Zoological recreations / [William John Broderip].

  • William Broderip
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Zoological recreations / [William John Broderip]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of a wild one with a good note from a neighbouring country, and will sell his cow to possess it. He has created a set of terms to designate the eight dilferent “ songs ” which his ear has detected, and, when he obtains a bird that sings the best of these in per- fection, hardly any price will tempt him to part with it. To pro- cure a good Chaffinch, a common workman will deprive himself almost of necessaries till he has saved the money which is to make him happy by the possession of his favourite songster. The Thuringian Fanatico carries his admiration to an excess that would be incredible if Bechstein had not given the details with a most amusing fidelity, describing at length all the songs, from the Double Trill of the Hartz, the Reiterzong, and the Wine-song, to the Pithia or Trewethia. To his interesting and well-translated book we refer those who are curious in tracing such phenomena of the human mind: the passion for the rare varieties of the Chaffinch’s song appears to be, with reference to the ear, what the Tulip mania was, and, indeed, in great measure, is, with regard to the eye. The nest of the Chaffinch in this country is a masterpiece of art: in the fork of some ancient apple-tree, venerable with mosses and lichens (which are carefully collected for the outside of the symmetrical fabric so as to make it assimilate with surrounding objects), this fine piece of workmanship of closely-interwoven wool and moss is fixed : feathers and hair render the inside a soft, warm, cozy bed for four or five bluish-white pink-tinged eggs, which are variegated with spots and streaks of impurpled red. The love-note of the cock Chaffinch is heard almost as soon as that of the Blackbird; for the species is very early in preparing for the hopes of the year. The debonnaire Goldfinch''' builds one of the most elegant nests that our English Finches produce: moss, lichens, wool, and dry grass, artistically intertwined, form the outside of the fabric, which is generally hidden in a quiet orchard or secluded garden, where, in the midst of some evergreen—an arbutus perchance—it is pro- tected from the prying eye by the compact, leafy screen of .the well-grown, healthy shrub; the delicate down of willows, or dwarf early-seeding plants, the choicest lamb’s wool and the finest hair, form the warm lining on which the bluish-white eggs, dotted with a few rich brown spots, are deposited. The beautiful plumage and sweetly-varied song of the Goldfinch make it a great favourite; hence it is freqiaently consigned to captivity, and taught to draw its water in a little fairy bucket, or to perform many tricks, some of which have quite a theatrical air : a looking- * Carduelis communis—Fringilla Carduelis, Linn.
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