The former work was devoted to the elucidation of
the natural habits of birds, and this to their domestic



THE OBNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 103

history. Both axe equaUy pleasant and necefisaiy
to be acquainted with, and the latter has now been^
executed in as complete a style as the former. .This
has long been felt as a desideratum by the Omitho*
logical amateur, for the only work on the subject in
Britain was that of Syme, which did not treat the
subject so fidly as might have been wii^hed. Dr.
Bechstein has given a fuU account of the diseases^-
food, &c., of the birds treated of, and he seems ta
have been altogether very successful with his favorite
little songsters. He has enthusiasm on the subject,
and this is necessary for the perfect, and satisfactory
treatment of any subject. The Cag^ Birds contains
a full and interesting account of about two hundred
birds, all of which the worthy Doctor had kept in
confinemeni He seems to have been less success-
fill with the Nightingale than any other bird,, but
that that songster will thrive in confinement, as weU
85 any other bird, appears from the following
account of another German Ornithologist, Wich"
tebich; who says: — ^'^ I have been informed that
in England the greater number of the Nightingales
confined in cages die within a short time after they
are caught ; and rarely outlive the succeeding winter.
This is so far.fi*om being the case with me, that I
should be ashamed to say I had ever lost more
Philomels than of any of the other birds usually
kept in cages ; though Bechstein has also said in
his Natural History of Cage Birds, that all his
Nightingales died within no very long time."



104 THK ORNITHOLOOIOAL GUIDE.
