There Is
Only One Sort Of Bird That I Can Tolerate Caged, Though Even Then I
Think It Hard, And That Is What Is Called In France The Bec-
D'Argent.
I once had two of these pigmies in captivity; and in the
quiet, hire house upon a silent street where I was then living,
their song, which was not much louder than a bee's, but airily
musical, kept me in a perpetual good humour.
I put the cage upon
my table when I worked, carried it with me when I went for meals,
and kept it by my head at night: the first thing in the morning,
these maestrini would pipe up. But these, even if you can pardon
their imprisonment, are for the house. In the garden the wild
birds must plant a colony, a chorus of the lesser warblers that
should be almost deafening, a blackbird in the lilacs, a
nightingale down the lane, so that you must stroll to hear it, and
yet a little farther, tree-tops populous with rooks.
Your house should not command much outlook; it should be set deep
and green, though upon rising ground, or, if possible, crowning a
knoll, for the sake of drainage. Yet it must be open to the east,
or you will miss the sunrise; sunset occurring so much later, you
can go up a few steps and look the other way. A house of more than
two stories is a mere barrack; indeed the ideal is of one story,
raised upon cellars.
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