laying (for there are two in the year) consists of five or six white eggs. The young have a reddish grey plumage, and should be taken from the nest when the tail is half grown, if it is wished to rear them. They should be fed on ants’ eggs, and white bread soaked in boiled milk.

Diseases. – These are the same as those of the fauvette.

Mode of Taking. – Limed twigs, with meal-worms fastened to them, should be laid wherever these birds are most frequently found. Towards winter they may be caught in spring-traps with elderberries hung opposite.

Attractive Qualities. – Its call, “fitza,” being very similar to the nightingale’e, has given rise most probably to its name of Wall Nightingale, which it has in common with the following species. Its song certainly cannot enter into comparison with that of the nightingale, for it is sad, and consists of only three strains, the middle one scarcely more than croaking; the other two may boast of a few high clear tones; it may be heard from early in the morning till night. It is always gay and active, its motions light and nimble; it shakes its tail quickly from side to side at every hop or spring, and utters continually the cry “fitza100!”

THE COMMON REDSTART

Motacilla Phœnicurus, Linnæus; Le Rossignol de muraille, Buffon; Das Gemeiner oder Garten-Rothschwänzchen, Bechstein

Its length is five inches and a quarter, of which the tail measures two and a quarter. The beak is five lines, the tip is blunt, black on the outside, yellow within and at the corners; the iris is black; the shanks are of the same colour, and ten lines high; the base of the upper mandible and cheeks are black, as also the throat, but this is speckled with white; the white on the front of the head unites with a streak of the same colour, which extends above the eyes; the back of the head and neck, the back and lesser wing-coverts, are dark ash grey tinged with a reddish colour; the rump, breast, and sides, are red inclining to orange.

The female is very different, very much resembling that of the black redstart, yet its colours are rather lighter. The upper part of its body is reddish ash grey; the whitish throat is not clouded with black till the fifth or sixth year; the breast is dusky rust-red waved with white; the belly is dusky white; the rump is reddish yellow101.

It is not till after the first moulting that the distinction between the plumage of the males and females is obvious; even then the breast of the male retains the black tinged with white, but loses this tint in the course of the following summer; the males also have for some time a white streak on the forehead, that passes above the eyes, and the belly is more white than rust-red.

Habitation. – In a wild state these birds are found in Europe and Asia, and are very common in Germany and England. They leave us the beginning of October, and return the end of March or beginning of April. At this time and in autumn they haunt hedges and bushes; but in summer they principally frequent gardens, the banks of streams planted with willows, and even forests. Those that frequent gardens also enter towns, and will perch on the roofs of the houses, enlivening the inmates with their song from morning till night.

In the house, if given a cage, it should be of such light wire work as not to conceal the beauty of the plumage.

Food. – When wild they feed on all kinds of insects, earth-worms, currants, and elderberries.

In the house, if taken in autumn, they may sometimes be induced to feed on elderberries, rarely on the poultry paste. To entice them to this meal-worms must be mixed with it at first, and some thrown in when it is eaten; ants’ eggs must be added in spring. These birds are delicate, and always require to be supplied with insects; but never give them earth-worms, as they do not digest them easily. If kept in cages they should be given nightingales’ food; yet fed in this way it is rare to preserve them above three or four years; they generally die of consumption or atrophy.

Breeding. – The redstart generally places its nest in a hole of a tree or wall; it is negligently formed of moss, stalks of grass, feathers, and hair. The female has two broods in the year, and each time she lays from five to seven eggs, of an apple green. Scarcely have the tail-feathers begun to grow ere the young ones hop from the nest and perch on some neighbouring branch, where they receive food from the parent birds till they are able to seek it for themselves. Their plumage before moulting is ash grey spotted with white. The young females resemble the nightingale so much in autumn that they are often mistaken for it. Bird-fanciers should rear these birds on ants’ eggs, with white bread soaked in boiled milk occasionally, and thus accustom them to the common universal paste. They learn to repeat parts of the songs of their companions.

Diseases. – Diarrhœa and atrophy carry off the greatest number.

Mode of Taking. – Sticks covered with bird-lime should be placed across the hedges frequented by these birds; they must then be driven gently towards them. They are also attracted under nets, and amongst limed twigs baited with meal-worms. In autumn they may be taken in nooses, by suspending elderberries near them, either in orchards or thickets. Those intended for the house should be taken in bird-traps or springes, taking care that the wooden part be covered with felt or cork, to prevent the legs being broken. The young ones of the first year are the easiest to preserve. They also go to the water-trap without difficulty.

