SONG BIRDS—THEIR MANAGEMENT AND TUITION.
What is called the song of birds is always expressive either of love or
happiness; thus the nightingale sings only during the pairing season,
and the period of incubation, and becomes silent as soon as required to
feed its young; while on the contrary the canary and others sing except
when dejected by molting. The males are usually the best singers, in
fact the females of several varieties have hardly what could be called a
song. Female canaries, bullfinches, robins, and some others may be made
to sing to a considerable extent by keeping them in cages by themselves
and paying attention to their food and management. All birds should be
kept clean, their cages washed out often enough to prevent the
accumulation of filth, a supply of sea or river sand furnished, and also
fresh water for bathing and drinking. The food of each species varies,
but the following will be found adapted to nearly all cage birds:
“UNIVERSAL PASTES.”—_Number One._—Thoroughly soak in cold water a well
baked stale loaf of wheaten bread; press the water out and pour milk
over the bread, sufficient to moisten thoroughly; then mix with it
two-thirds of its own weight of barley or wheat meal, ground fine and
sifted.
_Number Two._—Grate a carrot and mix it with a moderate sized slice of
bread which has been thoroughly soaked in water and the water carefully
pressed out. While mixing add two handfuls of the above mentioned barley
or wheat meal. The whole is then to be pounded in a mortar.
The above quantities are sufficient for quite a number of birds and must
be reduced to suit requirements, as no more than one day’s supply should
be prepared at one time. Careful washing of all utensils employed is of
course essential to prevent sourness. Canaries should be furnished with
a mixture of canary, summer rape, and crushed hemp seed. Goldfinches
like poppy seed, with the addition occasionally of a little crushed hemp
seed. They also eat thistle seed. Linnets and bullfinches rape seed
alone. A little green food, as chick-weed, lettuce, cabbage or
water-cress, is desirable about once a week. Quails are fond of bread
crumbs and wheat. Larks prefer barley meal mixed with finely cut
cabbage, or poppy seed and crumbs of bread, and oats in winter.
Varying the food of song birds has a tendency to make them sing. The
very common practice of giving pet birds cake, sweetmeats, or sugar, is
unadvisable; they prefer more simple food, and their health and musical
qualities are impaired by this kindly meant but really unkind practice.
A bit of cuttle fish bone is the best dainty. Too much hemp seed is
injurious to all birds in confinement, often producing blindness, less
of voice, and pulmonary disease.
The songs of cage birds are of two kinds, the natural and the
artificial. The natural song is peculiar in each species. The artificial
is that which the bird acquires by association with other birds, or
which is purposely taught it. A bird is said to “warble” or “quaver”
when it always repeats the passages or single notes of its song in
precisely the same order. It “sings” when it utters the chirping or
twittering interspersed with distinct notes without observing any
regular succession. It “whistles” or “pipes” when its song consists of
distinct round flute-like notes. Birds to sing well must enjoy good
health, be well fed and be placed in a bright, cheerful, situation. The
glaring rays of a hot sun can, however, be endured by but few birds.
Birds are naturally endowed with a spirit of rivalry, and if placed
where they can hear the song of other birds, will often sing better than
they otherwise would. Varying their food slightly will often encourage
them to sing. A German writer gives the following rules for canaries by
which a good singer may be secured: “The first and chief thing is that
while young the bird should hear none but a good song, and so not be
tempted to intermix the notes of other birds with his own. Care must be
taken to attain this object, not only at first, but at the first and
second molting seasons, as the bird is then obliged to re-learn his
song, and might introduce into it some foreign admixture. It should also
be noted whether the bird prefers to sing alone or in company. Many
birds are so self-willed as never to sing except they can display their
vocal powers alone, while the song of others is always soft and low
except when excited to rivalry by hearing the performance of a neighbor.
Another very important particular to be attended to not only in the case
of canaries but of all cage birds, is to give them their allotted
portion of food every day, for if too much be given them at once they
pick out the best at first and leave the rest for another day, which
impairs their vocal powers.”
The canary is a very imitative bird, indeed its song is mainly
artificial, being derived from the birds with which it has associated,
many of the original stock of the Canary Isles not singing at all. This
fact renders its tuition comparatively easy. If several notes are
repeated in succession on any instrument, and this is continued
perseveringly, the bird will gradually try to copy them, and will
finally succeed if both teacher and pupil possess the requisite talent.
Canaries are capable of learning two or more distinct tunes. The tunes
must be taught bit by bit and each piece thoroughly mastered before
advancing farther. A flute is the best musical instrument to use. If
desired that the bird should learn the song of another bird, a good
singer of that variety may be placed near its cage. The weavers of
Cheshire, England, are noted for possessing canaries of rare musical
ability, who are the descendants of birds originally taught by a
nightingale; the young birds of each successive generation learning the
song of their parents. Loss of voice, which in the male is sometimes the
consequence of molting, may be cured by feeding with a little lettuce
seed.
Some years ago, for several days a pure canary attracted considerable
attention while hanging in the publication office of the New York
Tribune, on account of his singing Hail Columbia, and other patriotic
airs, without mistake or loss of a single note.
If it is desired to teach a canary to whistle, it should be removed from
its companion when about two weeks old, at which time it will be able to
feed and also to begin to twitter. The pupil is put in a small cage,
which should be at first covered with a linen cloth, and afterward with
something thicker. A short air should then be either whistled or played
on a flute or bird organ within its hearing, five or six times a day,
especially in the morning and evening, and repeated on each occasion
half a dozen times. In from two to six months, according to the memory
and docility of the bird, it will have acquired its lesson perfectly.
