Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-11-25
FEATHERED SONGSTERS.
The Trade in Song Birds The Life Of
Bird Catcher.


carried on all through the year, and per.
hsps employs more hands and sets more
capital circulating than one could readily
guess There are dealings, of course, IN
every kind of birds, but for the present
month linnets, goldfnches, snd larks are
the staple commerce The Autumn
Digit" commences with the last week OF
September and continues to the end OF
October. The birds seem to need ses air,
very much as IL they were genuine town.
made Londoners; and, like the Londoners,
provide themselves tourists suits before
they start on their travels; and like Lon
doners, too in their travels, go about in
gangs. The nestlings of the central
counties, the larKs and linnets born in
Warwick or Leicester or Northampton,
stay at home till their little plumsge is In
good form, and then they muster into
flight and make for the sea. Some Of
them, indeed, are left behind-these are
the birds who have moulted late; but
those that are now along the COST are in
full plumsge and good condition, In q
very literal sense, however, fine feathers
do moi make fine birds. The dealers
have preference for inland hnches,
founded on the axiom that too
often "the coasters go off like
steam" Going of, In the bird trade,
does not mean a brisk trade, but heavy
death rate. The spruce, plump little
songsters that, iull of life and joyousness,
swept gsily over the Downs this morn
ing, and that will travel up in hundreds,
their railway carriage paid, to White
chapel, will pine and NOPE and sicken to-
morrow, and many OF them be found dead
in their cages and flung out into the gut
ter before the week Is over. There are,
indeed, views OF our British bird trade
which exhibit humanity end commerce
IN rather opposite lights, We see sing.
ing bird petted and contented in its cage,
and forget that dozen happy, harmless
little lives -have ended in slow misery
to give US this one result; or, with a
che.p ntimentslity--such IS Sterne had
for the starhng-we pity the captive; but
we do not know what the scavengers
sweep into their carts OF morning as
they make their early rounds through
Seven Dials.
LONDON BIRD MARKET.
Four hundred dozens of linne's would
be a small average for the supply of the
London bird market in week, and the
figure has been known to extend to 600
dozens The birds are supplied to tho
q
for cocks and 8 pence dozen for hens,
the latter variety being purchased by the
hawkers, who either sell them as cocks,
or, by the aid OF little paint and having
broken one of their wings, manufacture
them into valuable pet canaries. The
cock birds pass a short period Of probe
ton in low cage with perches, and II
they survive this test, are Gagged of" by
degrees, when their value rises gradually
from pence to half crown. With the
frst weeks of November the light season
drops, and rom that time bird catching
becomes retail operation. The tiocks
seem to break up, but the birds do not
leave the country.
A dealer could tell you at once the diff.
ference between home bird and a "tor-
eigner,n, for which he entertans an Eng
lishman's aversion. 1t is part of his ere, d
to support the native article and 10
disparage all importations. And yet with
out importation the London market would
not be supplied. Let US take, for instance,
the popular article-goldfinches This is
the very season for them. At II shillings
a dozen they are orwsrded from East.
bourne in hundreds, but when November
is reached the light drops and the prices
rise. From Christmas to March they fetch
IT oull4IuES u OOLCu " l.IS LIduC COIhS huu
hens Unfortunately, but with the cold
March weather there Is another flight
season the birds once more troop togett-
er in companies, and are net,ed dozen
perhaps al a time. But they are neither
so numerous nor so hardy as the autumn
captures, and the price-in which rarity
is one of the determining isctors-is fixed
at about IS shlllings per dozen. so il re-
mains from March till August, ard then
an act of Parliament comes in to protect
the go.dhncnes and to trouble the
trade. The London demand goes
oE--commerce as well as nature ab
hors vacuum; and thus it hap
pens that German and Spanish
g0idinches, peck and twitter and roost,
AID pine and NOPE and die, in the lanes
and by-strreets OF ST. Giles. the price
has now gone up to 3G shillings dozen,
and at that it stops TIL the lncapscitaung
act ceases TO apply. The Spanish birds
are smaller than the English, but are good
sOngsters. The Germans are handsome
and large and well.testhered, the hsns not
easily dlstingulshable from the cocks.
The German birds are imported IN small
wooden cages, seven on = stick. 1t is in
int form the dealer buys them, and "a
stick may have three hens out If the
seven. The German idea, however, hand
somely ignores the question of sex a
stick is stick, and il the seven are hens
so much the worse for the purchaser.
BIRD cATCHERs
At present, however, the market is cup.
piled with the native article, and the
Brighton bird catcher has his hands full
Of work. An easy, lazy kind OF life, it