Attractive Qualities. – Its plumage, and still more its song and sprightliness, render this a delightful bird. It is always in motion, bowing, and moving its tail from side to side at every step; all its actions are lively and graceful. It can improve its song, composed of some very pretty strains, by adding to it parts of the songs of birds that are found near it. For instance, those that build under my roof imitate tolerably the chaffinch that hangs in a cage at my window; and a neighbour of mine has one in his garden that repeats some strains of a blackcap that has its nest near. This facility in appropriating the song of other birds is rare in birds that live in a state of liberty, and seems peculiar to this species. They become so tame that they will take meal-worms from the hand.

MR. SWEET’T ACCOUNT OF THE REDSTART

This is one of the handsomest of our British birds, visiting us the latter end of March or beginning of April; the earliest arrival ever noticed was the 25th of March, and they generally leave us the beginning of September. When they first arrive they mostly frequent old buildings or out-houses, for the sake of flies and small insects that often abound there. They build their nest in a hole or crevice of a wall, or in a hollow tree. They frequently ascend to the top of the highest tree within their haunt, and there sit sometimes for a considerable time, pouring out their quick and sort of fretful song. When kept in confinement I consider it the most sensible, and, if brought up from the nest, the most attached of all small birds; but it may be considered the most tender of the whole tribe. It is a real mocker, and if bred up from a young one, will learn the note or call of almost any other bird; it will also learn a tune that is whistled or sung to it, and will sing by night as well as day if a light be kept in the room where it is.

I was in possession of a handsome male bird of this species, which I kept more than six years. It became very tame, though an old wild bird when first caught, and it was so attached to its cage, that one day, having got its liberty, it flew away into the gardens, where it stayed six or seven hours, after which it returned to its cage again. In the year 1825 I saw a female bird of this species so late as the 21st of November, flying about as lively as at midsummer; it had probably escaped or been turned out of a cage. When in confinement it is particularly partial to ants’ eggs, and also to the common maggots.

THE ARBOUR BIRD

Sylvia polyglotta, Ranzani; Sylvia Hippolais, Bechstein; Le Bec-fin à poitrine jaune, Temminck; Die Gelbbrust, Bechstein; Die Spotvogel, Wichterich

This pleasing bird, which is met with wherever there are groves and bushes102, is five inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures two and a quarter. The beak, seven lines long, is straight, blunt, bluish grey above, and yellow tinged with flesh-colour beneath, with yellowish corners, and the entrance of the throat citron yellow; the iris is dark brown; the shanks, ten lines high, are lead-coloured. The head is pointed in front; the back, rump, and lesser wing-coverts, are olive ash grey; a yellow line extends from the nostrils to the eyes; the whole of the under part of the body is a fine light yellow; the tail and wings are dark brown; the secondary quill-feathers have so wide a white border that it forms a spot on the closed wings.

Habitation. – In its wild state it frequents orchards, groves, and brambles; but with us it seems to prefer small woods that are interspersed with resinous trees. It arrives the end of April, and quits us as early as the end of August, before the moulting season.

In the house it is kept in a nightingale’s cage, in which no change must be made, still less must another be given it, for it would not survive these disturbances. It is so delicate, that if taken when full grown it is almost impossible to tame it.

Food. – When wild its food is all kinds of insects, smooth caterpillars, flies, gnats, &c.; and if these are scarce, berries103.

In the house it prefers these insects and meal-worms. It is only with great patience and management that it can be given a taste for the nightingale’e food. In general it will eat nothing but insects.

Breeding. – The nest of the arbour bird is one of those that are so well and curiously formed, commonly placed eight feet above the ground, in the fork of a tree. It is built of pieces of the white bark of the birch tree, dried plants, caterpillars’ webs, wool, and the upper layer of down. All these white materials give it the appearance of being made of paper. It is lined with the finest hay. The female lays five eggs, which are at first of a pale rose red, but after having been sat upon some days acquire a dark flesh-coloured tint, speckled with dark red. This species has but one brood in the year, and if the nest is approached two or three times it will desert it, whether the young ones are hatched or not.

