GOLDEN ORIOLE
THE
NATURAL HISTORY
OF
C A G E B I R D S :
THEIR
MANAGEMENT, HABITS, FOOD, DISEASES, TREATMENT, BREEDING, AND
THE METHODS OF CATCHING THEM.
BY
J. M. BECHSTEIN, M.D., &c. &c.,
OF WALTERSHAUSEN, IN SAXONY.
A NEW EDITION.
LONDON:
GROOMBRIDGE AND SONS,
PATERNOSTER ROW.
AUTHOR’S PREFACE.
The Natural History of Cage Birds, which I now laybefore the public, is a work I have long been solicited towrite. There are many people who like to keep birds,who neither know their habits nor the proper treatmentor food requisite for them. Even those who are not altogetherignorant of these, often have but very limited,superficial, and, what is worse, sometimes erroneous ideason the subject. It is for such readers I have given thefollowing Introduction; for professed naturalists will findnothing there but what they have already learnt, eitherfrom my own works or from those of other authors onnatural history.
If long experience and minute observation on the subjectof his work is calculated to gain an author credit, Iflatter myself that this will not be denied me, sincefrom my earliest youth I have delighted in being surroundedwith birds, and am so accustomed to them thatI cannot write at my desk with pleasure, or even withattention, unless animated by the warbling of the pleasinglittle creatures which enliven my room. My passionis carried so far, that I always have about thirty birdsaround me, and this has naturally led me to consider theiibest and easiest mode of procuring them, as well as offeeding and preserving them in health. Few amateurs,therefore, are better fitted than myself to write on thissubject; and I hope I have done it to the satisfaction ofthe public. I ought also to notice in this place the planof my work, as my book may fall into the hands both ofthose who might feel a wish to learn more particulars,and of those who may think much less would havesufficed.
I have described all the indigenous European birds withwhich I am acquainted that are capable of being tamed,and are pleasing in the house. As to foreign ones, I haveonly spoken of those I have occasionally seen in Germany,and which can be procured without much difficulty.
I have followed the same plan in their natural historywhich I have pursued in my other works on birds.
Description.—Under this head I have entered intoparticular details, in order that the amateur may thebetter satisfy himself in discriminating the species andthe sex of the bird before him. This knowledge is exceedinglynecessary, as the bird-dealers are not very scrupulousin deceiving their customers, either by selling onespecies for another, or a female for a male. Thes