Unless this training is commenced when the bird is very young it is
likely to mar its performance by intermixing parts it has learned from
the parent bird.
Though the natural song of the bullfinch, including both sexes, is harsh
and disagreeable, very much like the creaking of a door or wheelbarrow,
they may be taught to whistle many airs and songs in a soft, pure,
flute-like tone, and are capable of remembering two or three different
tunes. They are best instructed by means of a flute or by the whistling
of the teacher. Slow learners do not, during the molting season, lose so
quickly what they have acquired as those who learn more readily. The
bullfinch will also learn the songs of other birds, but usually this is
not considered desirable.
In Germany great attention is paid to the training of these birds, which
is made a regular profession. We are indebted to Dr. Stanley for the
following description of the mode pursued:
“No school can be more diligently attended by its master, and no
scholars more effectually trained to their own calling, than a seminary
of bullfinches. As a general rule they are formed into classes of about
six in each, and kept in a dark room, where food and music are
administered at the same time, so that when the meal is ended if the
birds feel inclined to tune up, they are naturally inclined to copy the
rounds which are so familiar to them. As soon as they begin to imitate a
few notes the light is admitted into the room, which still farther
exhilarates their spirits, and inclines them to sing. In some
establishments the starving system is adopted and the birds are not
allowed food or light until they sing. When they have been under this
course of instruction in classes for some time, they are committed
singly to the care of boys whose sole business is to go on with their
education. Each boy assiduously plays his organ[5] from morning till
night for the instruction of the bird committed to his care, while the
class teacher goes his regular rounds, superintending the progress of
his feathered pupils, and scolding or rewarding them in a manner which
they perfectly understand, and strictly in accordance with the attention
or the disregard they have shown to the instructions of the monitor.
This round of teaching goes on unintermittingly for no less a period
than nine months, by which time the bird has acquired firmness, and is
less likely to forget or spoil the air by leaving out passages, or
giving them in the wrong place. At the time of molting the best
instructed birds are liable to lose the recollection of their tunes, and
therefore require to have them frequently repeated at that time,
otherwise all the previous labor will have been thrown away.”
Footnote 5:
A small barrel organ, called a bird organ, made for this purpose.
The goldfinch is a handsome, lively bird, uttering his sonorous song at
all periods except when molting. It consists, in addition to several
intricate and twittering notes, of certain tones which resemble those of
the harp, and it is valued in proportion to the number of times the
syllable “fink” recurs. The goldfinch may also be taught to whistle
certain airs and to repeat the song of other birds, though in this
respect it is not so docile as the canary.
Ducks are not commonly numbered among song birds, but a French paper, La
France Chorale, gravely relates that an old trumpeter living in the
department of the Meuse, knowing that it was possible to teach speech
and music to parrots, starlings, blackbirds, magpies, and others of the
feathered tribe, operated lately on a duck in his court. He obtained his
pupil when a duckling, adopting it, and set about its education. In a
secluded corner he would sing to it an air a hundred times over, till
the intelligent biped had grasped the melody. Soon the interesting
creature commenced to quack little tunes, and at the end of six months
could correctly repeat a considerable portion of the “Femme a Barbe.”
The owner of the feathered songster is going to Paris to exhibit his
bird.
Mocking birds are valued highly for their power of acquiring the notes
of almost every other bird, imitating various sounds and even learning
to talk. They should be taken when very young; birds old enough to be
caught in traps either never sing at all, or only in an inferior manner.
Their tuition consists merely in giving them the opportunity to hear
whatever it is desired to have them learned. They usually begin to sing
when two months old, and some bird fanciers think they improve in
strength and fullness of tone when kept some years. It is less difficult
to keep mocking birds than is generally supposed. A correspondent of
Haney’s Journal gives the following as the best method of capturing and
rearing these birds:
“Take the trouble about the first of May to take a tramp through the
woods and along the hedges until you find a nest, and be sure it is the
right kind. Do not touch the nest, but visit it every few days, and when
the young are hatched and can open their eyes and mouths, take the nest
and birds home with you and set them in a cage. You then prepare some
corn meal very soft, by scalding, and feed them every half hour by
putting it in their mouths; when hungry they will open their mouths and
cry if you approach them, then is the time to feed them; when they
become strong enough to hop about the cage you may then put water and
the meal in the cage and they will soon learn to feed themselves. The
cage should be cleaned out at least every other morning, and fresh dry
clean sand put on the floor. The regular feed of the birds should be
corn meal and hard boiled eggs mashed together with a little water;
scalded fresh beef is very fine for them, also a few polk berries
occasionally, all kinds of fruits, bread that is not ‘short,’ meat not
salt; never give them anything sweet. I nearly lost a fine bird by
allowing it to get some sour molasses. The best medicine for the mocking
bird is two or three spiders. Be sure to put a pan of fresh water in the
cage every day, and as he is a great washer and invariably sings better
if you give him plenty of water and spiders. The bird should never be
let out of the cage, and he then does not know what liberty is. I now
have one five years old, who will not come out of the cage if the door
be left open all day; he can not be bought for $100. He has been reared
according to the above method, and, besides this, I guarantee it to be
the easiest and unsurpassed. So soon as they are old enough those which
do not sing should be turned out that they may gain their living before
the winter comes on. Never keep two in one cage after they commence to
sing; they will fight until one dies. Summary: plenty of water, clean
cage, no sweet or salt food, fresh meats, flies, grasshoppers and house
spiders as medicine; polk berries as a cathartic; don’t expect them to
sing during molting period.”