If a person wish to have this pleasing bird in the house, as it is often seen in Hesse, he must take the young ones early from the nest, feed them on ants’ eggs and bullock’s heart chopped small, and always keep them in a warm place. As soon as the arbour bird has been placed in the situation destined for it, it must be left there constantly; its cage ought not to be changed, at least there should be no difference in the one given it afterwards, as without this attention it becomes sad, eats no longer, and dies in a short time. I may observe here, that it moults in December or January, whence we may infer that it passes the winter in a southern climate.

Diseases. – These are the same as the nightingale’e.

Mode of Taking. – This can rarely be accomplished but by placing limed twigs on the nest, which is a cruel method, and the nest is often deserted as soon as it has been approached. Neither will these birds go to the water-trap: they may be caught occasionally in bird-traps in August, by baiting them with currants104. The surest way then is to take them young, especially as the old ones cannot be tamed.

Attractive Qualities. – The song of the arbour bird is sweet, varied, full of power and melody, long sustained; yet some harsh strains have been remarked, and some resembling the notes of the chimney swallow. Whilst singing its throat is much dilated. Its call is dak, dak! hyovie, hyovie! Its plumage is pretty.

ACCOUNT OF THE ARBOUR BIRD, FROM THE “FIELD NATURALIST’T MAGAZINE.”

“British writers, since the time of Pennant and White, have rendered the history of several of our smallest birds a mass of confusion, which even now it will be difficult to clear up, though I feel confident I possess the means of loosening two at least of the knots of the controverted points, as I shall presently show.

“When I was residing, in the summer of 1832, at Bonn, on the Rhine, my friend M. Wichterich brought me a pair of birds with their young, which at first sight, judging from colour and size, I took to be pale canaries, till I looked at their bills; I perceived then that it was a species with which I was unacquainted, and certainly not known as British. I was accordingly not a little surprised when he told me it was the Sylvia Hippolais of Bechstein, and astonished when he said it was one of the finest song birds in Europe, very superior to the blackcap and fauvette, and in some respects even to the nightingale. I thence concluded that it was the species whose splendid song had charmed and puzzled me in an orchard at Schiedam, in Holland, and again in the gardens of Prince Maximilian, at Neuwied, on the Rhine; the rich intonation and multitudinous variety of the notes fully bearing out my friend’s opinion. This circumstance alone would go far to prove that the species is not British, for it would be impossible so fine a song bird could be concealed, particularly as it haunts gardens, and is rarely found in woods. The very contrary of the statement of Temminck, whose authority, how high soever it may be in other matters, is, with respect to habits and field observations, of not the slightest weight: he might have seen the bird, if he ever looked beyond his cabinet, in most of the gardens about Leyden, where he resides.

“I kept the old birds with their young, which they fed in a cage for some time, but to my great regret they fell a sacrifice to the common enemy of cage birds. About the same time I was delighted to find a nest of the same species in a lilac-tree in my own garden, about half a dozen yards from my parlour windows. Three of the young after leaving this nest were secured, and their mother was caught to feed them, which she did successfully, and I brought them all, and three others, home with me to England. The nest was about seven feet high from the garden level, and ten from the base of a low wall, over which the branch where it was built leaned. The workmanship of the nest is very superior to that of the blackcap, coming nearer in character to that of the finches. The frame-work is rather thick, made of dried grass stems, sewing thread, fine wood shavings, birch bark, and small pieces of linen rag. The inside is very neatly lined with roots, hair, and a few feathers and small locks of wool.

“In the full grown male the bill is about half an inch long, straight, somewhat blunt, broad and flat at the base. The upper mandible has an exceedingly indistinct notch, and is greyish blue; the under mandible yellowish, with a tinge of red; the angles yellowish, and the opening of the mouth lemon yellow. The tongue is yellow, abrupt at the point, and furnished with three bristles. The iris is dusky brown. The forehead is low, flat, angular, and pointed. The eyebrows and eyelids are yellow, and a yellow line runs from the nostrils to the eyes. The crown of the head, neck, back, and wing-coverts are olive grey, inclining more to green on the rump. The shoulder of the wing (campterium, Illiger) is yellow: the primary quill-feathers are dusky brown, with a slight fringe of olive grey; the rest of the quill-feathers have a broader fringe of greyish white, which, when the wing is closed, forms a whitish patch. The tail is two inches long, the feathers being of equal length, and of very nearly the same colours and tinge as the wing-quills. All the under parts of the body are of a fine clear lemon colour. The legs are five-sixths of an inch high, and of a lead colour; the claws greyish brown. The whole length is five inches and a half; the extent of the wings nine inches.

The female is sometimes, but not always, rather paler than the male. The young have the yellow parts very pale.

A species very similar to this has been discovered in Italy by Prince C. Buonaparte – the Sylvia icterina? of Vieillot, which frequents marshy places.

THE COMMON CHIFF-CHAFF

Sylva loquax, Herbert; S. Hippolais, Montagu; but not the S. Hippolais of the Continental authors, which is S. polyglottaCOLONEL MONTAGU AND MR. SWEET’T ACCOUNT OF THE CHIFF-CHAFF

This bird weighs about two or nearly three drachms; the length varies from four inches and a half to five inches.

This species is nearly the same size as the hay-bird. In its plumage it so much resembles that bird, that we shall only make mention here of some essential marks of distinction, and refer our readers to the hay-bird.

Its general colour is not so much tinged with yellow, and the legs are dusky, which in the other are brown.

The plumage of the sexes are alike.

These two birds have been, and are, frequently confounded, and with them the wood wren of this work; but this last is at once distinguished by the under tail-coverts being a pure white, and the plumage of a more lively green on the upper parts than either of the others. The nest, eggs, and notes, will be found also different by consulting and comparing the history of each. This is the first of all the migrative warblers (Sylviadæ) in its annual visit, and is, perhaps, the only one that has occasionally been observed with us during the winter, and that only in the milder parts of England. It is generally heard on or before the first of April repeating its song, if that may be so called which consists only of four notes, which seem to express the words chip, chop, cherry, churry, four or five times successively. It is a busy, restless bird, always active among the trees and bushes in search of insects. From its early cry in our neighbourhood, we long suspected it would be found that this hardy little bird did not wholly quit us, and in this opinion we were confirmed by seeing one in the garden about Christmas, 1806. In the following January, we observed two of these little creatures busied in catching the small insects which a bright day had roused in great abundance about some fir trees, by springing upon them from the ends of the branches, one of which we succeeded in shooting. Another, which we killed in 1808, on the same spot, while feeding upon a small species of culex, weighed one drachm thirty-three grains; this will easily account for the very early cry of this bird in the spring, as it is highly probable that they remain with us the whole year, but are wholly silent in the winter. The earliest we ever heard was on the 14th of March, 1804, when vegetation was unusually early.

The nest of this species is oval, with a small hole near the top, composed externally of dry leaves, and then coarse dry grass, and lined with feathers; and is generally placed on or near the ground, frequently on a ditch bank, in a tuft of grass or low bush. The eggs are six in number, white, speckled with purplish red at the larger end only, with here and there a single speck on the sides.

It seems to be the hardiest and most generally diffused of all our summer visitants; and is found in all parts of the kingdom where wood or hedges afford it shelter and food. Its note is heard long after the hay-bird is silent. Dr. Latham says this is called in Dorsetshire the hay-bird; but as we are inclined to believe the three species before mentioned have been confounded, it is more probable that our hay-bird should obtain that name, as its nest is composed of that material.

Mr. Sweet tells us, “it is readily taken in a trap baited with small caterpillars. They soon get familiar in confinement; when first caught, they should, if possible, be put with other birds, and they will readily take to feed on bruised hemp-seed and bread, and on bread and milk, which must at first be stuck full of small insects, or a quantity of aphides may be shaken off a branch upon it; when they have once tasted it they will be very fond of it. One that I caught took to eat it directly, and became so familiar, that in three or four days it would take a fly out of the hand. It also learnt to drink milk out of a tea-spoon, of which it was so fond, that it would fly after it all round the room, and perch on the hand that held it, without showing the least symptoms of fear. It would also fly up to the ceiling, and bring down a fly in its mouth every time. At last it got so very tame, that it would sit on my knee by the fire and sleep; and when the windows were open, it would never attempt, nor seemed to have the least inclination, to fly out; so that I at last ventured to entice it out in the garden, to see whether it would return. I with difficulty enticed it out at the door with a spoon of milk; it returned twice to the room; the third time it ventured into a little tree; it then fled and perched on my hand, and drank milk out of the spoon; from thence it flew to the ground on some chickweed, in which it washed itself, and got into a holly-bush to dry. After getting among the leaves, I could see no more of it, but heard it call several times. I suppose after it got quite dry that it left the country directly, as I could never see or hear it afterwards, and it was then the end of November, when all the others had left for some time105.”